As high school has now basically come to an end, it’s not surprising to see that everybody is reflecting back upon their past four years. From things ranging from their favorite high school memories, their worst high school assignments, or their uber-familiar places they’ll miss, it’s a time which is undoubtedly filled with both sadness and excitement. Yet, within this period of reflection, it also comes along with numerous blogs on this topic which have created this bandwagon in which I’m ecstatic to be hopping on.

Now, as I’ve spent the past couple of weeks reflecting back on my entire high school experience, I can’t really say there’s been one definitive moment that has made or breaked my time here. Of course there were highs, there were lows, and there were a lot in betweens but I honestly can’t recall a specific instance. Furthermore, as I’ve pondered what I’d miss from my experience here, I’ve come to realize that while sure, I’m going to miss my friends, the school, the environment, I’m actually going to miss d203’s Google Hangouts so much more.

While I know, you might be saying, what? Why hangouts! 

Well, if anything, it was this that has been one of the biggest components during my high school life, an essential part of my high school experience in which, sadly to say, I still have a love hate relationship with. It’s this little green bubble which remains my largest saving grace yet also my undoubtable kryptonite, my best friend yet my worst enemy — all at the same time.

Ever since day one of high school, Hangouts has been my right hand man (and the most useful tool ever provided by North). Some examples include….

– Class chats! Throwback to my freshman semester one PE class with this world-class PE leader named Mike Rotter. It was through our massive class chat in which I met new people, got to ask questions about high school, and really just make new friends.

– Classes when you’re absent or have a quick question about something you learn today. I can’t tell you the amount of time this little green bubble has saved me walking across the room to get my phone or drafting this whole email (since lowkey, that takes forever to make sure you’re extremely polite and things like that) and being able to teach a friend without having to text out paragraph by paragraph is also amazing.

– Group Projects. Imagine being assigned to some peeps you don’t really know well and we have a present the next day and nobody has done anything and you don’t have their number. Well… I’ve definitely been there, done that, and Hangouts has been a lifesaver in these situations.

But then, there are times when Hangouts is a curse to my existence. Instances may include… 

– The hours of productivity I’ve lost to Hangouts. Since Hangouts is basically the #1 app I use for talking with friends, basically replacing my iMessage, DMs, and snap, it has the ability to distract me since it’s implemented on the device which I need to do homework.

– The sleep I’ve lost. As senior year has continued to progress, I’ve begun to notice that, night after night, hour after hour, I’ve spent more and more time on this app talking and laughing with friends which, thus, has made homework take longer which also destroyed my sleep schedule.

– Then finally, it’s also with this loss of productivity that has even managed to distract me on the most important of nights, the night before a test, a project, etc and probably caused me to bomb these tests harder than what I’d like to admit.

So, while Hangouts does have its ups and downs, it’s still a critical part of my life. And following the fact that my time in high school has now abruptly come to a close, it’s sad to see my primary method of communication fade along with it. And, in these next few months in which our accounts will inevitably fall to the void, it’s going to be sad to lose such a connection that has tied me to some of my closest friends. But with this end of an era, inevitably there is one saving grace…. It just so happens that, for the next four years of my life, I’ll be attending a university that’s once more powered again by google so just feel free to hangout me at my @umich.edu account instead.