Chapter 1 - The Virtual World Obsession!
Evelyn and Grace are the two besties who have different personalities. Still, their vibes matched each other. They both loved to socialize, go shopping, discover new things, and travel. They were the trendsetters and the most informed teens about everything going on around the world, from new social media trends to political news.
Evelyn and Grace found their new passion in becoming the teen influencers of social media. They posted content about travel, their high school, and fashion. As time passed by, the duo got popular all over the internet, and they had a series on social media called " Experiences of Teens with Evelyn & Grace!" which received lots of love from the audience. Social media's influence spread throughout high school, including middle school. All of them joined the virtual world and started making content like Evelyn & Grace.
Apart from becoming influencers, they also joined messaging and gaming platforms where they messaged their friends, played virtual games with each other and video chatted.
As days passed, the whole middle and high school got addicted to the virtual world. From posting content to making online friends and playing games virtually, there was no socializing left. The parents of the teens got worried as all their kids stopped meeting each other and playing outside with friends. The students of the high school lost interest in studying and building a prosperous future with a successful career. They thought social media is where you can get popular, stay entertained, earn money through views, and have a job to do. The teachers and the parents tried their best to explain to the youngsters that education is a one-time opportunity in life, which is like a now or never situation where this is the time you can educate and upskill yourself, but miserably failed as social media strongly affected the teens. Evelyn & Grace started doing brand promotions for teenage products, and the helpless parents could not help but just watch the scenario to avoid their child falling into clinical depression due to a lack of any kind of support.
The teachers of the students come up with an idea to save the futures of the teens from the virtual world. They prepare to execute the plan. Their first step was to close the high school for a month. The result of doing this was to make the teens fed up with the virtual world where there is no fun and realize how beautiful the world outside is! They informed the parents about their plan.
After the schools closed, the teenagers were overwhelmed because they could create content and chat with their friends all day without having to worry about studying, but they had no idea how bored and fed up they would become in this one month. Soon, weeks passed by, and guess what? All the parents, teachers, and the principal joined social media and started posting content just like the teens and started following all the teenagers from the high school.
However, few of the teens got bored very soon but were helpless as creating content and staying on social media was the only option they could do for the whole month
As weeks passed by, a question sparked in Grace's mind: how can we get a month's holiday suddenly without any important reason? A worried Grace questioned Evelyn and said, " How did this happen? What made the principal and teachers give us holidays for up to a month suddenly?"
" I am clueless. I think we should visit the school tomorrow with the rest of our classmates as the schools will be open for primary and middle school," answered Evelyn.
"Yes! That's a good idea." agreed Grace.
The next day, Evelyn, Grace, and the other classmates of their batch and the senior classes of their high school arrived at the school and proceeded toward the faculty lounge where there was the principal, Ms. Emma Wittson's cabin. Stella, their close friend, started by asking, "Good morning, respected principal, today we are here to discuss something important with you about the holidays of a month given to the high school."
"Good morning students, and let me inform you that the holidays of a month are over as you all have lost interest in studying, and gaining knowledge to build a successful career for your future, but here I can see you all got so addicted to the digital platforms so much that it couldn't let you leave social media for even a minute. I am not denying that being a social media influencer can be a career, but when you have the opportunity to study and be educated, why are you losing that opportunity all by yourself? Anyways, I have one more piece of good news for you: there is no school for you all for the rest of the year, and you can create more content and stay in the virtual world forever this year! "Now you all may leave," replied an annoyed Ms. Wittson.
After the teens of the high school left the school, Evelyn and Grace understood that this is the time when they can have fun with their friends, gain knowledge, and spend time with their family. They realized their mistake of influencing everyone from high school to joining social media and becoming popular.
The very next day, the duo went to Ms. Wittson's cabin and apologized for the mistake they made in influencing everyone to join this virtual world and realized how beautiful and peaceful the actual world is. We now understand the importance of studying, and we assure you that we won't sacrifice education for social media, so please reopen the school for the high school; we don't want to miss the fun. "
" I am very happy that you both understood and realized your mistake, and we will reopen the schools for you all." "We are not stopping you from leaving social media, but we want you all to balance everything well and not focus only on one thing." Hence, you can create content on social media and explore the digital world, but not so much that you get obsessed and can't leave it. "answered the principal.
"Thank you so much, ma'am. We understand and we will make sure we don't get addicted to anything too much," replied Evelyn.
After apologizing, Evelyn and Grace explained everything that happened to the other students in high school. The other teenagers also understood, and they got excited about the reopening of school.
It was finally the reopening day of high school, and the principal had called the parents of all the students for the opening assembly. The principal started by calling Evelyn and Grace onto the stage and asked them to share their experiences of living in a digital world for so long. They shared their experiences and said, "Living in the digital world was something different. We could even chat and talk with our friends online, but still couldn't have that fun that we could have with our friends in real life." This month was not as expected as it changed our daily schedule to a completely different one. We thank our principal for making us realize the importance of education in our daily lives. Now we will maintain a proper balance between the online and the offline worlds. ".
The parents of all the teens were happy to see their children back in school, recognizing and learning from their mistakes and reassuring them to stay focused and determined for their careers.
Later, there was a lot of improvement in the teenagers, and they made some positive changes in their academics. They were still active on social media, but they were not addicted so much anymore. Evelyn and Grace also posted their story of joining social media, which was also loved by the audience. The next month, a brand that sells stationery products wanted to collaborate with Evelyn & Grace's school for an advertisement after watching their video. The principal and teachers got happy about the opportunity they got. After that instance, the school got more such offers and got popular worldwide, and was recognized & awarded as the " Best School for exposure & participation".The power of social media didn't only addict but made positive changes for the school. After this change, the school could develop more technological factors in making their school the latest and the best. Evelyn & Grace were happy to see their school growing because of them.