OK, everything’s set up. You have a big test in math tomorrow and you haven’t studied yet. But things are fine, right? After all, it’s 6 p.m. and you have plenty of time to get Linear Pair Theorem down. Or, wait a minute – was that the Third Angle Theorem? Anyhow, you have got plenty of time.

All of a sudden, you hear it, that familiar ping of musical charm alerting you that one of your Facebook friends has messaged you. You ignore it. After all, whoever it is can’t be as important as the test you need to ace. But there it is again, that ping. Now you start wondering: “I wonder who that could be?” It might be your best friend Ginny. She just broke up with her boyfriend and you know she needs your support. Or maybe it’s grandma. You know she finally learned how to use the Internet and maybe she wants to speak to you. It could be important, you rationalize, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to check. And that’s the pitfall of social media. Before you know it, it’s now 9 p.m. and you haven’t even answered the first math practice question.

Does the above sound familiar to you? It’s certainly happened to me. We all start off with good studying intentions but we fall into the social media sand trap. I know that I am not the only one with this problem though, the “studying versus social media” dynamic is playing itself out among others.

Alexandria Wilson, a sophomore, explained how her online life can sometimes get in the way of studying. “It interferes a lot,” she said. “If I’m looking something up on Google a lot of the time I’ll get distracted with Tumblr. It almost never fails.”

Wilson said she almost always gets distracted and her online forays can last for hours, time she should be studying for math or science.

A senior NAHS student who wished to remain anonymous, said she contended with the same struggles. “When I was in ninth and tenth grade, my study habits were seriously flawed,” she said. The senior described evenings where all good studying intentions were easily replaced with hours of idle time on the computer or on the comfy beanbag chair watching “Vampire Diaries.”

“I’d get so distracted with stuff I shouldn’t have been doing, I’d forget all about school,” she said.

This highly distracted senior said she eventually knew she had to see the light. Social media diversions were imperiling her future graduation. Proactively, she replaced social media down time with an evening regimen that greatly minimized prior distractions. Music in the background now is only soft songs on iTunes. For any breaks she takes, she sets a timer that lets her know when it’s time to go back to work. Perhaps most important, she closes Facebook and Tumblr so she can no longer hear alerts that might make her yearn for social media connections.

“It’s all really helped to curb my social media addiction and, best of all, my grades improved and I’m totally on track to graduate with strong grades,” the senior said.

So, whether it’s a timer, softer music, or just going hardcore and turning all devices off, you can win. There can be a cure for social media distraction. Helping you solve that was the easy part.

As for Linear Pair Theorem, you’re on your own.