Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma” delves into the intricacies of how social media learns your behaviors to keep you hooked and scrolling. Shad Genovese’s gifted tenth grade literature classes recently took a deep dive into the intricacies of the problem, taking points for or against social media in the form of a TED Talk style video or podcast.

“[The documentary] talked about how people have a hard time distinguishing what’s true or not,” Genovese said. “The students picked one angle and [had] to talk about the pros of social media use and also some of the dangers.”

Students chose between a podcast or TED Talk format to explore their stances relating to social media and its day to day use in modern society. With that in mind, they were given basic parameters for their projects to help encourage creativity and individuality of opinion.

“It was interesting to dive deeper into research [for the topic],” sophomore Kaylee Macoy said.

Genovese and fellow gifted English teacher Ashley Collins developed the project to help give students some extra perspective on the ever-present issue of how technology makes itself addicting to use.

“What’s the effect when this addictive technology has you want it for so long?,” Genovese said. “How well can you sustain a normal relationship?

They wanted to take it from a new perspective, a more relatable one which more kids and teenagers could relate to and learn from.

“I definitely learned how much I enjoyed collaborating with people,” sophomore Mia Pamor said.

Access TED Talk from sophomores Jordyn Clark, Katie Rausch, and Ella Schwartz here.

Listen to the podcast from Tani Alofe, Carson Brownell, Olivia Farrell, Macoy here, and the podcast from Madison Conti, Lauren McSpadden, and Pamor here.