A struggle for many students this year with the new policies on phones has led to the restrictions of social media on computers. Popular websites used by students like Netflix, Snapchat, etc. have been blocked. 

The Director of Technology, Erin Schilling has been in this position for the past year. The new restrictions on most social media platforms are decided amongst teachers, IT professionals, and administrators. 

“We do this to make sure that students are safe online and are learning while they are using their school devices and school accounts,” Schilling said. 

Most common websites used on computers are Google, Google Classroom, Gmail, and YouTube. Also a lot of students use Snapchat as a main social media platform for communication.

Junior Aurora Revering was very shocked about this new change and mentions that a lot of people she knew, including herself, were upset with this change of having restrictions for popular apps on computers, such as Tiktok, Instagram, and Snapchat. She also says that there shouldn’t be limitations at home because some people use computers as a resource for social media, especially since most have time limits like herself. 

“I think there should be limitations, but to the extent that they went to block almost everything isn’t efficient, because kids use websites as resources that are blocked,” Revering said. 

Even with restrictions of social media and most games on computers, it has created more academic focus, but makes it harder to use websites for classes when most materials are blocked.

Sophomore Leah Gavin mentions that it is beneficial to block websites that aren’t appropriate but that all of the restrictions can cause bad results because you can’t block everything. Also she says that some sites that are blocked aren’t necessary like personal emails, and some college websites. 

“I think it’s a bit overkill especially as school hours are over, our computers are used as resources not just for school but for other things in our lives,” Gavin said. 

Although it’s hard to not have most social media on computers at home and not using phones at school it reduces drama, fights, and less problems have occurred.

Junior Kaylie Nault uses Snapchat as a social media platform the most but she doesn’t use it on her computer. The new computer policy doesn’t affect her as much as others in the school.

“I think it’s helpful and can be less of a distraction for students in this facility,” Nault said. 

Freshman Veronica Helgerson mentions that you are always connected to school in a way and they limit a lot of things. She also mentions at the middle school they had some of the same restrictions with phones and computers. 

“It’s hard to have social media for so long and just cut it off at school,” Helgerson said. 

Social media has been a big distraction throughout the last school years, especially having access to it on computers. 

Junior, Hailey Olby does not use social media on her computer, and she says that the new policy creates better structure for attitudes and safety concerns for those who do. 

“I think it was more distracting than anything, and plus I don’t want people seeing my personal information on a computer,” Olby said. 

The new policy seems to have been very impactful to many, but can be a positive and helpful tool to keep the school community safe.