Looking at my daughter’s social media friends, it’s very obvious the students “living” on it are low involvement (ECs), mediocre GPA. In contrast to the social and academic superstars from school that seem to check in on the apps once every week or two. What is that “it” factor that has the best students realizing what a waste of time it all is? My daughter is an above average student but I’d venture to say she spends at least 40 hours a week simply refreshing social media. Is it merely too much idle time vs the rockstars have full schedules? Maturity?
When my 7th grade daughter was at an engineering camp this summer, I asked her to take a pic of herself and her new friends. She replied, “Mom, we are not the “selfie” kind”.
The best student I know is on Instagram all the time. He’s a model. It’s personal preference more than anything.
I’m not on either but I’m not confident there’s much of a correlation.
My tech-y, academically-inclined kid does absolutely no social media other than LinkedIn which he was required to do for an engineering class. He is simply not into it. DS is more auditory and I think he just doesn’t want to sit and stare at a screen any more than he already does for his school work.
I was thinking of starting a generic FB page for him (with his permission) so that he can join the “admitted class of ****” pages.
When I look at my daughter’s high school friends, the ones that fit the nerdy stereotype stayed away from social media. The “rock star” kids (popular, high gpa, lots of ECs) used social media to promote themselves and stay connected. The cool kids, who were more concerned about their social standing than their gpa, did a lot of social media and were not always smart about what they posted.
There is a certain amount of drama on social media–either you have time and patience for it or you don’t. One thing I don’t understand is why so many college try to get these kids to follow their social media–it seems like they should prefer their applicants to do something more fruitful with their time.
I’m on Twitter/Instagram and I have a 96 UW GPA, taking 6 APs, and am a competitive figure skater, etc. but somewhere between junior year and now, my usage has sharply decreased. Probably something about spending all my time stressing out about my college apps and those 6 APs working me to death has contributed to my decreased usage. I only really check it when I have idle time, like when I’m waiting at the rink or in the car.
Anecdotal, but enlightensment is an internal voyage–social media et al, is an entirely external exercise.
My 4.0 uw with rigorous course load daughter had 10k plus followers on Instagram and posted daily. I was not thrilled but as a manatee mom had few strict guidelines (no tagging pictures with her location being the big one).
Right before senior year she decided to do a social media cleanse. Total shocker. She no longer has Insta, Snap Chat, or Facebook. She said she didn’t want to take the chance colleges could judge her on her social media and needed the extra time for college apps.
I may be overreaching, but I think I’ve seen more self-acceptance in how she wants to spend her time and present herself. No more Hawaii teenager version of “keeping up with the Joneses.”
geeks invent the stuff the “cool” people use…but geeks are less likely to be interested in using it.
all humans are insecure(to varying degrees) and seek validation …geeks just do it in a different way!
My very busy, high-achieving D is on several forms of social media. But she uses it outside of all her committments, so some days she may not post anything, other days a whole flurry. She commutes to school, so she is online in the car most days. It really depends on the kid and their parents too. She has friends who have no online presence, others who are on there every spare moment. the key is that with high-stats kids, they ONLY post in their spare moments.
I don’t believe there is any correlation. Some of the brainiest are on social media all the time at my daughter’s high school. If there were any correlation, I think the introverts would be less likely to post. You can be an extrovert and still be a brainiac.
I think one should distinguish between a HS student, versus a college one, versus a grad student. One undeniable factor: the availability of time. The further you climb up the academic ladder, the less time you have…
I would say 40 hours a week is over the top, and hard to reconcile with doing well in school. However, I think social media usage varies. I would not say there’s a clear correlation with academic prowess.
There are people who make a living these days creating blog posts, etc. for others. If you search for “social media marketing company,” you’ll find many companies.
If she’s good at it, she might eventually be able to make a career working in digital marketing. A friend of mine did just that.