Students in English teacher Sadie Dickson’s Honors Advanced Composition class are currently writing a cause-and-effect essay exploring the impact of social media on mental health. Dickson challenged her students to spend seven days without any form of social media and document various aspects of their daily lives, such as how much sleep they got each night, their feelings throughout the day, and what they did in place of social media. If students chose to participate and documented their personal data, they were able to use that information in their essays. Although this was an optional assignment, many students took on the challenge.

A student in the class, Bella Koleno, participated in the challenge and commented on her experience:

Another student in the class, Haley Woodling, decided not to participate in the challenge and continued to use social media as she pleased. She commented on the challenge and said,

I personally took on the challenge to see how my use of social media affects my mental health. Throughout the week, I found that it didn’t impact the way I felt, but it did affect my sleep. My opinion on the topic is that social media only affects mental health if it is used in a negative way.