By Alex Irizarry
Staff Writer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY4uWLOLKzU

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Tumblr. Today’s social juggernauts, connect people around the world with a mere click. In 140 words or less you can let the world at large in on “what’s happening” with you.

You can travel the world from your two-room, one-bath apartment building on the lower east side with the simplest of gestures. It’s all so lazy, superficial and just too easy.

From the moment children in this generation are able to pick up an iPad and conduct their first search, they are taught one simple thing. We do not need to think, the machines will do it all for us.

Why worry about math? The calculator seems to have no problem with it.

Who needs to read a book anymore? Sparknotes has everything you ever need to know.

Why go do any research? I can go on Google, and within a few keystrokes, I can get instant answers to any question I may have.

Creativity? Critical thinking? They are all things of the past now.

Technology almost always dumbs people down, to the point where, according to the Pew Research Center, 47 percent of teens say their social life would end without their cell phone. They honestly believe they cannot have a functioning social life without technology and the biggest facilitators of this destructive behavior are social media sites. Everything about social media is set up in the easiest way possible; a toddler could figure it out with no trouble.

It affects our ability to creatively think as well, hindering deep and creative thoughts by making words such as ‘lol’, ‘btdubbs’, and ‘crunchy’ mainstream. Creating millions of Vine videos of the same people doing the same thing over and over again like a tape recorder, and yet we still eat it up. We as a species don’t seem to think for ourselves anymore, making us extremely susceptible to peer pressure.

Everything teens do, from the clothes they wear to even the way they talk, is based on what’s ‘in’ right now, what’s ‘cool’ to our peers, it is rarely about what we like or believe. We allow others to think for us, seeing what that celebrity tweeted today, or that oh so cute top Cindy wore in her newest profile picture. Wasting half the day in an attempt to get one measly like, one superficial gesture, so we feel accepted by the group.

Social media not only allows these destructive behaviors; they encourage it.

All of this comes full circle to affect every part of our lives, from our homes to school. Many students would agree that they would probably end up doing a lot more work if they did not have their phones or iPads readily available to them at all times. We have gotten to the point where it is just accepted that students will be on their phones instead of working, to the point where most teachers will just let it happen.

It is pathetic how little we are doing to prevent this destructive behavior. Simply put, no one is doing enough on both sides of the equation.

So if we are not going to prevent the use of technology, how can high school students practice serious thinking? Honestly, most students have been exposed to some form of social media by this point in their lives. Heck, every high school and middle school student in Coppell has an iPad. However, they were not born with it at their disposal.

Our generation has the foundation, we just have to build off of that and make it a habit. We know what its like not to depend on these technologies. The generations growing up right now, the ones who have iPads in their hands before they’re able to walk, they are the ones we should be worrying about.

They have never known a world where this technology does not exist, where things were not so easy.  Now breaking the habit of going to social media and technology for all the many questions in life will be that much more difficult. That’s why, starting now, the current generation needs to lead the way to a more enlightened view of the world.

The most important thing that we have to remember is this: social media and technology are amazing tools for us to use, but they are just that – tools.

It is easy for students in high school courses to just pull up the information on the Internet, but if they take the easy road they will never have that breakthrough and be able to have creative thoughts.

My challenge is this: set down the phone, go to the library and study. Or if that is not you, go to a mall, a movie or get outside and throw the ball around. Instead of scrolling through your Twitter feed on a Friday night, go out with your friends. Interact, read and most importantly – learn, get out and see the world as it truly is. Be who you are and show the world what you are capable of.