I got home at 3 p.m. yesterday, sat down at the kitchen table and within 20 seconds, pulled out my phone and opened up facebook. Then instagram. Then twitter. Then vine. Before I knew it, 8 p.m. had arrived and I had completely forgotten to study for my exam the next day, along with doing homework from all of my other classes.

In this day and age we have access to the world with the simple touch of a button. We are surrounded by technology everywhere we turn. We essentially carry everything we need in our pocket. This unlimited access can help or hurt students, depending on how it is used.

Honestly, students do not care about homework when they can have facebook and instagram. That is the attitude that most teenagers have toward their school work. This attitude begins to appear when students have access to something that could entertain them more than algebra could. Tuning out day to day distractions makes it difficult enough to focus on working, but trying to focus while having the temptations of a phone that has access to all friends lingering overhead, is even more challenging. When studying, I usually put all of my electronics that are not needed away. Having an “out of sight, out of mind” mindset helps me to focus.

Not having the distraction of social media helps students focus on what they need to do. If students do feel the urge to go on the network, you should probably try to stay under 15 minutes, however 15 minutes a day on facebook or instagram could lead to three hours. If I ever get a break on my studying, I usually spend it on social networking and then my break goes longer than intended. Overall social networking hurts us more than it helps us.