It is a common stereotype that teens are obsessed with using their phones and scrolling through social media.

Social media plays a major role in our modern society. It’s how information is passed around, allows people to explore and view new things, and helps people stay connected. However, users, especially teens, have been taking breaks from the virtual world.

According to a study published by the Associated Press and NORC at the University of Chicago, “58 percent of teens who use social media have taken at least one break from the platforms.”They also found that “Teens who took breaks for voluntary reasons reported more positive feelings about their time away.”This is over half of the teens that were interviewed in the study.

We decided to ask students at ERHS if and why they have decided to step back from social media in the past.

When asked if he had taken a break, Senior Yeaberra Getachew responded “social media was taking a lot of time away from and I need [ed] to focus on school because I wasn’t doing well. ” He continued and said that taking this break had a positive effect on his life but leaving had its drawbacks.

“I was more relaxed and focused on the things I wanted to accomplish but it also made me less sociable like my friends would be talking about something they saw on Twitter and I would have no clue what they were talking about.”

Several other students were asked similar questions.

“No, not really.” said Chrisria Lightfoot-Taylor, a senior at ERHS. “I’ve deleted Instagram like once to focus on homework though if that counts.”

When asked if she felt like she was missing out while not having this social media app on her phone. She said “No I felt like I could focus better on my work because I deleted it.”

Another student, took more of an involuntary break from social media.

Freshman, Daysha Campbell said that she took a break from social media but it was not by choice. We asked if this break had positively impacted her life even though it was involuntary.

“It can be positive because you focus on your life and you get things done…basically it’s not distracting.”

Campbell continued, saying “It can be negative because you won’t really know everything that’s going on because social media keeps up with everything.”

As you can see, each student we asked had a different situation when came to social media. Overall, it seems as if taking breaks have had a positive impact on the lives of some of the students at ERHS.