Although the ritual of most teenage students revolves around instant and social media, a few students have endured through high school at Facebook-friendless. Whether they are cautious, rebellious, or just plain lazy, each student has their reasoning behind their decision to remain unplugged.

Sarah Bianchi says she’s “already distracted by the internet, and it’s just another thing to maintain and keep track of.” “[My friends] keep telling me they’re going to make an account for me, which doesn’t make me too happy,” said Bianchi.

Junior Megan Larson has been living just fine without Facebook her whole life. “I really don’t feel the need for it,” said Larson. “It’s not as private as people think. I’ve considered getting one before because there was a chance I wouldn’t be coming back to BSM this year. I thought about getting one so I could [maintain contact] with friends, but many of them don’t have a Facebook, so it wouldn’t have worked,” said Larson.

“One of the first days of the school year, Al Anderson and I were on Facebook at my house and I mentioned what a waste of time it was. He told me to delete it. So I did. I kissed Facebook goodbye and now, here I am, six months sober,” said senior Robert Papetti.

Larson isn’t alone. “I’m hiding from the government,” said senior Isaac Melin. “Robert supports me but everyone else thinks I’m a loser. My friends can’t think lower than me already, so it has no effect on my status. I don’t know if I’d have any Facebook friends anyway.”

As out-of-the-ordinary as it may seem, one may find it hard to argue with a Facebook-free student’s logic. “It’s a waste of time,” said junior Danny Cawood. “It got me out of doing fieldwork once or baseball. There was a group event and I didn’t get the memo, so I missed the 7AM fieldwork,” said Papetti.

A common theme among these students is that none of them have sworn to never get one. “I might [join Facebook] when I go off to college depending on whether or not my friends join; I really don’t have a need for one unless they do. I don’t have a need for one. It’s that simple.”