From: The Daily Helmsman

What could be better than beer and pizza on Friday night after a long week of classes?

Try an iPod.

According to the recent Student Monitor LLC's Lifestyle & Media survey, iPods dethroned beer for the first time since 1997, as the thing that college students want most. The survey polled 600 college students from around the country.

Freshman criminal justice major Ashley Parker agreed with the result of iPods over beer.

"Instead of carrying around a big old CD player or radio, you can just carry an iPod," she said. "And you can have lots of songs depending on the iPod."

While the survey results showed iPods over beer as number one, it also listed the other top "in" things on college campuses across the country.

The other top "in" things include Facebook.com, which tied for second place with beer, then drinking other alcohol and text messaging came in fourth and fifth.

Some people are glad that beer has been knocked from its throne.

"I think college students focus on beer too much because of peer pressure," said Michael Wright, a sophomore architecture major. "And they are trying to fit in when they don't have to. They are trying to be someone they aren't."

Yet, it seems that text messaging is the big hit around campus.

"To me, you can say a lot through a text message," Parker said. "It's an easier way to communicate with my friends."

While it may be easier, text messaging can also fill in during the times that a person couldn't talk.

"I think that text messaging is the thing that I would want most," said Nicole Jiles, freshman criminal justice major. "Sometimes you are not able to talk to someone, so you can tell them through a text message."

Having a quick and easy way to communicate is a good thing. However sometimes it is not always the best thing.

"I think that there is too much text messaging going on," Wright said. "I've seen students stop taking notes in class to check and see if they have text messages and if they do, they will then text the person back. It's distracting to students' education and to what else is going on."

Even though text messaging is included in the list of top "in" things, cell phones themselves are not.

And some feel that they should be.

"I think cell phones need to be in the list," said Brionne Schmidt, freshman nursing major. "You can't go without communicating with people. And sometimes you can even e-mail people from your phone."

Yet, Schmidt did agree with one of the things on the list.

She agreed with wanting coffee, which ranked 10th.

"It keeps me up at night to study," she said.

Rounding out the list of the 10 "in" things was downloading music which was sixth, followed by going to clubs, instant messaging, working out and coffee.

"I probably couldn't live without working out," Wright said. "Keeping my workout schedule is one thing that I want."