By David Taylor
Phones can bring high schoolers closer together through social media, enabling us to share what we’re doing at 2:38 in the 
afternoon or what we’re having for dinner. They let us watch videos of fat cats doing silly things or dogs barking the tune of Star Wars. They let us send instant postcards of where we are. The millennial generation lives on our phones, but what are we doing?
A survey given to Mount Vernon High School students asked the questions: What are the top apps you use? Why? How do they affect you? After the results were recorded, the top three apps used were: Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
TWITTER
Twitter is a social media site that lets you “tweet” whatever you can fit into 140 characters. Tweets can range from everything like sophomore Charlie Englebrecht asking for advice, “Retweet if I should bring the mullet back, favorite if I shouldn’t. #mullet #shorthair.”
Or Nolan Teubel giving the twittisphere knowledge, “Ohio is the only US state which shares no letter with the word mackerel.”
Hashtags are what make Twitter go. You can look up a hashtag such as “#gomvstangs,” and it will bring up all the news and tweets that have used that hashtag. Now in Charlie’s case, he used his hashtags to tell people what his tweet was about in case people were skimming through their feed.
But some have started to use hashtags outside of Twitter. Social Studies teacher Maggie Willems has caught herself saying “hashtag” before thoughts and spoken language. She reported, “I ate some delicious beef brisket last weekend; I said ‘hashtag deliciousness’ out loud to my friends with whom I was dining. This is ridiculous, I will acknowledge, but I can’t help myself.”
Mrs. Willems is not alone. There are people who say “hashtag” before almost every word.
As a whole, Twitter is a platform for self-expression and open conversation. Aside from words, you can tweet pictures or videos as well, such as photos from 2013 MVHS graduate Hanna Giegerich, like the picture to the left.
Senior Keanan Shannon says, “Twitter is a nice and easy way to get caught up on news.” All types of people use Twitter to see what everyone is doing in real time. This is a big help for high schoolers who forget what early bird day it is or who want to tweet about the big game.
SNAPCHAT
More than 60 million messages or photos are sent each day through Snapchat, and after being viewed for a couple of seconds, the photos self-destruct. People are growing more aware of the content that they share on the web and its possible repercussions that follow later in life. This is why Snapchat appeals to 39 out of 50 kids in the high school. What you say and send is not permanent, and there is a comfortable feeling about that.
Junior Grace Niehaus says, “Snapchat is a nice and easy way of talking to your friends.” Which it is. Some people believe that the only reason kids use Snapchat is to send naughty pictures, but it’s really more than that. It’s for kids to goof around and not be in any kind of danger regarding what is said between each other. The average time for a text and snap to send (depending on your service or wifi connection) is about the same (3-5 seconds), but a snap can only be viewed for at most ten seconds before it is terminated.
Although there is always the danger that someone may take a screenshot of the snapchat, a traditional text message is seen as a permanent communication, but a snap will disappear.
Instagram is a social media app that lets you capture moments on your phone and then share them with the world. It has the same concept as Facebook or Twitter, but it is strictly posts of pictures and videos. Anyone can follow you, and you can follow anyone (unless of course it is a private user or you are blocked). “It’s a way to see what everyone is up to, and to show everyone what you are up to,” says freshman Yves Cotterill.
On Instagram there are days when you post certain pictures. The first day of the week, Sunday, on Insta is called “Selfie Sunday,” when you upload pictures of your selfies. If you don’t take pictures of yourself in random places, this day is not for you.
The next day is “Man Candy Monday.” It probably originated from a high school girl that was a Channing Tatum (male actor) fanatic and thought everyone else should see how beautiful he is. So, as you can guess, Monday is the day to look at pictures of guys looking attractive, or for those that use the “screenshot” method in Snapchat, to capture and post those ugly pictures of “friends” to make fun of Man Candy Monday.
There is the opposite from this day, just two days later, called “Woman Crush Wednesday.” You can probably figure out that it’s a bunch of pictures of females, again looking both attractive and not. The final one of the week is “Throwback Thursday.” This day is fun because you can post a picture of what you looked like when you were younger. Some of the pictures are pretty hard to believe, such as sophomore Jenna Reimann’s most recent one (on right).
Instagram is a great visual site to see what people are doing and who their man crushes are. Of course Instagram is used by some for other things, such as vacation pictures or memorable moments too.
***
Without the use of social media our generation may be lost. Social media is a way to rebuild community from the overload of millions of songs, shows, and other media. Past generations would gather around the TV and watch the same show that everyone else in the country was watching. They’d listen to the same radio station with the same song playing everywhere. Social media let us keep in contact with one another and talk about what we’re doing at 2:41 or what we’re having for dessert. Even though these apps come across as a bit stalkerish at some points, that’s okay because everyone does it! #jointhefun
