Plainfield North is home to exactly 2,325 students with almost all of which owning some type of electronic device. To many, this seems to be a mindless statement, but to those 2,325 students, immaturity shines through those screens. While one can be emotionally, mentally, or generally immature, this generation deals with technological immaturity. 

Spending exactly nine months, eight hours a day, for five days a week in school allows students not only to study academics but to experience  everyone’s life and each flaw firsthand. The biggest platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Tik Tok all gain a crowd from groups like high schoolers. The negativity surrounding these platforms is just as accessible as the academics. 

One’s brain develops across the four years spent in high school with maturity being an expected component of growth. Specifically, we focus on academic maturity, and while that is important, shining light on the heavy impact social media and technology has on young adults remains unspoken. 

The effect of social media’s negativity and drama on high schoolers should be an area of development in maturity. All the negativity of social media and drama should be implemented on maturing especially when in use of social media. 

Generations of young adults are exposed to this negativity and the concept of a cruel world rather than being educated on using these platforms to better one’s life. Educating young adults on the safety and concerns of technology is critical to the development of children, especially when it could be affecting a child’s academic performance. 

The mental health effects of social media is at an all time high; with the growing of suicide rates, the concern grows in the community. According to Yale medicine, “ Numbers grow month by month but are studied to have spiked during the months of enrollment in a school or university.”

One would hope that with this information at hand and the loss of fellow classmates at neighboring schools, the insults and immature comments would come to a stop, but it’s a never ending cycle. Avoiding the engagement with online negativity would be widely discussed and taught to students.