Nintendo Switch: the latest trend in school distraction
The Switch is a new gaming console created by Nintendo that has taken our generation by storm. The system plays like a home console, but doubles as a portable device. It utilizes wireless Joy-Cons controllers and the use of sd card sized cartridges to hold games. This wireless technology allows for players to enjoy their games with others on the go, including the classrooms.
Some of you may be quick to call this an inconvenience in the classroom. Many will see the Switch as a distraction while others will try to defend its use and might see any actions against it as an act of repression towards them. But we are not here to choose a side or discuss its use. Its the easiest option for a journalist to take. What us as students want to do it discuss why this trend has started, and better yet, why trends like this keep occurring.
The Switch is not the first school trend to sweep the classrooms. For years, students have been bringing in several different items to their schools which eventually became a distraction, at least, according to school staff. A recent example includes the Fidget Spinner, which despite being designed to avoid distraction and help those with mental disabilities, has done the complete opposite in the eyes of many people. Many of these items have been banned from schools and discouraged from use by teachers and staff. It’s highly likely that the Switch will suffer the same fate.
So why do these trends blow up? That question is answered when we realize one of the main causes of this phenomenon is the student’s need for an escape from their academic studies. School is a required routine and items like the Switch counteract that mundane nature. This, in turn, produces a relief as their worries are forgotten about before returning to their working environment. In a way, items like the Switch, along with many other trends throughout the school, could bring students together.
It can also create a more fun environment for the classroom, which gets students engaged with each other and actively participating in something other than academics. You can even say that it creates more of a community than school assignments ever could.
When students are having a good time, many others will try to join in on the action. Once these items become trendy, it becomes almost instinctive for others to repeat and adopt those trends. Teens have the instinct to fit in with the crowd and using materials like the Switch or Fidget Spinners helps them keep up with other people’s interests. Thus, the usage of those items becomes common and mandatory for the masses. It was hard to come across a classroom where someone wasn’t attempting to flip bottles or show off their flashy Fidget Spinners. Pretty soon the Nintendo Switch could be the new Fidget Spinner.
The fate of the Nintendo Switch in our schools is unknown, but it’s best to analyze the behaviors that students exhibit throughout the classrooms. Trendy items are a unique feature of our school that, while not beneficial to the school environment, also builds a community based on interest and helps relieve the stresses that linger on our kids.
Ben Weiss is a senior perspectives editor and writer. It will be his second and last year on The Stampede. Other activities he’s involved in include...
Aimee is a senior and Varsity cheerleader at Metea Valley. This is her second year on staff and
she is photography editor this year. She enjoys really...
... • Nov 27, 2017 at 2:09 pm
YEEESHHHH this article has gotten out of hand when it comes to the comments If i wanted to see this much rage I would look at the comments of a top 10 video.
Nintendo #1 Fan • Nov 20, 2017 at 9:25 am
We need to stop talking about distractions! I can’t believe you would blame Nintendo Switch of all things just to get an article and get hated by gamers just because you think that it’s distracting us from learning when we really don’t care but you say it’s THAT important, but it’s not! Because it’s not a distraction! Most people who own one use it at lunch probs and my best friend did exactly that! What you need to do is talk about something we care about.
Nintendo #1 Fan • Nov 20, 2017 at 9:49 am
Plus if anybody is gonna talk to anybody about Video Games on Metea Media, it’s gonna be me, and all other hardcore fans, not supposed amateurs who have only played for 5 years because we know what we’re talking about.
reddietrash • Nov 20, 2017 at 9:17 am
I find this to be VERY irrelevant to what is really happening in the school (just my opinion)
Ben Weiss • Nov 20, 2017 at 8:39 am
I am both proud and ashamed of this article. Nuff said.
Teh Epic Duck of Doom • Nov 20, 2017 at 7:46 am
I don’t really understand why it is that this is the article that people choose to complain about what Metea Media covers. Nobody really complained about the Mario Odyssey article being irrelevant, nobody complains about the movie reviews not tackling high tension political issues. This is the entertainment section, not the opinions section, what point is there in them talking about juuls and phixes here? This comment section is the equivalent of going to the Weekly Sports Update and complaining about people covering high school level sports when the domestic violence and doping is at an all time high in the professional sports industry.
-Teh Epic Duck of Doom
Ibraheem Jaheem Al-Fusah Makkah • Nov 21, 2017 at 11:14 am
because this article is counterevidential.
Chroma • Nov 18, 2017 at 8:31 pm
A decent amount of these comments are talking about rampant drug use in the school, but unless things have drastically changed from when I was still attending, it’s not actually that common a thing. There were certainly a handful of students who used drugs and would talk about it, but it virtually never happened at the school.
That being said, I can certainly understand why many are annoyed at an article like this being written when there are certainly many more important issues which could be discussed. The idea of the school needing to possible ban the switch as a potential threat to the academic environment seems absurd to me, although the school’s administration has made several other questionable decisions in the last year or so.
Reality Doctor • Feb 5, 2018 at 9:53 am
And this matters to this article, why?
Bofa • Nov 17, 2017 at 8:57 pm
Never really look at the use of this as A trend, in fact, it’s not very relevant or even popular to the majority at all. You can’t accurately compare the trend of fidget spinners to A handheld gaming device considering the latter is much more blatantly neglect of clout. In reality neither matter because like most school trends, it will or has died off due to staff opinion or misuse.
:l • Nov 27, 2017 at 2:16 pm
Not relevant the thing was the #1 black Friday item.
