By Alana Bojar
Pro Procrastinator
NEWTON- A new support group, Schoology Addicted South Students (SASS), will start holding meetings every Friday after school. The goal of this group is to provide assistance in helping students overcome their addictions to the website, which many teachers use to provide students with class updates, resources and, most importantly, grades.
Lev Enngrayd, a South English teacher and the founder of SASS, claimed that the group is essential to students’ physical and mental health after he witnessed several students walk into doorways, peers, and the occasional preschool student because their eyes were glued to their phones.
“At first I assumed [the students] were using the Facebook or the Instagram like the youths do these days,” Enngrayd said in an interview last Wednesday, “but when I ran to help two students after a head-on hallway collision, I noticed that both had Schoology open on their cellular phones.”
According to Enngrayd, these moments can have dangerous consequences.
“They just wanted to know their latest math test grade. Now they’re both in the hospital with concussions, and the grade still hasn’t been posted,” he concluded, wiping a tear from his eye.
Freshman Jess Trynapass spoke to us about some of the struggles she faces due to her Schoology obsession.
“One day I got a text from AT&T warning me that I had used almost all of my monthly data, so I decided to check what apps on my phone were the main culprits,” she said. “I thought it was going to be Snapchat because I constantly check to see if my streaks are alive, but it was actually Schoology. Now I can’t iMessage my friends and family or keep my finsta up-to-date for the rest of the month. It’s terrible.”
A prospective member of the group, Tim Tostudy, said that Schoology has had a huge impact on his life.
“I wake up, check Schoology and go back to sleep for another few minutes. I check Schoology as I’m brushing my teeth and as I pour myself my daily bowl of Cheerios. Sometimes teachers will post your grades early in the morning,” Tostudy began, resisting the urge to open the app as he spoke. “I have to be the first to know or else I’ll be caught off guard when someone asks me how I did. If I fail to know first, then I have to face the humiliation that comes with opening Schoology with your friend watching your every tap, so they can compare their performance with yours. I just can’t deal with that.”
“When I’m the first to know that an assignment has been posted, I get to witness the color drain from the faces around me. I love it,” Gray Daquiz, another student who checks Schoology obsessively, said. “I open the app first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. Seeing that little notification button light up is my favorite part of the day.”
SASS will provide students with techniques for focusing on learning instead of grades as well as techniques to combat the urge to check the app.
“Hopefully this group will show students that they are not alone in their inability to resist checking Schoology, even when they know that their teacher has not posted the grades because not all of the students in the class have completed the assignment,” Enngrayd said.
Students interested in joining SASS should Schoology message Enngrayd for more information.
