News

Braylon Dunlap

Staff Writer

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.

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!”

Lia Dunakin

Staff Writer

The Met Gala is an annual event held as a fundraiser for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s various costume exhibits. It has a reputation for being both extremely exclusive and glamorous, but from its beginnings in 1948, the Gala has not always been like this. 

The gala supports the annual costume exhibit, which is the only one in the museum that has to attain its own funding. As a result, this benefit is held every year for the purpose of raising money. In its early years, New York’s rich elites and socialites received the invites — the locals who had a direct connection to the museum — instead of the celebrities that attend now. 

The new focus on who the gala invites instead of what the invitees are wearing defeats the purpose of The Met Gala. Fashion lovers from all around the world can go the Metropolitan Museum of Art and admire the preserved historical clothing in each exhibit. 

Along with the higher profile in guests came the tradition of dressing in honor of the exhibit’s annual theme. This year, the exhibit’s focus is “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” with clothing from  the famous time in the United States, ‘The Gilded Age.’ Usually, designers stick to the ever changing  theme picked every year by the committee — but with liberal interpretation. 

When I first heard that Kim Kardashian was going to be wearing Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress, the one that she wore in 1962 to sing happy birthday to President Kennedy, the only problem I could think of was not sticking to the theme. After further investigation, I realized the bigger issues involved.

Many fashion historians have always been frustrated with their line of work not being taken seriously, and this is one of those times. These professionals believe that this dress is an important piece from American history, and should therefore be carefully preserved in a museum just like any other historic garment.

As Bob Mackie, the designer for the original dress said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “I thought it was a big mistake, [Marily] was a goddess… And it was done for her. It was designed for her. Nobody else should be seen in that dress.” 

This dress is actually owned by Ripley’s Believe it or Not, which is not a real museum, and by allowing Kim Kardashian to wear the dress, has broken rules from the museum code of conduct. I believe this was a strategic advertisement to let the public know where this dress is being shown. 

Lots of things could and did go wrong. Just Kim Kardashian walking around in it, even for a few minutes, ruined the integrity of the material. Other ways that the dress could have been partially ruined was by it being touched with improper gloves or even bare handed. Mackey also stated in his interview with Entertainment Weekly, that wearing the gown “ was undoubtedly damaging to its preservation and structural integrity.”

I agree with fashion historians that recognize the unethical side of this situation. I don’t think that anyone else other than Marilyn Monroe should have worn this dress. I also don’t agree with an illegitimate museum like Ripley’s Believe it or not owning an extremely expensive and valued part of history like this dress. It should be in a proper museum handled by experts that know what they’re doing.

Oskar Glahn & Marcus Diemer

Staff Writer

Dr. Tony B. Watlington Sr. has accepted the position of Philadelphia School District Superintendent by the School Board. He will assume his new role on June 16, 2022. 

Watlington has some big shoes to fill. The District’s current superintendent, Dr. William Hite, has held the role for over ten years, which is very rare for school district superintendents to hold the office for that long. 

“It’s a hard job, and he did it for ten years,” said Principal Lehmann. “His ten years as superintendent was the longest of anybody’s since Constance Clayton back in the 80’s, so that’s an incredible run.” 

Since June 2012, Dr. Hite has worked hard to create equity and achieve goals of innovation and equality. In his past ten years, Dr. Hite has effectively worked through the district’s obstacles, opened new quality high schools, and conjoined schools with the communities around them. Dr. Hite has been a huge help to Philadelphia’s struggling public schools, and a personable role model for teachers and students within the district. His leadership has a very positive impact on the community.

Dr. Watlington seemed like a very obvious choice to replace Dr. Hite. “It was very clear with these three candidates that Dr. Waltington was the choice of the community. You saw a lot of support for his candidacy,” said Lehmann.  He is an experienced educator and understands the school system. He started out as a history teacher in North Carolina, and made his way up to principal and eventually Superintendent of the  Rowan-Salisbury school district, also in North Carolina. That school district is nowhere near as big as Philadelphia’s, but very few school districts are. 

To gain this position, Dr. Waltington had to contend with many other candidates including John Davis, who was chief of schools in Baltimore, and Krish Mohip, who was on the Illinois State Board of Education who were the two closest contenders. 

Although most teachers and faculty are aware of this change, many students are not. 

“I ain’t even know that we got a new guy [superintendent],” remarked senior Jacob Farrell. Students have not received any information about this change, and most of them don’t really seem to care. “I feel like more people should know about this,” said senior Colin Clapper.

Even though some people are unaware of this new change, we have hopes that Watlington will continue Dr. Hite’s legacy of leadership, and make some positive change. We are looking forward to what comes next.