Daniel Chimpok Lee • Nov 17, 2017 at 1:40 pm
what about the issues on juuls and phixs
darkstripe • Nov 17, 2017 at 1:04 pm
metea media still never covers any actual issues. i only know 1 (one) kid who brings their switch to school and he really only plays it on the bus and before school. the world still blowing up poiltics-wise and this is what metea media covers lol
I´mJustAGuyWhoCares • Nov 27, 2017 at 8:18 am
For hating metea media, you sure seem deeply invested with it considering you’re the only one here with a profile pic, and you seem to comment on every metea media article even though you seemingly hate the platform. Maybe you should try different sources for news 😉
Ibraheem Jaheem Al-Fusah Makkah • Nov 17, 2017 at 1:02 pm
calling something that maybe 5 or 6 socially unaware kids do a “trend” is totally inaccurate
... • Nov 17, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Why exactly does this article exist?
a person • Nov 19, 2017 at 5:48 pm
Because Metea Media ran out of ideas
Megan • Nov 17, 2017 at 9:50 am
I legit only know one person that has one of those and brings it to school every day
The Dusty Dindu • Nov 17, 2017 at 9:37 am
I don’t see the harm in having a switch in school, most people don’t plop open one in the middle of class and usually with their lunch. There are much more issues I believe there are much more prevalent issues that can be covered rather than complaining about an item in school which hasn’t been such a huge problem yet.
RandomZeldaFan1 • Nov 17, 2017 at 9:30 am
I agree with one of the comments on why we are covering something like a video game, There are a lot more serious topics that I think people, especially the students who have this privilege to post this for the school to see, about the drugs and vapeing that go on in a DAILY basis. You walk into the bathrooms and all you smell is drugs. it would be better if someone would write about hazards, warnings, and the effects that drugs can do to your body, maybe people would read and think twice about they’re doing instead of some dumb video games.
No • Jan 10, 2018 at 8:00 am
im pretty sure you can write a letter to them and they publish it
Reilly Koyl • Nov 17, 2017 at 8:25 am
Why would people bring their switch to school?
A lifelong Mario fan • Nov 17, 2017 at 10:08 am
3 Reasons
1. To Show Off
2. To entertain themselves
3. To Cause Metea Media to write this weird article that is honestly in my humble opinion dumb
Nintendo #1 Fan • Nov 17, 2017 at 8:02 am
You don’t know what you’re talking about! Nintendo Switch is awesome and that is unrealistic that it’s used in the classroom! Not cool.
Nintendo #1 Fan • Nov 17, 2017 at 1:35 pm
Metea Media should be talking about the next big thing. It’s bigger than what distracts us from school and smaller than what terrorists do to other countries.
A lifelong Mario Fan • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:57 am
Glad to see Nintendo get some attention in this school with the recent Mario odyssey review and this article to.
Go Switch • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:48 am
I find it hard to believe that schools will have to take actions like they did with fidget spinners I don’t think that schools will “Ban the Switch” after all this is a gaming system not a cheap toy.
Henna • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:45 am
I really hate how you’ve titled this article. “The latest trend in school distraction”? No. Do you know how hard it is to get your hands on one of these? Not only are they in short supply, but also expensive. The thing with Fidget Spinners was everyone could get one. Do you really expect everyone to magically have a Switch, which might I remind you is $300 from a department store and much more online because they’re so rare and in low manufacturing numbers? Some people, like me, actually worked for the money and bought it themselves. I wasted my summer in order to not have enough money for my Switch. I had a 5 week break before being shipped off to Ohio to work for my grandfather who didn’t even pay me fully. I fell into a deep depression this summer and my grandparents didn’t help in any way. I stopped caring for myself, I didn’t shower, I rarely ate, I didn’t leave the basement except to grab myself dinner or if I had to go to work. At the end of the summer and during the two days I had at home before school started once again, I had to cut my hair off because it was so impossibly tangled and there was nothing else I could do to fix it. And at the end of all that, I was short $150 because my grandfather refused to pay me and I had to ask my dad for the money, which was more embarrassing than anything other teenage girls can comprehend. I won’t let the school take this away from me after losing my summer.
I´mJustAGuyWhoCares • Nov 27, 2017 at 8:05 am
Bro CHILL
APersonWhoAgrees • Nov 30, 2017 at 8:03 am
I totally agree with a person who doesn’t feel “at home” when he is home, the Nintendo Switch is one of the very few things that gives me pleasure in ife, And with Metea choosing to make this article instead of something like the gangs, or the vaping in the bathrooms just seems extremely idiotic to me
Christian • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:44 am
You know only like one person brings a Switch to school.
Duck • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:40 am
It’s me!
Can I Get Uhhhhhhhh • Nov 17, 2017 at 9:46 am
Winning as always, my friend.
C28 • Nov 17, 2017 at 7:34 am
Fake news! how is “It was hard to come across a classroom where someone wasn’t attempting to flip bottles or show off their flashy Fidget Spinners. Pretty soon the Nintendo Switch could be the new Fidget Spinner.” a legitimate phrase for an article?Please cover something that’s actually important. Please cover the people doing dabs and vaping in the restrooms, cover the gangs we have in Metea, cover the Bureaucracy of High-school, cover anything that’s not just a roast of society.
liz • Nov 17, 2017 at 10:57 am
thank you.
some white kid • Nov 17, 2017 at 11:29 am
i see no evidence that the nintendo switch has become a distraction in the classroom. its not like you can take it out in the middle of class and play on it without anyone batting an eye like you can with a chromebook.
tru • Nov 17, 2017 at 12:55 pm
tru
Tyler • Nov 17, 2017 at 1:44 pm
bet