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SLA Survey Shows Negative Connection Between Social Media and Mental Health

January 24, 2023 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Braylon Dunlap

Staff Writer

Graph representing the responses of the question “How often do you find yourself comparing yourself to other people on social media over the past year?

For the past twenty years, social media has seemingly had a bigger impact on teenagers more than any other demographic. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have played major parts in many of our lives. 

But just how big a role? 

Recently, a series of surveys were sent out to the SLA student body by the current statistics students. One of these surveys focused on social media apps and their impact. 

History of Use 

From the data, 48% of the participants stated that they started using social media between the years of 2016 to 2019. That makes seniors anywhere from eleven to fourteen years old when they started.  The next largest group — 42% of the participants —  started using social media anywhere from 2014 to 2015. That means most seniors started using social media when they were eight years old but that age would be even younger if any of the participants are a junior or lower.

Photo by Mr. Estey

After interviewing a handful of students, all of them responded “No” when asked if the age they started using social media was an appropriate age but had varying answers on whether it negatively affected their mental health. 

 “I got social media to keep in contact with my friends during quarantine and it wrecked my life,” said Sophomores Julian Sankey. “Everyone looked like they were having a good time, especially during quarantine.” 

“My parents let me have a phone at the age of twelve and I only got Instagram which was the first social media I got at the age of fourteen,” said 10th Grader Miles Hall  “I kind of wish I had waited longer, or probably haven’t gotten it at all, but I have it now and I’d say it hurts my mental health.” 

No one said they wished they started earlier. 

All of the respondents also said that Instagram was their first or only social media platform. Instagram being an image/video sharing app, is known for creating high expectations and standards in many young adults’ mentalities.

 And while many of the students said starting early had a negative effect on their mental health, Junior Elijah Lopez said he had guidance early on.

“My parents always taught me the dangers of social media, and I mostly just used it to talk to friends so it wasn’t draining for me mentally, but I wouldn’t recommend using social media that early.”

Mental Impact

Respondents were also asked how often they compare themselves to others online and how much social media impacts their view of themselves/others on a 1-10 scale. An estimated 40% chose 8, and when asked how often they compare themselves to others on social media, 36% said a few times per week, while another 36% said that they do it a few times a month. On top of that, 10% of participants responded that they compare themselves to others online daily. 

Students in the class had personal responses to the survey results.

Statistics Student Senior Mehki Evans-El said  “I actually deleted a lot of my social media apps after this because now after acknowledging and seeing it, I realized that I do actually have a problem.” 

One thing that can be noted about social media is that often, people don’t realize that they are addicted to social media and that it might start being an issue. 

This survey may encourage students to reflect on how much they use social which is important in determining whether they have an addiction or not.    

The results of this survey do shed more light onto the fact that social media can definitely be harmful to young adults at times, and it can make kids develop addictions to these apps or alter the way they see themselves and others negatively. 

“We know phones are an important part of our lives and we wanted to see how it specifically affects our students. I actually deleted a lot of my social media apps after this because now after acknowledging and seeing it, I realized that I do actually have a problem.” Mehkki said. “It was affecting my work in school and I would constantly go on my phone. After reading the data I became more self-aware.” 

“Overall, I think that the biggest takeaway was that conducting proper, scientific surveys is a huge job,” Mr. Estey said of the project.

“It’s very easy to put up a quick poll on your Instagram page, but if you want a survey that accurately represents a large and diverse population – even a population like SLA’s 500 high school students – you need to put in a tremendous amount of thought and planning behind the scenes!”

Filed Under: News

Movie Review: Bones and All, A Romance Both Bloody and Beautiful

December 20, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lara Rosenbach

Staff Writer

Courtesy of Yahoo!

Bones and All

I hadn’t heard anything about this film until I went to see it with a friend—my first time at the new-ish AMC Fashion District theater in Center City. This might’ve been because it didn’t sound like any movie I’d seen before. 

Bones and All is directed by Luca Guadagnino, who also directed the movies Call Me By Your Name and The Protagonists. Set in the mid-1980s and based on the book by Camille DeAngelis, the movie centers around Maren, a young girl living with her father in a trailer park. She—along with many others—is what’s called an Eater, aka, a cannibal. Eaters are perceived as outcasts, but only because they choose to live that way. To the average person, an Eater is just a normal person.

If you think this movie involves watching people eat one another, you’re right. The whole movie is focused on the reality of the world, and how cutthroat it can be (he took this literally). The film is scattered with scenes of Maren and others eating other humans, and Guadagnino asks the audience to slowly desensitize themselves to the stigma that comes with cannibalism. I thought this was an incredibly interesting approach to a coming-of-age film. As the film went on, I didn’t know who to ally myself with, or if there is anyone I should be invested in at all. Every character’s backstory, especially Maren’s boyfriend, Lee, who we meet much later in the film. His life is rich with trauma. It is hard to find a reason to wish good things for Maren.

