My Response to the New Yorker article: "Can we get kids off smartphones" by Jessica winter4/23/2024 To me this is a very relevant topic in my household, because more often than not, my mom has my phone, because I got in trouble and she decided to take it. I have very strong opinions on this topic because it is something that comes up a lot in my life. First of all, I would start off by saying that I know phones are bad in some ways for our mental health, and if we lack restraint, then our physical health too. Because we spend more and more time inside, we get trapped in the cycle of scrolling on social media. We waste countless hours looking at videos we won’t remember even a few hours later. Especially for teenagers, growing up in the generation near the time that cell phones became popular made it harder for us to get away from them. During COVID, people couldn’t go out, and a lot of them turned to phones to provide entertainment and a connection to the outside world that we weren’t allowed to experience for our own safety. But, smartphones also come with a lot of positives. Because Roanoke is a relatively big area, me and my friends live pretty far away from each other. Because I don’t go to school with them anymore, I almost never get to see them, and since we all have different schedules and have trouble making plans to hang out we usually just talk on the phone so we don’t drift apart. Of course, the big concern is real social media like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, etc. People waste so much of their time on short-attention-span videos, which are in almost no ways good for them. However, these platforms are popular for a reason. Many people keep up with their interests or discover new ones, and for a lot of people, social media is how they keep up with world news or current events. Most good things are only beneficial in moderation, and I think that applies to social media too. I think it’s a good reward to use if you have completed your day and are ready to relax and decompress after all the hard work, as long as it’s just for a few hours. I don’t have Instagram or TikTok, so thankfully I didn’t experience much of this, but a lot of people I know had their self esteem and self image severely affected by videos or body trends that are very unhealthy and dangerous but were considered something that was beautiful. The rate that these trends go up and down is so fast that it’s hard to keep up with them, but it’s just sad that these videos that are usually filters can affect people so much because they can’t see how unhealthy and fake it really is. “Many teens are aware that smartphones disrupt their sleep, their moods, and their self-image, but they believe, as several parents told me, that giving up their phones would kill their social lives.” Out of the whole article, this is the line that is the most relatable for me. I would one hundred percent give up my phone and social media if it meant that all the interaction I got with my friends could be face to face, but unfortunately, that could never be an option. As I said earlier, we all have very different schedules and live a little too far apart, so texting is the best interaction we can have. I think that even though phones are proven by multiple studies to be bad for us, we still need them for day to day life for communication, staying connected, to be aware of schedule changes, taking pictures/notes, etc.
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By Gracie Munro As the bright lights of Spartan field shine down, middle linebacker Joaquim “Kimmy” Vilahur-Tamayo, ‘27, steps out onto the playing field at Salem High for his first “home” game in America. Loud cheering and enthusiastic shouts came from the crowd of Raiders, fueling the rush of the mid-game adrenaline. Originally from Catalonia, Spain, Kimmy came to the United States for football opportunities at North Cross. He started playing football last year in his home country, and his coach told him about the exchange program and set him up at North Cross to study abroad and play for the team. For him, the hardest part of coming to America was having to learn a new language. “It was very different because I came here and everyone was speaking in English,” says Kimmy. “I was the only one speaking Spanish.” For college, he is planning to stay in the United States and hopefully play football as well. Kimmy had 23 tackles this year with an average of almost three per game, which is just a little bit higher than the national average. He says his favorite thing about the exchange program so far is that he gets to live in a dorm with other students, which he says is a lot of fun, because he gets to be around other people from school. He also likes the freedom of the dorm, and he spends most of his freetime downtown or at the gym to stay in shape for sports. The thing he misses most about Catalonia is the food. He says he likes it a lot better than the dorm food, and he likes to eat it when he goes home over breaks to visit family. In this picture, I am sailing near the Outer Banks with my best friend (You can see her hand in the left side of the picture). This was just over a week ago, right before orientation. This was my first time sailing with my family, because usually I sail a two person boat called a 420 with crew, Wilson. My name is Gracie Munro, and this year I am taking Journalism as one of my electives. This is my first time at a new school, and I'm very happy that I got picked for this class. I like drawing, sailing, and camping. I have lived in Roanoke my whole life but I love traveling to new places! Photo by my dad, Devon Munro. |
Gracie MunroIn this picture (scroll to last article below) I am sailing near the Outer Banks with my best friend (You can see her hand in the left side of the picture). This was just over a week before orientation. This was my first time sailing with my family, because usually I sail a two person boat called a 420 with crew, Wilson. My name is Gracie Munro, and this year I am taking Journalism as one of my electives. This is my first time at a new school, and I'm very happy that I got picked for this class. I like drawing, sailing, and camping. I have lived in Roanoke my whole life but I love traveling to new places! Photo by my dad, Devon Munro. Archives
April 2024
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