![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Facebook loses popularity with teenagers
Morgan Douglas (10) sits in Main Hallway during lunch and checks her Facebook notifications. She checks her Facebook account every day for any updates or to browse.
November 3, 2015
With the ability to contact friends, browse through photos and keep up with everything that happens in the world, social media is used by teenagers, adults and grandparents. Many people use platforms such as Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram daily, but some choose not to engage in any social media activities simply because they find it dull.
“A lot of people post selfies and random memes, and it’s boring if they do it all the time,” Catherine Wang (9) said.
Many social media websites have grown popular over the past few years, but over time, they have lost that popularity as people moved onto new social media websites. When it was created in 2004, Facebook had approximately one millions users. After then, it started to grow rapidly and by 2010, it amassed 0.97 billion users but between the years Jan. 2011 to Jan. 2014, Facebook lost 25.4% of their users from ages 13 to 17.
“I find that Facebook is hampering my daily activities and it prevents me from doing the things that I have an obligation to be doing like school work and homework and classwork,” Jacqueline He (10) said. “People only post glorified photos of themselves.”
1.96 billion people in the world actively use social media, but some view social media as time-consuming and pointless.
“I don’t have the time to use social media and it’s time-consuming if I do,” Yannick Bohbot-Dridi (10) said.
In Oct. 2010, many teenagers shifted their attention to Instagram, which is a simplistic, free mobile app in which users can post pictures and videos as well as comment on other people’s posts. According to TIME, researchers from Princeton’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering released a study that on Jan. 17 that predicted that Facebook will lose 80% of its users within the years 2015 to 2017; this study has not been reviewed.
“When I look [at] my Facebook friends, I don’t know 90% of them. All the friends I really want to interact with, I’d either talk [to them] with email or at Harker, so there’s not really any point to try to keep a profile on social media,” Anthony Luo (12) said.
As teenagers move away from Facebook, they start to explore other social media networks. As stated above, many teenagers switched from using Facebook to Instagram. Along with Instagram, young people have also begun to use Snapchat. Snapchat is a mobile app that allows people to send photos or short video clips to their friends and family. According to ABC News, Snapchat states that 350 million photos are sent every day.
As the recursive trend of gaining and losing interest keeps occuring, people keep move will continuously move onto new and different social media platforms sites.