The choice to set this film in the midwest was great, because no one really thinks of traveling through endless farmland and corn fields, when there are much more interesting sights you could have characters see. But I feel that the land was a reflection of the feel of the movie; abandoned, left bare, a land that fades into the background, that we don’t want to see on screen, when the Pacific Coast is much more beautiful to look at. 

Maren and Lee are much the same, character-wise: Maren is a timid girl who’s on her own, which no one really pays any mind to, while Lee is closed-off and trusts no one. They never really open up to each other, which is the cause of all of their quarrels, and the reason that Maren goes off on her own for a while. Their characters truly leave you wishing for the kind of normality that you would see in any other romantic film. However, this isn’t your average romance.

However, I don’t quite get the purpose of Sully’s character in the movie. He is the first other Eater that Maren encounters. First first introduced as an eccentric but compassionate old man, and acts almost as a mentor figure for Maren. He later takes the form of a myriad of other figures to help advance the plot—such as a desperate stalker yearning for some kind of companionship. Apart from a way to show Maren the dangers of trusting strangers and to make Lee the martyr Guadagnino pictures, I don’t see much point to him as a character.

The movie was truly a disturbing watch. However, I found myself unable to look away from any of it. The way Bones and All delivered the haunting warning of the (literal) dog-eat-dog world was the most disturbing, yet heartwarming way I’d seen yet. I would recommend this movie to anyone who’ll enjoy a dark, twisted story, both a teenage romance and a bloodbath.

Filed Under: A&E

Movie Review: The Fablemans, Spielberg’s Story

December 13, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lara Rosenbach

Staff Writer

Review: The Fabelmans (2022) - Arts Commented

Courtesy of Arts Commented

The Fabelmans

I wasn’t sure what to expect when saw The Fabelmans in Washington with my mom and grandmom. All I knew was that it was the semi-autobiographical story of Steven Spielberg’s life, a famed director whom made many movies I’d enjoyed, such as Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Jaws, and E.T. 

I’m happy to report that the movie did not disappoint. 

The film centers on the life of Sam Fabelman. After seeing the movie The Greatest Show on Earth as a kid, which contains a climactic train crash, he becomes obsessed with recreating the scene, begging his parents for a train set for Hannukah, to use as a prop. His mother, Mitzi, lets Sam use the camera to record the crash in secret. 

 Speilberg focuses on different ways movies can be used. They can be fantastical, like when Sam roped his Boy Scout friends into acting in a Western and a war movie. Filmmakers can explore the more technical side of moviemaking, like when Sam buries wooden planks so that when actors step on them, it appears as though they are being hit by bullets, or when he pokes holes in the actual film itself with a pin, creating little bursts of light that look like muzzle flashes. Film can also reveal reality; When Sam discovers a secret that could tear apart his family, he makes two films, one showcasing his family’s happiness, and the other the bitter truth. I felt incredibly connected to Sam because of how I could relate to him, being Jewish and having a love for movies and moviemaking myself. 

Spielberg’s cinematography is gorgeous. One of the most amazing parts of the movie is two intercut scenes; in one, Sam cuts together the camping footage to show what his mother has been hiding, while at the same time, in another room, Mitzi passionately plays the piano while Sam’s dad Burt watches from afar. The camera spins around, illustrating the emotion that Sam is feeling: the image of what he thought were his parents falling apart and the realization of what he saw in one. 

Sam’s character is an unflattering portrayal of Spielberg himself; Sam’s uncle Boris comes home and tells Sam he’s an artist—however much he loves his family, he’ll love making movies more. This same idea repeats later; when Mitzi and Burt are getting a divorce his sister comes to his room, wanting to be comforted, and instead, Sam brushes her off and asks her opinion on his film. And in creating a movie of his senior class’s beach trip, Sam gave every person in the class an opportunity to shine. Even though Sam despises his bully, he still films him in an extremely flattering way. He asks Sam why he filmed him like that when he treated him so horribly, and Sam says he doesn’t know. I believe Sam put the movie above his feelings toward his tormentor, because he is an artist first.

This movie was a beautifully acted piece of cinema, and Spielberg’s harshness towards his own character only added to the realism of the film. I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a kid figure out he’s an artist and pursue his dreams, above anything else.

Filed Under: A&E

New Teacher Profile: Alexis Clancy

November 29, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Braylon Dunlap

Staff Writer

Ms. Clancy in her room 202

As many people know, there are a few new additions to SLA’s staff this year with a brand new member being History Teacher Alexis Clancy. If you’re in her advisory or African American history class you may have already met her but there are some other interesting things about Ms. Clancy that not everyone will know about. 

It may not come as a surprise that teaching is Ms. Clancy’s passion. Ever since middle school she says she has wanted to be a teacher and she very much enjoys her job. Despite that though she still has other passions like music. In high school, she said she was a total theater kid but strayed away from it once she became an adult. 

Ms. Clancy hasn’t always lived in Philadelphia. She is originally from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania but came to Philadelphia for college. 

