The Infamous brain melter on my education by Amanda

The Infamous brain melter on my education by Amanda - March 2022 Scholarship Essay

I’ve had social media since I was 13. I got it in the summer of 2019, after I got my new phone in July. I had just gone on vacation to Florida with my family, so I had a great first post, including pictures from Universal Studios, a fabulous Cruise, and so many tourist sites that you could find in the lovely and humid Florida. I downloaded Instagram and Snapchat. I found many of my friends and family and creators that I enjoyed watching live their lives. Over that summer of 2019, I was glued to my device. I remember there being multiple earthquakes that summer, I would post about that. I went on many adventures and hikes, I would post about that. I saw many amazing musicals and concerts, I would post about that. There was nothing that wasn’t worthy of posting in my eyes.

Then school started in August. I posted the first day of school, spirit weeks, football games. My grades were good, but I would notice things falling, slowly. I would be glued to Instagram instead of doing my English homework. I would be looking at my friends' stories on Snapchat instead of doing conceptual physics assignments. I started prioritizing looking at creators and clickbait titles instead of doing things that I needed to graduate.

Social media has not had an admirable impact on my education. It has slowed it down and blossomed this unhealthy habit of procrastination within me. I was a straight A student in middle school, but starting high school with a device and social media on said device, changed me. And it still does to this day. Somedays, I still choose to look at people's lives through a screen instead of finishing my homework. It not only has distracted me from what I need to do, it also brings my mental health down which causes my motivation to plummet, further ruining my strive to try and keep going in school.

I will admit, it does have it’s advantages. There are many accounts that I have found that motivate people to keep going or they tutor people on subjects. There are numerous youtube videos that help me with APUSH homework and teach me subjects in math that I may not understand. But the cons of social media in education terms outweigh the pros exponentially. If I were to never be introduced to social media in my teenage years, I believe that I would be a better student.

I view social media as a fast food chain. Everyone can admit, it is not good for you. But people still indulge it. People still support it by ordering the disgusting Big Macs with a large Soda and a large side fry. People will still support social media regardless of the mental health deprivation, the false information, and the distraction from the real world. In education terms, social media is bad for you. It has advantages and disadvantages but the disadvantages are far more significant than the advantages.

Social media has manipulated me to put down my paper and pencil and stare at a small and bright device, for as long as it takes for said device to lose its battery.

Then I do it all over again. When I should be doing my math homework.