“Ding. Ding. Ding.” “Julian, turn your phone off at the dinner table,” Annoyingly yelled his mother. Ever since the invention of cellphones, the people of today’s generation lives have been changed dramatically. People’s lives have been affected by cell phones because they are a huge distraction and also causes some people to be anti-social.

Cell phones have been a huge distraction when it comes to priorities and education. For example, Jane, a crazed-texting-machine-teen, is on her phone 24/7, getting distracted from what is really important. Jane’s mother tells her to go get her sister from soccer practice in 30 minutes while she goes grocery shopping. “Whatever you do, do not be late and do not forget”, Jane’s mother told her while Jane nodded her head slowly while nodding and staring at her phone like a brainwashed zombie. After her mother left, Jane sits on her phone and catches up on all the new gossip, new fashion, and all the cute boys. An hour passes before she realizes she forgot to go get her sister. Teens like these lives are drastically changing. In addition, cell phones have even affected the classroom. Sneaky students that text during school, tweet during school, or ‘selfie’ on Snapchat during school, muffle out the teacher and not hearing a word they say. Not paying attention because of a little piece of technology can make a huge impact on your life when you’re not getting to walk across the stage and get a high school diploma.

Also, cell phones are beginning to make more and more people anti-social. For example, cell phones can be as addicting as drugs, or even more, losing all face-to-face communications. Which not only affects our lives, but the generations to come as well. In addition, being antisocial is bad for both physical and mental health. Phones are bad for physical health because if spending all time in a room alone with a cell phone, there is no physical activity, causing obesity. Cell phones also affect our life mentally. Referring back to my example with the addiction, phones make us lose face-to-face communications, because of the cool, texting slang.

Whether it’s a phone going off at the dinner table, being a distraction, or making people anti-social, in a matter of years, the world will be completely affected because of a little piece of plastic filled with wires and a glass screen.

“If only you paid as much attention in the classroom like you do on the field,” heatedly ranted Abraham’s mother when he got an ‘F’ on his report card. In our world today, the genius-on-the-field, but yet stubborn-in-the-classroom teen reflects on one of the downsides of being involved in extracurricular activities. Along with the downside of being more focused on the activity rather than in the classroom, the positivity of learning commitment and responsibility also comes from those activities.

Extra-curricular positively affects those involved by teaching commitment and responsibility. For example, it was Logan’s first time to play a sport and he expects everything to be easy-breezy. But he soon finds out those long, hot, dreadful practices are not the piece-of-cake he made it out to be, making him want to quit. After the first week of the so called torture, he decides that since he started something, he should finish through. Too often people quit in life, but possibly if they would have joined extracurricular activities, like Logan, they would have learned commitment. Along with the learning of commitment, an even more important life lesson comes from extra-curricular, responsibility. In addition, Robert plays three sports, and his grades are not the perfect-straight-a’s as they were before. After a few weeks of watching his grades plummet like an avalanche in a blizzard, he decides to take responsibility and focus on grades, but still play sports. For many of us, responsibility means nothing, but joining extracurricular can help teach and positively affect us by teaching responsibility.

Along with the positive life lessons, negative effects come when being distracted to academics. For example, three days before the state championship game, senior varsity quarterback Cade, who everyone in the school looks up to as a holy figure, is focused on nothing but his final game more than anything. Sitting in the classroom, all the information for his calculus test the next day goes in-one-ear and out-the-other. The lack of attention because of his final game makes him fail his semester exam causing him to not be able to play in the final game. Like the glorified QB, many of us involved in extracurricular don’t pay attention in the classroom as much as on the beloved field or court.

Therefore, extra-curricular activities help teach life lessons and commitment, but just like Abraham’s mother said, they affect by distracting in academics.

You might think I’m just

a 15 year old boy

with brown hair

and brown eyes

But I know I am more

way more than that

not a world class mathematician or scientist

not a dog or a lion

A Soccer game

a slow moving Soccer game

when I’m frustrated

or angry

When I go home and scream

thinking about how to fix my problems

I am the team in the game with a weak strategy

no goals

incomplete passes

wanting to give up

waiting for my coach to sub me out

a new player who’s better

But when I take my break for halftime

I refresh myself

my Soccer game starts to flow

Complete passes from player to player

and a strong mindset

I become an interesting soccer game

the game everyone wants to go to

Both teams pressing hard

shots left and right

some so close to going in

I begin to go forward but turn and drop

I’m constantly running

until I run out of stamina

then I break

and that’s where the final whistle blows

I take a breath and prepare for the next game

and the next

and the next

The brown-haired, brown-eyed boy

is a Soccer game

a slow, fast, surprising Soccer game all in 90 minutes

 Courage. Anxiety. Shock. – all fearful emotion experienced by young Elie Wiesel in the Holocaust memoir, Night, as he witnesses the brutal, heartless slaughters of innocent children. Elie fears for his own life, along with his father’s. Many emotions come alongside of fear that can drastically affect people’s lives, those affects can either be good or bad.
 Weaknesses that come from fear is hiding from problems and failure due to the fear of the challenge. For example, Jim, a scrawny little freshman, fears all-state linebacker, who is known in the school for bullying. When Jim comes near or even in eye contact with the hulk-built-bully, he runs at the speed of light to get away. Another weakness other than hiding is failure. In addition, final game of the state championship, the panthers versus the roughnecks, and the panthers fear making a mistake and causing a loss. So much fear distracting them all, gives the perfect opportunity to run straight down the field and into the end zone. Something desired for the longest time can be torn away because of the fearfulness of the situation.
 On the other hand, some strengths that come from fear are a strong mindset and the bringing together of people. For example, a freshman tennis player tries out for the varsity team. So much fear rushing around him and he says to himself, “turn this fear into something greater.” And it finally hits him like a roaring wave in a tsunami and feels as if he can do anything and makes the team. Fear also brings people closer together. In addition, Elie fears the death of his father, causing him to go to extreme measures such as, giving his father food and clothes, standing up for his father, and pushing him through the treacherous marches. Even with extreme fear in the Holocaust, Elie still manages to bring out the strengths of the fear. Strengths come from fear as when being strong minded.
 Therefor, as Elie fights to survive the holocaust, he turns fear into strong-life-saving-potions, yet still experiencing weakness.