Addictive websites eat up students’ time

Lindsey Davis/Staff Writer

Imagine how much homework students could get done in a night’s work if there was no Internet. It’s possible that math assignments would be turned in the actual day they’re due, projects wouldn’t be put off until the last minute and no one would be “sick” the day of a big exam. Yes, this may be entirely wrong, but it’s not a far stretch either.

On average, teenagers spend about 16.7 hours online a week according to a study by Yahoo. Adults tend to think most of this time is spent on Facebook, but this is not entirely true. Every day, new websites spring up, with a select few becoming cult favorites.

Take Pinterest, a site that sprang up in the spring of 2011. It was just recently sent to the Facebook/Twitter level with heaps of viewers every day. Pinterest, which can actually be connected with these two major social networking sites, is a place for pictures that inspire you. To post a picture on your personal page is called “pinning.” Get it? Pin a picture of something that interests you … Pinterest! It is a huge time consumer because once you get on, it’s hard to tear yourself away.

“I love Pinterest because it has a lot of stuff to look at when you’re bored and has cool things to try,” junior Carissa Herkelman said.

As you scroll through the page, you will see pictures of weddings, food, clothes, quotes, fitness ideas and funny images. If you want to your own personal page, you must request an invite. From there you can make your own boards to pin pictures to. Make multiple boards for specific categories like “Dream House” or “Things that make me laugh,” for example.

“Pinterest is the best because it has a lot of awesome ideas and things to make,” junior Beth Keesy said.

For those who have Tumblr, you know how time consuming it is. With all the pictures to reblog and quotes to read, time flies by pretty quickly while you’re perusing through everything. If you don’t have a diary, Tumblr is a place to pour out all your thoughts. You can bet that when you’re writing the most thought provoking insight on life, the clock ticks away.

Twitter is an obvious time waster. It is not hard to lose track of time as you read your peers ever-so-interesting tweets. Think about how much time you could save if you didn’t have that Twitter app on your phone. What could you possibly do with all that free time? But we are a different type of generation and life wouldn’t be as exciting without social media.

Then we have the whole slew of addicting, random websites. Texts From Last Night is cringe-worthy and funny. BFFs like to post nuggets of wisdom from this site on each other’s Facebook walls. All the back and forth clicking from TFLN and Facebook is a huge time consumer. People of Walmart pokes fun at all the strangely dressed people that roam the aisles of America’s most popular corporation. The pictures posted on this site are sometimes hard to believe, and it’s hard not to feel embarrassed for the people in them.

The list goes on and on. Everyone has their own addicting sites, ones that will consume their precious time. The Internet takes time away from family, friends and more importantly school. So get off cyberspace and go do your pre-calc.