CULTURE BY ETHAN LAUREN
DISCORD BRINGS STUDENTS TOGETHER
D
iscord is a hub of niche “Having these online communities did the Tabletop Gaming Club, featured communities from school a lot for the mental health of students, elsewhere in this publication, have clubs, social gatherings, and including my own during the height of found ever-growing popularity of
a means to have students together the pandemic as we were all isolated students looking to play games, or in a class connect with one another. and our only interactions were through simply to hang out. Chances are, you might be on Discord our screens.” right now. Maybe you’ve seen it bene-
The Writer’s Block, a screen-
It’s for similar reasons that writing club, is another example of
fit yourself, if not only socially, but to Ronnie Wilson, an English for educa- benefiting from being online. help out in school. Though it has been tion major, has found Discord to be Adam Moore, assistant professor, around for years, it has found more beneficial during college. She found and the head of the screenwriting popularity when COVID-19 came the transition to online classes diffi- track, serves as the faculty advisor about and classes went online. The cult, but utilizing servers for her for the club and takes an active role to biggest perk of Discord is the versa- classes helped. tility it gives users, from how simple it
share events, job opportunities, and
“In a Shakespeare class, I was networking events for the club. With
is to send images and messages or to struggling and knowing I was strug- around 90 students in the screenwritcreate voice channels for your friends gling there was a 100% chance other ing track, the discord channel has 300 to hop in and talk.
students were too. So I set it up and members.
Anthea Johnson, an English [all] of my classes had use of it.”
major, owns the server modeled after
“During COVID, the Discord
Wilson has used these community has been extremely
the old app, containing a little under a services to help communicate due helpful in maintaining cohesion and 100 members. She has seen Discord dates, absences, and assist group community amongst the [students],” as a positive impact for students, help- work and seen many students thank- Moore said. “Without it, I’m not sure ing them to have a place to vent, or get ful to have this means of assistance. our students would be doing as well help with classes or campus-specific On and off again, the topic of unethical as they currently are.” problems.
conduct, like cheating, comes up given
With the recently-added hub
“Students are a lot closer how Discord rarely sees faculty over- feature, you can scroll through any of
with each other and we work together sight. Server managers, such as John- the servers connected with LBSU. a lot easier, since all we need to do is son, have enforced rules to make sure Now, I’m a part of so many servsend a quick message on the server that these spaces can remain open for ers that it’s almost impossible not to and someone usually answers within those who need it. a day.”
find somebody to chat with on any
Another usage of Discord topic imaginable. Whatever you want
For Johnson and other that has seen popularity is how school to discuss, you can find like minded
students, Discord has been a place to clubs have been relying on it, in addi- people on Discord. make friends.
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tion to Instagram or Twitter. Clubs like
