March Edition︱Writing
Social Media is Ruining our Reading. | By Galitte S.
Social media. It’s granted us an outlet to the other halves of the world but what if it’s hurting the youth academically? The iReady exam is taken by majority of students in NYC a couple times a year and ever since the rise of social media, scores seem to be decreasing dramatically. Whether it’s a difference in four or in seventy points, social media has made a negative impact on the vocabulary of teenagers. Students have been accidentally typing emojis, abbreviations and slang into their classwork.
While the media has been around for decades, as it transitions to social media only, it begins to take a bigger effect on our youth more dangerously. During quarantine everyone was contained to their home, with nothing but a screen. The exposure to only being influenced by social media degraded
Children in the eighth grade have been marked at a fourth grade reading level, having trouble reading and writing words like ‘consistent’ and ‘contribute’. But how can we reverse the effects of social media? Social media is obviously a crucial part of socializing and a students day to day life by this point, but the accessible use is harming teenagers academic performance. Some students even go as far as using AI engines to generate answer for their assignments and when they face a real pen and paper, their writing ability fails to match their digital work. If students spent more time reading regularly rather than scrolling through Instagram comments in blue light, their academic performance could be much improved.
But what if social media does help us? Well journalist Emon Kalyan Chowdhury’s article on Emerald Insight stated, “Non-academic Internet usage, such as social media, has been found to have a detrimental effect on classroom performance (Ravizza et al., 2014). Excessive social media use can decrease study time, disrupt concentration and increase procrastination, contributing to poor academic outcomes (Farrell and Brunton, 2020).”
Given that information, imagine what a long term effect would be. thirty five percent of students in high school and middle school U.S. social media constantly and ninety eight percent of college students are active on social media. While you can still be smart and be active on social platforms, it’s important to still make time to excel academically. Social media usage also a students ability to pay attention in a class lesson. Excessive exposure to blue light can be detrimental to eyesight.
According to Melissa Barnett, the principal optometrist at the UC Davis Eye Center from University of California, “Constant exposure to blue light over time could damage retinal cells and cause vision problems such as age-related macular degeneration.” As of 2019 twenty five percent of students have poor eyesight, and the number is only growing. The recommended time a student should spend on their phone is 1-2 hours yet many teenagers are exceeding ten hours. Even hearing is now being affected by social media. Teenagers are nearly immune to blasting songs into their headphones at a max volume.
If students continuing to give into these bad habits their hearing will get worse and they won’t be able to even see the articles they’ll have trouble reading. So next time you catch yourself surpassing the recommending screen time hours or damaging your ears with your Spotify playlist, stop and think about your future.
March Madness | By Kelly B.
March is a month of spring beginning that can bring many a good winning
Books off the shelf that can help oneself to overcome hard times while people are trying to earn dimes
Starting the year strong to stand being out all day long
As days get longer, we have more time
That it’d be a crime to not spend it with those you care to make them smile
That would help them overcome any mile for the year keeps moving
Which means we must be proving that we are excellent in our years
So we cry no tears
March's Mellow Magic | By Kelly B.
March is a time of many things: for example, we get our high school acceptance letters! There is a little of everything in March which is exciting because it's the third month which promises a lot for the year. There are days of reading, happiness, and fun–which is sweet to think about in comparison to the later parts of the year. March is a slow start until we get to the summer months since it’s a spring one but it's nice because we can start wearing shorter sleeves and it will feel more liberating. I know this year will bring about many fun days and time since there are many new things in this year. But, it is also a time of struggle because tests are getting harder towards the end of the year which means we must take care of ourselves because who doesn’t forget to treat themselves? I know I do and will!
The Mask| By Kelly B.
Sharing faulty, fake care
While we hide our sorrows behind the mask
None of the others ever ask
If we hurt deep inside
Happiness is what we abide
To mask our tears and cries
While a part of us slowly dies
Our bodies grasp for air
To show that we are there
Living in a confining present
That leaves our soul unpleasant
For it corrupts our souls to share the air
With people who don’t have a care
We hide our mouths and noses