Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Every day, thousands of students use social media to entertain themselves as well as to connect with friends and family. In recent years, a bloom of Facebook groups formed by MCPS students has become the virtual home of many as they pray for snow days, dig clues for tests, and compare prom dresses.
But then there comes textbooks, practice books, and school work.
There is a minority of students who live the ‘old way’: they don’t socialize online but instead have their own coterie with school work.
However, which one is better for students, to socialize or study?
Sylvia Fang, a freshman in Quince Orchard High School, says, “I love friends. Sometimes my dad doesn’t allow me to go out with my friends, so I socialize with them online. Although we cannot meet each other, it feels close. Instagram is my journal that details my joys and sorrows. It’s my way to record my life. Socialization is a part of my daily life, an essential part.”
Justin Wang, a ninth grader, agrees, “Teenagers are easy to feel lonely in adolescence. To socialize is to make friends and to contact with the world.”
It’s common to see students texting and socializing at the end of each classes despite prohibitions set by teachers. Many don’t even wait until instruction is over; a casual ‘may I use the restroom?’ will do the trick, and a fifteen minute phone call behind the stall doors rarely incur any consequences. Students rely on cell phones and computers: they complain if their teachers don’t send a reminder to them; they use them while they are eating. As a result, they begin to forget their purpose as students.
As students, we are supposed to learn and study. Right now, we are nurtured by parents and thus can enjoy certain luxuries. But can we be nurtured by them throughout our lives? Of course not! Therefore, we have to play our role well–to learn conscientiously and to stop socializing all the time.
Catherine Huang, a sophomore, says, “I always use cell phone and computer to do research and to read news. Internet is a good helper for me to study. But I am not a bookworm, I also watch TV shows and read science fictions to entertain myself.”
Nia Gao made similar remarks, “I do socialize but I do study more. Socializing websites are not important. They can’t give you a good future. I use them when I am tired. One of my friend was knocked down by a car while he was socializing on his phone and did not see the traffic light. It’s so intimidating.”
Although socializing becomes popular in our everyday life, students need to handle it well. Studying is much more important than socializing.
Article by the MoCo Student Staff Columnist Tiffany Pei of Quince Orchard High Schol
Graphic by the MoCo Student Staff Graphic Artist Angel Wen of Blair High School