IT has only been a week since Orange Christian School student Daisy Thompson gave up Facebook and she’s already itching.
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The Year 11 student has vowed to stay away from the social media website during school terms so she can concentrate on gaining the marks needed, in her Higher School Certificate, to study psychology.
But she is fully aware it will be a struggle.
“I nearly went on the other day but thankfully I didn’t,” she said.
Every afternoon Daisy sits at the dining room table working away at her calculus homework with her iPad sitting next to her - a tool she needs for school but the temptation to quickly flick on Facebook is great.
She fights the urge and dives into Pythagoras’ theorem, counting down the days until the school holidays begin and she can check in and see photos of what everyone had to eat for the last 10 weeks, find out who is going to the gym and spend days catching up on all the important memes she’s missed out on.
“I’ve decided to log back on during the holidays so I can still catch up with my friends because some of them don’t have mobiles,” she said.
Daisy is a dedicated student with seven subjects to juggle over the next two years; two-unit mathematics, advanced English, extension English, biology, distance PDHPE, community and family studies and legal studies.
She knows she needs a “pretty good” final mark to allow her to study psychology, so she is taking no chances on menial social media distraction.
“I’ve got to put my head down and work,” she said.
Daisy’s friends were supportive of the move once they had worked out they had not been officially ‘defriended’ she said.
Her mother Fiona Thompson is very proud.
“She did this all on her own, it was all her own idea,” she said.
“Her sister did give her a present, a pair of Vans (sunglasses) as an incentive.”
Daisy said social media could be a tool for cyber bullying and for that reason she would recommend a social media black-out for any student.
“I can’t stand cyber bullying... it has the potential to deteriorate anyone’s study,” she said.
Students do use social media as a study tool, to help each other and provide answers but Daisy thinks the temptation to start talking about gossip, or weekend plans, is too great and the benefit from a blackout far outweighs any potential benefit as a study tool.
Daisy has about 530 school days left on her social media ban and she is certainly counting.
“I had a dream I went on it the other night and I got into trouble,” she said.
nicole.kuter@facebook.com.au