It’s no secret that the Millennials have a social media obsession. From Snapchat to Reddit and anything in-between, today’s generation has been on it. While social media has helped people to connect around the world, how does it affect the academics of students in 2016?

According to Matt Richtel, author of “Growing Up Digital, Wired for Distraction,” technology can have an effect on the nature of a student’s developing brain. This means that a student’s brain is more likely to want to change activities than an adult’s and they’re more prone to distractions. Think along the lines of putting your homework aside and watching an all-important cat video on YouTube.

We can agree that such distractions are bad but is there something beneficial about technology? It keeps us up well beyond our bedtimes, but some students attest that technology helps them improve their grades. Social media helps students connect to one another. Have any trouble remembering homework? Just DM a friend from the class. Can’t remember the definition to a word? Google it. The internet is there to help.

How do the students of North Atlanta feel about this? Freshman Cole Bickerstaff doesn’t spend much time on his phone compared to most kids. He says he spends only about 1 to 2 hours on his phone a day. “I usually go on Snapchat, Ifunny, Pandora and Google,” said Bickerstaff. “I’m usually in bed around eleven.”

Freshman Ansley Booth, an avid Snapchat user, said she spends an estimated 3 to 4 hours on electronics a night and admits that all this use puts her to bed anywhere from midnight to 2 a.m. “During the evening, I usually call my friends and go on Snapchat,” she said.

The Internet – and the social media platforms it makes available to us – is a part of our lives that’s not going away. Millennials will have to figure out the best way to juggle these platforms and achieve more necessary tasks – like getting our homework done before, say, 3 a.m.