De Smet is an environment riddled with social media. Administrators and faculty members constantly fight for student attention with popular networking sites and apps like Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. With so many De Smet students, teachers, and even clubs invested in online media, these apps have worked their way into being an integral part of student life, with some students being unable to put their phones down for even a day.

However, there are a few exceptions to this obsession with modern social media. Meet Jacques Combs, a De Smet senior proud of his lack of attachment to Instagram and Snapchat. Combs believes that social media gives toxic users an opportunity to hurt others, and refuses to take part in social media because of elements like cyber bullying.

“The issue with social media is that it gives everyone a platform. I am a free speech advocate,” Combs said, “but I think some people use that platform target other people, which I am not okay with.”

Combs also avoids social media for how intrusive it can be, citing personally targeted advertisements and other companies selling personal information as reasons to stay off very intimate apps like Instagram or Snapchat. There are also students who stay away from social media, deeming it a distraction and irrelevant to their lives. Senior Ethan Aronson also completely avoids all social media, and believes this allows him to connect more personally with friends and family and create closer relationships.

“I don’t use social media simply because I haven’t found a use for it,” Aronson said. “The people I want to talk to I just go up to and have a conversation with. I never really felt the need to connect with every aspect of everyone’s life.”

These students who abstain from all social media believe it has little to no effect on their lives, and still participate in all the common activities that most teenagers their age take part in, with the lack of social media not impeding on their social lives.

“I still do homework, prepare for college, watch movies, and hang out with my friends, the usual stuff, It’s a normal life, I just don’t have an Instagram or a Snapchat.”