A TABOO THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED

iors and begins to compulsively act on that behavior.”

In school, a well-known addictive behavior is vaping.

“We can all agree that vaping is prevalent, as it is pretty accessible. I think it has even become normalized,” social worker Jenna Cartwright said. Addiction is a form of escapism used so an individual can briefly get away from something, which can then impact their mentality.

According to the study To Get High or to Get Out? Examining the Link between Addictive Behaviors and Escapism by Hannu Jouhki and Atte Oksanen, “Escapism is a tendency to seek escape and distraction from reality or real-life problems. Past research regards escapism as a negative inducement that leads to adverse consequences when combined with substance use and other addictive activities.”

The use of escapism leads to consequences that are not beneficial to students.

“There is a connection between escapism, mental health and addiction, which leads to problems later if left unchecked and can affect a student when escapism, mental health and addiction build on each other. Even when we feel something is helpful, it is not doing any good,” Markovich said.

Stress also plays a critical role in bad habits and addictions. Short-term relief can happen while stressors continue to get worse and more abundant, and Cartwright knows how that repetition of stress and short-term relief can affect students.

“You are here to be a student. If you are scrolling on your phone for

3.3% OF MIDDLE SCHOOLERS REPORTED CURRENT E-CIGARETTE USE the entire class period because that is something you use to help you feel better, the stress will pile on because you missed what you are learning in class,” Cartwright said. “Even though you have to get caught up, you cannot remember the information now, [as you have] disrupted your learning environment.” If a student does something harmful when stressed and their parents find out, it can cause that stress to become more severe, leading to an impact on their everyday life.

“Before long, you start to people at school who want to help students learn how to cope and can provide resources for them.

“Not everyone gets the education they would get if they were coming to Student Services and meeting with their school counselor or social worker about what it means to implement positive coping strategies and learn to move away from [harmful] coping strategies,” Cartwright said. “The lack of education that some students face is doing more harm than good.”

With regular Monday lessons during homeroom, students can get some information that they may lack.

“I know there have been social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons in homeroom on base-level strategies. There is a reason why we talk about it. Some may not see the helpfulness of SEL lessons because they think, ‘I’m not stressed. Why are you telling me to take a deep breath?’ However, there is a benefit to taking [those lessons seriously],” Cartwright said.

Some students may worry about their parents’ reactions to certain situations, but someone admitting they need help is a step in the right direction to break bad habits and addictive cycles. “There are times people think, ‘What will my parents say?’ But that have health problems and drop out of sports and activities. Then, your grades drop. Once your parents find out and get mad, you have that added stress. Then, you get caught at school, and you get in trouble. You go home, and your parents are upset,” Markovich said.

Dealing with stress by forming bad habits is not beneficial, but there are

11.6% OF HIGH SCHOOLS IN SOME DISTRICTS SELL ENERGY DRINKS ON CAMPUS phone .... call is the first step to get help. If you deal with the underlying issue, you may not need to use small crutches to get through a day,” Markovich said.