Every day, students nonchalantly have their eyes glued to their cell phones and scroll through their social media for endless hours. Most think that this excessive amount of social media is “no big deal”, but social media seems to affect students much more than imagined. Social media can not only have the negative effect with the obvious cyber bullying, but also it can be a big distraction for students when it comes to school.

“I feel like social media is a huge distraction for our students. They are so programmed to check their phone for updates or notifications, that they are missing classroom instructions, important due dates, announcements, helpful tips, notes, concepts, and many learning opportunities,” counselor Christine Rector said.

Students tend to entertain themselves with social media instead of being productive, and they use it as an excuse to procrastinate on or ignore schoolwork. Research shows that approximately 47% of US high school or college students have failed one or more classes due to distractions like social media. Therefore, BISD staff has ways to fix the problem and prevent it at BHS and other BISD campuses.

“Several of the staff on campus do have twitter pages for the departments where we go to share positive things that are happening on our campus or to provide important dates, deadlines, or special announcements,” Rector said. “The counselors and assistant principals only get involved with situations concerning social media if an unsafe action or bullying situation occurs through social media. Also we have an on campus SRO, a school resource officer, if social media issues get really out of hand or needs to be addressed legally.”

Social media can be an outlet for bullying and an easy way for bullies to not get caught. With social media they’re able to hide behind a screen and bully others with the easy click of a button.

“I personally have not had a problem with bullying on social media, but I’ve seen a few of my friends have issues,” freshman Zoey Croft said. “Once one of my friends had a hate page made about her for absolutely no apparent reason and it completely destroyed her and upset her for weeks.”

Students at BHS don’t just use social media to connect with friends, but to connect with their teachers too. Some teachers use it to their advantage and allow students to get extra credit through social media.

“I use social media for my school work a lot,” Croft said. “Some of my classes give extra credit through social media and also I can look at different social media accounts that can help with school or a particular class. Also I can add my favorite teachers on social media and talk to them if I need help in that class or have any questions.”

Social media can connect and unite a student body depending on how the students use it. When students don’t abuse it and are respectful on it, social media can be a great way to connect with others and build a strong student body.

“I feel like social media can be both positive and negative,” Croft said. “Social media can keep tons of your memories that you can look back on, but also it can be a huge distraction and be a lead way to bullying. It really depends on how the social media is used and how you see it to be able to say whether social media is positive or negative.”