People tend to believe that while in school the one main thing that you should be focused on is academics, and that by focusing on academics, one is bettering their adulthood life. But, as it turns out, a social life is just as, if not more, important for a high schooler to have during their life in high school. And the reasons are clear as day.

It is said in the article “The Benefits of Friendship” by Michigan State University, “For adolescents, popularity can lead to increased depression during the teen years, but can provide lasting benefits of fewer depressive symptoms later in life.”  

Along with that, Mrs. Willems, a counselor at SPASH, agrees that social lives are important. When asked if she thought social lives outside of school were important, she replied with, “‌Oh‌ ‌absolutely,‌ ‌it’s‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌being‌ ‌human‌ ‌beings. It’s ‌essential. My‌ ‌heart‌ ‌yearns‌ ‌for‌ ‌things‌ ‌to‌ ‌be‌ ‌the‌ ‌same‌ ‌as‌ ‌before‌ ‌Covid, because now things‌ ‌feel‌ ‌so‌ ‌disconnected‌.” 

People do commonly say that if a student was to focus on their academics in high school and not worry about their social life, then in the future, they would have a better job and possibly a better adulthood. “I mean if you were to focus on academics, then wouldn’t that mean that you would have more opportunities as an adult? Wouldn’t that make you happier?” This is a quote said by a student that goes to school in Wahpeton North Dakota. He said this when asked if he thought it was more important to have a good social life or to focus on academics in highschool in order to have a happy adulthood.

However, this is simply not true. It is important for high schoolers to have a social life not only because it is good for the mental health of the person, but also because it teaches the person social skills that they will need during adulthood, and if they do not have these skills for adulthood, then they may not be having the best possible adulthood they could be experiencing. Indeed.com states specific qualities that are important in the workplace and how it could be beneficial to each individual no matter what the type of job it may be.  Not to mention it is proven that students with social lives in high school are more likely to have less depression issues in adulthood.

But do not be mistaken, because in order for a student to have a successful adulthood, the student should also make sure that they are doing well academic wise, as one cannot live without the other in the life of being an adult, as said by Mrs. Willems: “‌I‌ ‌mean‌ ‌you‌ ‌have‌ ‌your‌ ‌school‌ ‌life‌ ‌and‌ ‌your‌ ‌social‌ ‌life,‌ ‌you‌ ‌have‌ ‌so‌ ‌many‌ ‌different‌ ‌pieces‌ ‌of‌ ‌ the‌ ‌pie‌ ‌and‌ ‌you‌ ‌cant‌ ‌have‌ ‌a full pie ‌without‌ ‌both.‌”