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Project Three Essay - Reflection

Project Three: Social Media Board Game

For the Project Three minigame, I decided to create Social Media Quest: a board game that isn’t specifically based off of any existing board game (ones that I can think of). The included game pieces are a game board, four pawns, one spinner, a stack of fact cards, and five “special space” cards. The game board is constructed from cardboard and has yellow paper on top to serve as a background. I chose the color yellow because it represents friendship and positivity, some key components of my argument. There are nineteen spaces on the board for the players to move around on, including a start and an end. I designed the “start” to be a green cloud: clouds have soft edges and look calming while green exhibits a sense of safety. The “end” is designed a brown, spiked polygon: sharp spikes symbolize chaos (Social Media Quest can be a wild game), while brown shows protection and comfort.

Drawn on the rest of the spaces are icons of current social media apps and symbols that are related to it. This ties in my topic even further. The five “special spaces” refer to three positive situations and two negative situations that can come out of the use of social media. The good spaces, blue, move you forward while the bad spaces, red, move you backward. The reason I used more good spaces than bad is that my argument states that the benefits of social media outweigh the drawbacks.

There are four pawns that I decided to make: a heart, thumbs-up, “wow,” and “haha.” Hearts are the symbol used for liking an image on Instagram, a thumbs-up is the symbol for liking an image on Facebook, “haha” is one of the reactions to a text in iMessage, and “wow” is what I imagine one of the reaction faces is saying on Facebook. I colored in the backgrounds yellow so that they match the game board.

The spinner was the hardest thing to make out of everything in this game. I had to use cardboard, a brass fastener, cardstock, and hot glue to keep it together. The surface of it is divided into four spaces: one, two, three, and four. “One” is colored in blue to show stability (one is a safe number), two is colored in green to show relaxation (two is also a fairly safe number), three is colored in purple to show mystery (three can be good or bad in this game), and red is colored in red to show passion (four is a good number and people are passionate about it). The arrow used to determine how many spaces to go forward is gray with question marks on it. I did this because gray is the color of the unknown, question marks show mystery, and you don’t know which number the spinner will land on when you flick it.

The fact cards took me such a long time to make, but I’ve received very positive responses about them. I decorated the backs of them with question marks (yes, again) to show two things: you never know which fact you’re going to get, and most of these facts are ones that people are unaware of before reading them.

I’m very happy with how this board game turned out. It took me around ten hours in total to construct each and every part. The creative choices I put into it were well-thought-out and deeper than they look. There is nothing that I would really change about it because I took the time to think it out before construction. One thing that did disappoint me about my project was how it performed at the Celebration of Student Writing. The CSW is the event where our class had the chance to show off our mini-games. I was expecting it to be extremely fun and interactive, but only two people ended up playing my game. I have the feeling that my mini-game wasn’t the major problem with its underperformance, but that it was the people attending. Most of them were walking around just to look at the projects, not interact with the students who made them. I suppose that I could have called people over to ask them if they wanted to play my game, but I’m a very shy person. It would have been very hard for me to talk to strangers if they look like they want nothing to do with my mini-game.

Overall, the CSW was not something that I thoroughly enjoyed. It didn’t meet my expectations, but I do hope that other people had more fun than I did. My shift was the earliest one, so maybe that’s the reason why hardly anyone showed up to interact. I just wish I had a better time.

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Semester & CSW Reflection

Project Four Reflection

Writing 121 has been a great class for me in terms of academic growth and relationship building. I have been able to acquire new writing skills such as line editing, creating a proper conclusion, and discarding any fluff that was written by accident. It’s very nice to have the opportunity to learn this kind of college-level skills while I’m technically still in high school because I feel like I’m getting a head start. I also had the privilege of having such nice classmates. Before starting this semester, I was extremely worried that the college kids would intimidate me and I would make no friends, but this class proved me wrong. Writing 121 is the first class of the week for me, and getting to experience nice, college-aged classmates was a relief for me. I have made several friends in this class and I’m very thankful for that.

