IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONNECTIONS
By HOWARD YAN
As the modern technological age advances, people
have been connected more than ever. Billions of
people now log onto their computers each day in
order to discuss everyday subjects with their family
and friends. However, new competition frequently
arises to challenge existing messaging applications.
As more and more people connect around the
world, the inherent downsides that come with an
increased reliance on technology begin to become
more and more conspicuous. Even so, the use of
messaging applications is by far more beneficial
then harmful.
discussing homework and forming study groups. It
is not the chatting apps that cause negative
consequences, but the failure of parents to
discipline their children and teach them how to
prioritize their tasks that causes most teenagers to
receive poor grades and a general feeling of apathy
for school related assignments, which in turn causes
most students to engage in meaningless gossip as
opposed to productive work.
“Messages can be sent quickly and I feel like I am
actually talking to my friends face to face. Messaging
applications have helped me many times for school
“Messaging apps are popular among teenagers related purposes such as homework.” added
because teens have rigorous daily schedules and Tsubasa.
do not have time for face to face interactions outside
of school.” stated Tsubasa Kazari, a sophomore at There are both benefits and downsides to using
Shanghai Livingston American School (SLAS).
messaging apps. However, self discipline plays a
significant part in the proper usage of chatting
There are currently over 2 billion people who are applications. There is no definitive statement as to
connected through messaging apps. Giants such whether chatting apps are beneficial or not, but
as WeChat and Line attribute their success to the student should have to face their own
numerous user friendly functions that their consequences by themselves. It is never beneficial
respective applications are able to offer for free. for humans to rely heavily on technology, but
Teenagers make up the majority of their customer appropriate usage can yield more benefits that far
base. Students at SLAS are no exception. Almost all outweigh the negative downsides.
middle and high school students use messaging
applications such as WeChat and Line and all
students own a smartphone. According to multiple
interviewees, the all in one feature that is seen in
messaging apps is the main appeal towards
teenagers, who regularly spend most of their time
focused on homework assignments and do not
have time for face to face conversations. Messaging
phone apps have extended their capabilities to
transferring money and even have been able to
mimic phone like functions such as free video
calling. Another reason is the censorship of certain
apps by the Chinese government, which controls
content on the internet. Apparently, this method
has been largely successful as WeChat now has over
1 billion users within 4 years of its founding. While
many optimists praise the ability of the software to
connect people over long distances, many teachers
and parents criticize the addictive element of easy
accessibility to talkative friends who can distract
students from their homework. The key however,
is the self discipline of each and every student. Even
though many students use WeChat to gossip, even
more use it for education based purposes such as
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