Be A Leader, Not A "Follower" by Teliah

Be A Leader, Not A "Follower" by Teliah - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

One piece of advice I would give to younger students is to never lose focus of what’s important - your studies and becoming a great leader. These are the key characteristics that will take you the farthest and provide the most opportunities. I would also say don’t try to grow up too fast. Enjoy being a kid!

There are so many distractions geared toward today’s youth. The most prominent being social media. Social media is an effective gateway to connecting the world, but kids should be careful not to make it a primary focus. It has many, undeniable, positive uses such as keeping in contact with friends and relatives, sharing memorable moments, and playing games. Unfortunately, social media is also largely responsible for inappropriateness, negative peer pressure, bullying, and stress that, in some cases, even leads to suicide. Entertainment can be viewed as a “gray area” when discussing social media. While some use it to relieve stress or take a break from reality, which can be a good thing. Others may use social media for entertainment, excessively, creating vast distractions such as procrastination.

Procrastination is a very big problem in the youth community. Watching videos or parodies and following celebrity drama online takes up more time than people realize. The amount of time needed to study varies person to person but is far more important than getting consumed in social media distractions. If the same amount of effort people put into keeping up with social media was transferred into furthering their education, a lot of people would not have to worry about living the lifestyle they choose because education would not be considered a problem. I also think an influx of of jobs would be created due to the renewed focus on creativity, resulting in the outlook on the workforce in America being greater and more competitive.

We need those leaders. We need those forward-thinkers. We need renewed energy around academics. We need our youth to enjoy their youth and grow into responsible contributors to society. Their ideas will, after all, lead us in the future. I hope they all become an individual people are honored to follow; but for now, just enjoy being a kid.