I really enjoyed the structure of this class. Having four projects that all relate to the same topic, that we chose at the beginning of the semester, allowed me to dive deeper into the teenage use of social media than I ever thought I would. The projects were organized, the rules/instructions were clearly laid out, and nothing about them was too complicated to the point where I was stressed out. I am a fan of how simple the lectures were (they technically weren’t even lectures). None of the notes we had to take were boring or useless, and there was almost always music playing during our work time.

There wasn’t much that I had trouble with in Writing 121. If I had to choose something, it would be the transition between high-school-level and college-level writing. Last semester, I was taking an ECA English writing class (high-school-level), so I had grown used to the writing style that this class had demanded. Since I passed and received credentials for ECA English, I was able to move on to this class, Writing 121. It was a little difficult to transition because the demands for Writing 121 are different and something I hadn’t explored yet. I will say that after a month or two, I had grown used to the class and its writing requirements.

Something that did end up being a disappointment during this semester was the Celebration of Student Writing. I had been super excited, and honestly nervous, to attend the CSW because it was something completely new and interesting for me. I worked extremely hard on my mini-game and wanted to watch people play it, but it ultimately did not meet my expectations. There were only two people who ended up playing my game: a student from my class and another Writing 121 teacher. No one who actually attended the CSW for fun wanted to play my game and that made me really sad. I spent around ten hours on it only for two people to show interest in playing it. I noticed that most of the people who showed up at the CSW spent most of the time walking around and looking at everyone’s projects instead of interacting with them. Overall, I thought it was very unfortunate.

I am very proud of my progress in writing and creating projects this semester. I’m a better researcher, mini-game constructor, proposal writer, and Tumblr-blog creator. My experience in this class was better than I had hoped for and I am looking forward to any future writing-related class that I might take (except for speech class, which I am absolutely dreading).

I don’t plan on pursuing a career that deals with writing a large number of papers/reports, but something I really enjoy is copyediting. All my life, I have been lucky enough to be fairly good with grammar and spelling. I don’t want this to go to waste, but becoming an editor isn’t exactly something I want to do when I graduate college. I have been trying to brainstorm some ideas for this, but I have had no luck.

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Project Three Pictures

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Works Cited for Research Paper

Works Cited

Bernstein, Henry. "Some Benefits, some Dangers with Kids and Social Media." Harvard Health Publications. Harvard Reviews of Health News, 2011.

Dawson, Rachel S. "Talking to Adolescents about Social Media." Pediatric Annals, vol. 46, no. 8, 2017, pp. E274.

Livingstone, Sonia. "Taking Risky Opportunities in Youthful Content Creation: Teenagers' use of Social Networking Sites for Intimacy, Privacy and Self-Expression." New Media & Society, vol. 10, no. 3, 2008, pp. 393-411.

McBride, Deborah L. "Risks and Benefits of Social Media for Children and Adolescents."Journal of Pediatric Nursing, vol. 26, no. 5, 2011, pp. 498-499.

Metzler, Anna, and Herbert Scheithauer. "The Long-Term Benefits of Positive Self-Presentation via Profile Pictures, Number of Friends and the Initiation of Relationships on Facebook for Adolescents' Self-Esteem and the Initiation of Offline Relationships." Frontiers in Psychology, 2017. Health Reference Center Academic, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514566644/HRCA?u=lom_emichu&sid=HRCA&xid=74a8296d. Accessed 25 Feb. 2018.

"Use of Social Media Associated with Poorer Sleep Quality and Low Self-Esteem in Teenagers." Nursing Standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987), vol. 30, no. 4, 2015, pp. 15.

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Social Media Research Paper

Social Media: Beneficial or Detrimental?

Last year, I decided to give myself a month-long break from social media, including Instagram and Snapchat. The main reason why I did this is because I wanted to focus on studying for final exams; however, this break also taught me about how much social media affects my life. I know that I am fully capable of entertaining myself without it, but I realized how much I missed talking to the community on there. Social networks are a way to connect with friends and learn more about each other, yet at the same time, they can also cause harm to the people who use them. Social media has its benefits when used as a hobby by teenagers, but the drawbacks don’t outweigh these benefits.