“I went to a Temple for secondary education with a focus on social studies, and I knew that I wanted to stay in state for college but I wanted to be in a city and I didn’t want to go to Pittsburgh, so Philadelphia was my next option.”

 While Ms. Clancy acts super outgoing and talkative as a teacher, she was actually quiet and shy in college.  

“I feel like there are so many things y’all wouldn’t know about me,” she said. “I used to have a lot of stage fright. I think a lot of students see my happy and kind of out there presence in class, I think teaching helped me with that. Now I just chat everyone’s ears off.” 

Now that she’s a teacher in the school district, she has full days and even fuller evenings.

When school ends, Ms. Clancy explained, “I go home, I immediately get off the subway and go to the tech center building on Temple’s campus and try to do work for 2-3 hours and then I walk back to my apartment, shower, and just try to get my life together then hang out with my roommate.”

Just like the Freshman, Ms. Clancy is developing her first impressions of SLA, and they are positive.   

Nearly all students take their work very seriously,”  she said.  “And I find the kids have a lot of personality and a lot of confidence, although sometimes that can lead to too much and some disruption in class.” 

Even with that, the school culture is Ms. Clancy’s favorite aspect of SLA. It allows the students to interact with each other and push themselves to achieve goals they might have not thought they could achieve.

Students and staff alike seem to enjoy Ms. Clancy’s presence in the school.  “The staff are very welcoming and friendly, as compared to other schools where your new coworkers can be a little intimidating,” she said. 

“She is a great person, I would have to say she’s a caring soul and I hope she doesn’t get burned out through teaching,’ said Health and Physical Education teacher Mr. Bracy who is also her fellow advisor. 

 “She’s really nice and I feel like she understands us because she is younger,” said Freshman Fern Duffy, who is in her African American History class.

Ms. Clancy’s energy and enthusiasm are also a part of why she was hired.

 “She gave a fantastic interview, she was clearly really smart and knowledgeable about the culture at SLA, and her energy and enthusiasm really shone through,” said Principal Mr. Lehmann. 

Filed Under: Features

Movie Review: “Do Revenge”? Do Better

November 15, 2022 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Lara Rosenbach

Staff Writer

Courtesy of “The Red Ledger”

On September 16th, Do Revenge was released. After seeing countless videos mocking and praising it, I decided to form my own opinion. Before viewing, I put together a checklist in my head of what makes a good movie: great character design, a cohesive plot, and originality. Would Do Revenge pass the test?

In the first act of the film, we are given the plot: Drea (Camila Mendes), high school queen bee, with a seemingly perfect life and future, gets betrayed by her boyfriend. She becomes unlikely friends with transferring senior Eleanor (Maya Hawke), who is haunted by her past. Throughout the film, the two of them work together, pulling increasingly elaborate stunts to take down their enemies.

The film mainly takes place at Rosehill High. This truly beautiful campus—actually Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia—is one of the few things I liked about the movie. A second were the outfits. I thought the costume design was superb. Drea wears form-fitting, flattering dresses, while Eleanor hides in baggy t-shirts, highlighting the two protagonists’ differences in personality. 

Unfortunately, this is where my praise for the film ends. This movie is essentially a tweaked version of Mean Girls—which I love—, and the characters in this film are downgrades of those archetypes; Drea is cut out of the same mold as Regina George—the manipulative ruler of her school—and Eleanor is a cloned Cady Heron—the new girl who befriends the queen bee by pure luck. For both of them, there are two shallow romances that follow the same arc: love, fight, ignore, make up. Their characters do change, but the fact that it happens so late in the movie, and that those differences often get forgotten in the script, shows that the characters are just shells, not real people

The most fleshed-out character in the whole movie is Max (Austin Abrams), Drea’s boyfriend. He is the only character with dreams and pain; although he rules over the whole school, he wants none of it—his dream is to become a photographer, and travel the world. This is illustrated via the many photos he’s taken that decorate his room. Personally, I was happiest with his character, although his thoughts and feelings often did not reflect his personality. I did feel as though the writers didn’t utilize his desire to break free from Rosehill’s status quo, and craft a different ending. His motives as an antagonist seemed unfounded, to say the least.

The plot is easy enough to follow and the pacing, though uneven, still delivered the plot in a clear way. However, I really wanted to see something original from this movie in terms of plot design. I stayed for Max’s redemption, but the twist is predictable for anyone who’s seen a lot of high school movies. The acting is good; however, the dialogue is often overly dramatic for how low-stakes the situation actually is. The movie is hand-fed to you on a silver platter, which is something I’m just not here for. 
If you are someone who likes high school dramedies, you might like this movie. Or at least, the scenery. But if you only have time for one movie, watch Mean Girls instead.

Filed Under: A&E

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Features

New Teacher Profile: Alexis Clancy

Braylon Dunlap Staff Writer As many people know, there are a few new additions to SLA’s staff this year with a brand new member being History Teacher Alexis Clancy. If you’re in her advisory or African American history class you may have already met her but there are some other interesting things about Ms. Clancy […]

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