I woke up the second week after coming back from spring break feeling overwhelmed, lost and like a piece of myself was missing. It all stemmed from what seemed to be a simple question. “What would I be without technology?”
To most people, this question wouldn’t be anything to dwell on or think twice about. But for me, it cut a lot deeper than even I could’ve anticipated. Technology is putting a toll on my generation’s social skills, mental health and the way we live more than we are recognizing.
During this time of feeling overwhelmed and temporarily lost, I decided it was time for a detox. I started deleting social media apps only to remember that I need some of them to perform the best in a number of my classes.
I wanted to wake up early and cook a hearty meal before school, but soon came to the conclusion that breakfast was not worthy enough of cutting my sleep short (I already don’t sleep enough thanks to late nights filled with homework).
I explain all of this to get the point across that the school system has more to do with our habits, who we are and our day-to-day lives than we can comprehend. Therefore, due to the school systems demand for constant technology, it is not something that we can just get away from.
And the question that quickly comes to my mind is, “Well, how can I fix this for myself?” But, the hard truth is that it is unavoidable due to the fact that my generation is criticized by the same people who are setting us up for failure.
Am I blaming SHS for this issue specifically? Absolutely not. But what I am talking about is the overall school system that high school students are put into across the country. The people who say that this generation has awful social skills and are addicted to their phones are the same people who make the problem worse. They add to the problem by putting us in situations where we can only get more reliant on technology and social media.
And although technology does serve many purposes and can help to make things more efficient, it is overwhelmingly used in the daily life of a high school student. So much so that the majority of us have lost ourselves in technology and social media to the point of not knowing who we are as humans anymore.