Kaitlyn Russell

With an elitist reputation, Ivy League University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) offers more than your average college courses. A course entitled Wasting time on the Internet is now open for students to register for spring 2015.

Kenneth Goldsmith, author, editor and professor, wanted to break the stigma that surrounds modern-day technology, specifically with the Internet, by creating the course.

"It came about with my frustration over having read article after article about how the Internet is making us dumber," Goldsmith says. "I don’t think that’s true. We’re reading and writing more than we ever have; we’re sharing ideas and learning in ways that cannot be measured."

The course acknowledges the vast amount of time people spend online, many times in an attempt to cure boredom; however, that online interaction could produce something far more great than a mere cyber conversation.

Fulfilling two English requirements, Wasting time on the Internet focuses on redefining the Internet and using everyday posts to create something more in depth--perhaps, even a work of literature.

Students will meet one day a week for three hours and are required to "stare at the screen...only interacting through chat rooms, bots, social media and listservs" according to the course listing. No textbooks — just a laptop and WiFi connection.

Goldsmith says that reading and writing on an electronic platform is overlooked and constitutes as the study of English in a different way. With the electronic age surrounding people, he encourages everyone to embrace it.

"A liberal arts undergraduate education should be all about exploring new and unconventional possibilities," he says. "This is a special time, perhaps the only time in their lives, when they will have the time and freedom to test unusual and experimental ideas in safe, supervised and controlled environment."

By implementing texts and diving into theories, students will alter the way they view online surfing and discover how time-wasting and boredom has been addressed over time.

"I would hope that if we theorize and [they] become self-conscious of their online habits, they'll find that instead of the knee-jerk idea that it is a waste of time, we can re-frame our vast, daily online experiences as being engaged, creative and unalienated. And, most likely, they’ll produce some pretty terrific works of art as well!" Goldsmith says.

According to Goldsmith, the class is beginning to fill up. He's previously taught another nontraditional course, Uncreative Writing, at UPenn for the past decade, in which students are penalized for originality or creativity. He says the innovative courses have been a "great success, artistically and intellectually."

Kaitlyn Russell is a student at The University of North Carolina Wilmington studying communication studies and journalism, with a graduation day of May 2015. She serves as the founder and Editor-in-chief of Her Campus UNCW, a branch of the national online community. You can follow her on Twitter @KaitlynRussell

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