Flagstaff High School

Social Media Epidemic, but Turn It into A School Dance

Lauren Badger

School dances are losing their popularity due to one main thing: social media. Social media enforces cringe and cancel culture as peoples’ actions are posted online daily for others all over the world to interact with, either in a positive or negative way. This has led to a worldwide epidemic of uniformity as well as conformity, as people feel the need to censor themselves in order to not be judged or cancelled by random people on the internet.

Micro-trends, influencers and widespread information are causing people to lose their personality and diversity. This has, in turn, caused boring school dances, as it consists of everyone moshing to the most popular songs, wearing the most popular style, and photoshoots with friends to later post to social media rather than to keep as mementos.

It's no exaggeration to say that social media has impacted the way people socialize with each other. The practice of having a genuine conversation, focused on one specific topic without the interruption of an internet reference or turning the topic to the latest video scrolled by, has been lost. Social media lets people interact with each other easier than ever before, but this interaction is becoming increasingly superficial. Sending reels and videos back and forth does not truly build emotional connection. Social media encourages quantity over quality in life, and many people post on social media in a way that seems to be advertising themselves; to have others view them as cool or unique or popular, rather than posting for their friends to see, or rather than posting for their family to see what they’ve been up to. 

The whole act of attending a dance, taking pictures and getting together with friends, has become a platform for networking, and that is why dances are losing their popularity. Students who don’t want to post on social media, go with a big friend group, or hard launch their new relationship at the event tend to have a mediocre experience, as the dances themselves are catered towards those who are there to get pictures and hang out with their date- not those who want to bust a move on the dance floor. People who don’t do either, even if they have a date, might just skip the whole function. Out of the 4 seniors I asked prior to Winter Formal, only one student thought the dance could be semi-enjoyable, the other 3 not at all. Out of the two students with a date, one was going and the other was not. Of the two students without a date, both chose not to attend. Miya Follett, a Senior at Flagstaff High School, agreed that the only favorable aspect of going to Winter Formal or even Homecoming is meeting up with friends to take pictures and getting dinner together, which only further proves the negative effect that social media has had on school events.

Link to webpage