Students would rather sit at home and text than go to their high school dances

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Students would rather sit at home and text than go to their high school dances
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The high school dance has gone way of the Tamagotchi. In what is perhaps a sign of the times, a New York high school has drastically scaled back the number of dances it throws from several seasonal ones to just prom. In 2001, more than 800 students attended the gatherings, compared to just 26 kids who showed up to them a few years ago. The reason? Students would rather sit at home and text, chat on Facebook, Snapchat or FaceTime with each other rather than mingle in real life.

Business Insider spoke to the school's principal, who blames the internet:

"Kids don't need to go to a dance to interact with each other when they can sit in their bed with their laptop and phone and text them," she said. "It's basically like being with that person. You don't have to show up to a dance hoping to see someone anymore. You can literally Snapchat them and see them on Snapchat."

Technology ruins everything! Read the rest at Business Insider.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.