Social media sites have become increasingly common over the past decade. They are so common now that over 50% of teens go on social media at least once daily (Bernstein). Many adults have been questioning the reason for this because they grew up without access to this kind of technology. If social media is being used so frequently, it must have a ton of benefits and positive aspects.

It is true that social media has features that are beneficial to teenagers. The blogs found on Tumblr are a great example. Blogs are a great way for kids to share their creativity with others and find people who share the same interests (Bernstein). For example, if someone is extremely passionate about Star Wars, they can make a blog about it. On this blog, they can post behind-the-scenes pictures, cast updates, and exciting facts about the movies. If Star Wars fans follow this blog, they gain more knowledge about one of their favorite interests and can connect with the person running it.

Blogs also allow kids to practice essential writing skills such as grammar, sentence structure, and word choice. Teens who are interested in pursuing creative writing as a career have the chance to practice by writing fictional stories on a blog. Let’s say this Star Wars fan makes a blog where they write fanfiction about it. After they post these stories, other users can give feedback to this writer so they know the pros and cons of their writing style. Plus, blogs like these provide good fanfiction to those who love to read it.

Another fitting example is YouTube. Some of the videos posted on it include gaming, Vine compilations, movie clips, music, fan edits, makeup tutorials, important news reports, and vlogs. When kids post videos of themselves singing, they get to creatively express themselves to the world (Bernstein). Since the entire world can view the videos on YouTube, many famous singers and bands have gotten their fame from them. Letting kids use social media like YouTube might land them into success into the future.

For introverted and shy adolescents, making friends can be one of the hardest things to do in high school. Almost everyone seems to be in a “clique” and the thought of finding out where one belongs can be intimidating. Social media can play a crucial role in initiating friendships because it eliminates the need to talk face-to-face (Metzler and Scheithauer). Sure, talking to people in real life is important, but knowing that you have a lot of time to respond helps with the awkwardness. It’s way less frightening to know that the person you are talking to can’t see your initial reactions or how you’re struggling to come up with words (Metzler and Scheithauer). When teens make friends on social media, they’ll probably be more confident in their ability to meet new people in real life (Metzler and Scheithauer).

One of the challenges of growing up and becoming a teenager is the lack of confidence. Teenagers tend to compare themselves to others and feel bad about themselves when they don’t like what they see in the mirror. Low self-esteem can be dangerous because it can cause kids to develop negative mindsets (Metzler and Scheithauer). It can also lead to depression and lack of sleep. On social media, a couple of the main features include comments and likes. If teens receive positive feedback from peers, it can boost their self-confidence (Metzler and Scheithauer). Receiving likes also shows the account owner that the followers appreciate the content being posted (Metzler and Scheithauer). Having a large number of followers/friends can make the account owner feel accepted and supported (Metzler and Scheithauer).

From personal experience, I can say that social media has more benefits than the ones listed above. Many of us teens are stuck in school for six to eight hours without a lot of communication with our friends. Social media provides a break from all of the schoolwork thrown onto us every day. Homework is very overwhelming for most kids because it seems like teachers don’t understand just how many classes we have. The amount of time spent doing homework each night can be anywhere from thirty minutes to four hours. After seven hours of school and two hours of homework, social media gives us the chance to sit down, relax, and see what our friends have been up to.

At times when I am in a bad mood, I like to log onto Instagram or YouTube. On there, I watch funny videos or scenes from my favorite movies and TV shows. Almost all of the time, my mood is brighter and more positive when I am finished. This is just one way that social media can brighten a teenager’s mood. Social media allows kids to look up content that suits their mood.

