STORY BY ANNA ZAVELL
Everyone gets homesick once in a while. Yes, students appreciate the independence. But, they still call home in times of need and rely on family support.
“I try and talk to my parents between two and three times a week through email, texting or calling,” said first-year Andrew Sobczak. “I think it’s important to maintain the relationship with my family and just check in with them.”
An NPR article states that “College students contact their parents around 13.4 times a week. Also, 40 percent of college students stay in contact with their parents through text, email or phone call at least once a day.”
“I live 10 minutes away from campus, and I talk to my parents almost everyday,” said sophomore Grace Piper. “I wasn’t so good about talking to my parents last year, though, when I attended a different school in California. It was harder then because I was way further than I am now.”
Some students feel that they don’t talk to their parents enough, and are trying to find ways to fix that.
“I definitely don’t talk to my parents enough. I text them everyday, but I talk to them on the phone only once every week or week and a half,” said first-year Sara Leistico. “My mom just made a Skype account so we are going to try and video chat more often.”
“Personally, I think skyping is awkward, I prefer to call my parents once or twice a week,” said first-year Joseph Herba. “Calling is much more personal than texting back and forth because you can hear them and their emotions.”
According to the same NPR article, technology has strengthened bonds between parent and child because students have such easy access to contact one another now. Not all students had phones, like some do today, and instead would have to wait to use a communal phone to call home.
Another form of communication was snail mail, which seems like a lost art today. Since letters take a few days to be delivered, and then another few days for it to arrive, the news in the letter becomes old. Students weren’t able to get answers to questions right away.
“Most of the time I call my mom with questions about laundry when I’m about to do it and need answers immediately,” Sobczak said. “It would suck to have to wait a long time to get an answer and then have to put off my laundry until then.”