Although social media is a wonderful place with many benefits, there are still some drawbacks to it. Teenagers tend to stay up later at night than adults and children. As a result of this, they like to scroll through social media and see what everyone else is up to at the moment. Using a cell phone late at night can be extremely damaging to human eyes. The blue lights send a message to the brain that the person is still awake, interrupting their sleep. The use of social media at night will make teens lose sleep (“Social Media and Sleep”). This makes it difficult to focus during school and have enough energy to complete day-to-day tasks. Lack of sleep can also lead to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety (“Social Media and Sleep”).

One of the hardest things a kid can go through is being bullied by their peers. Social media makes it very easy for teens to be bullied online (McBride). It can be done through messaging groups, commenting sections, and live streams. When multiple people gang up on one person, the victim often feels alone and that nobody is there to support them. This is generally not the case because bullies will say anything to hurt the victim’s feelings. Most kids feel as if they can’t talk to their parents about the bullying, so they will keep this information bottled up inside of them (McBride). Many social media websites have policies that are against bullying, but when it does happen, they hardly do anything to stop it. If these groups wish to take action against cyberbullying, they should keep their word and delete the accounts of the bullies.

With profile pictures and online friends comes catfishing. This is a method of pretending to be somebody you’re not on an online profile. It can be extremely dangerous for teenagers to talk with people they don’t know online because it’s possible that they’re being catfished. It’s even more dangerous if they end up meeting up because the catfish might have plans to hurt the teenager. There have been cases where teens have been catfished by middle-aged men who pretend to also be teenagers (Dawson). These men have forced kids into relationships and sex trafficking (Dawson). Parents need to be aware of online friendships and relationships to keep their kids/teens safe from harm (Dawson).

One of the features of a social media profile that users see first is the bio. A bio is pretty much a biography, a place to write a few things about yourself to let people get to know you. How much is written there depends from user to user. A common mistake among teenagers is sharing too much information about themselves to others (McBride). Lack of privacy can lead to private information in the hands of the wrong people. Friends can turn against one another and use what they posted against them. Another negative consequence of lack of privacy is ruining your own reputation: “Posting videos, photographs or messages that are inappropriate or affect someone's reputation can affect their ability to get into college or get jobs” (McBride). Let’s say that a teenager goes out to a part and posts about it on their social media. They get really drunk and feel the need to tell all of their followers about it. If this same teen ends up applying for a serious job in the future, the employers can look them up online and see how irresponsible they are (McBride).

Social media use has been a controversial topic over the past five years or so. People who grew up without tablets and phones are now seeing toddlers with a Snapchat account. It seems to be hard for these people to see that technology is advancing further than what they had. Just because something is different than how it was before does not make it bad.

On every social media website, the owners make a list of guidelines that the users need to follow. These regulations are established to ensure a high-quality experience for everyone. It’s up to the user whether or not they choose to obey them. If someone is abusing the guidelines, the only person who is at fault is themselves. The owners of the websites should remove the accounts of those who choose to make bad decisions on them. It’s not fair to take away something that’s enjoyable to multiple people just because a small number of them decided to misuse it.

It would be unfair to say that the benefits of social media are outweighed by the drawbacks. The way that one teen chooses to use it might be different from the way I choose to use it. I made myself two private accounts on Instagram: one for school acquaintances and online friends, the other for my closest real-life friends/people I trust the most. I share only a little bit of information about myself on the first and I share quite a bit of private information on the second. No one has ever tried to use private information against me. I have never gotten myself caught up in cyberbullying. I follow the policies of social media and make sure that I don’t make it an unpleasant experience for anyone else. Because of all these things, I don’t believe that the benefits of social media are outweighed by the drawbacks.

Social media is something that can’t be measured by its negative aspects because those disadvantages can change over time. What is a problem now might not be a problem in the future. Every disadvantage is something that can be fixed and worked on. To say everything is set in stone and can never be altered is a fixed mindset. The choices we make while using social media determine our outlook on it. If you choose to treat it well and use it correctly, only positive consequences will come out of it.

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Proposal 2: Social Media

Social Media Usage: Is It Healthy?

Social media has become extremely popular in the last five years. In the mid-2000s, the release of the iPhone seemed to spark the use of cell phones more than ever. New phones led to apps being developed which led to the formation of the most famous social media websites: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Tumblr. The world has changed drastically in the ten to fifteen years since these websites were established. If someone told me to ask every student on campus if they use at least one form of social media, I would probably hear a response of, “Yes” around 95% of the time. Almost every student I see around campus is either on a cell phone, typing on a computer, or listening to music. It’s quite rare to find a teenager/young adult who doesn’t use social media; however, this might be a bad thing.

Social media being remarkably favored doesn’t mean that it’s the best option for teens to choose to spend time on. When people post on social media, they are choosing which moments of their life they want to portray to their followers. Most of the chosen moments are of them smiling and being “happy,” but it’s likely that some of the moments are fake. Teens can also virtually talk to people instead of talking face-to-face. That means they can say whatever they want to say and not have to say it in real life. This can lead to cyberbullying and harassment, although it doesn’t occur all of the time. Are there any benefits to social media as a hobby, and if so, are they outweighed by the drawbacks?

I chose social media as a research topic because I know the consequences of chatting and posting on social media. I know that it can put stress on someone’s shoulders and ruin friendships; however, it can also bring people with a common interest together and serve as a community where users solve problems together. Social media is one of those topics that has its pros and cons instead of having all pros or all cons. My personal experience with social media has been fine, but I wouldn’t call it great. I joined social media in 2013 and I didn’t think much of it because I was only in 5th grade. In the next few years to come, I joined more and more social networks so I could connect with people online. As of now, I use social media a lot more often than I used to, and I cannot say if that’s good or bad. With this research project, I plan on using news articles and videos to gather information about the controversial subject. News articles often use evidence from professionals to backup their claims, and videos use visuals and verbal communication to present their arguments. I believe these resources will provide me with enough knowledge from both sides so that I can try to make a final decision about social media.

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Proposal One: Animal Testing

Animal Testing: Should It Be Banned?

Animal testing is a form of testing the safety of a company’s goods. They perform experiments on animals (mice, bunnies, rodents) to see if the current formulas will negatively impact consumers. There are hundreds/thousands of companies around the world that test their products on animals, and many of these companies are directed for cosmetics or hygiene. Because of these companies that test on animals, organizations have been formed to protest and end animal cruelty. Some of these groups include PETA and Leaping Bunny.

Testing on animals is a highly controversial topic. There are people who find it necessary and there are those who see it as unnecessary, horrible, and avoidable. One of the problems that supporters see with ending animal testing is that there might not be anything else to test on. Experiments on humans could be too dangerous, but artificial human skin could be too expensive. The opposers to animal testing believe it is senseless violence towards animals. Is animal testing necessary for carrying out safety experiments for goods, or does it need to be banned because it possibly crosses the line of animal cruelty?

For people who oppose animal testing, it is very difficult to avoid buying products from companies who do test on them. The goods made by cruelty-free brands tend to be expensive while goods from brands that test on animals tend to be low-priced. I hardly know anyone who wants to pay more for something that can be bought for less. Animal testing is an interesting subject because while it is truly controversial, it’s not something that’s talked about very often. There doesn’t seem to be many changes to the policies. I plan on digging up information from reliable news articles, websites of anti-animal testing groups, and websites of companies that test on animals. A few videos might be useful for my research because there could be some that include real footage of what animal testing looks like and how it works. This will ensure that the information I gather is factual enough for me to answer my research question.

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About Me

Hi! My name is Olivia Fitzgerald and I run this blog. I am 15 years old and am currently attending Eastern Michigan University through the Early College Alliance. I was born in Howell, MI, but have lived in Dexter ever since I started preschool. When I’m not in class or studying for my classes, I spend my time reading, listening to music, watching movies, and editing videos. My favorite books include The Darkest Minds series, The Scorch Trials, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. I really loved Star Wars: The Last Jedi contrary to popular opinion. I'm very aware of my personal traits which include sensitive, introverted, down-to-earth, kind, and observant. And that's me in a nutshell.