Essay 4 reflection

Honor J. Huff

Receiving a 60% on essay 3, there were much improved tactics going into essay 4. Essay 4 I stuck to the prompt distinctly, and made sure there was a cohesive flow to my essay while keeping it thorough throughout. Being the last essay, I of course want to do well, and end the summer on a good note. I focused on things I was good at throughout all my essays, as well as things I needed to work on in terms of my writing. How I improved on the negative aspect of my writing while maintaining my good habit. I also brought up what I’m accustomed to in high school and how this short  summer session changed my mindset of some writing skills, and how fast my writing had to mature being in college now. While discussing my thesis statement in class July 26, professor Smith had no real critique on it so I know I did good starting off my essay, and that is important to whether the reader will keep moving forward or stop at the beginning. Overall this was a great experience with a great group and a great professor, I’ve gained years worth of knowledge in a span of a month. I’m confident going into the real year of English, my strategies should be pertinent and I will be ready. I love reading and writing and this class just improved that which was also stated in my essay.

HR: None 

Social media is a platform where the public discuss their issues and opinions, children nowadays are growing up surrounded by mobile devices . Social media provides new ways for young adults to create and navigate social environments. However being a teen , the researcher  wanted to take a deeper dive into the social media platform. Over the years researchers have indicated social media’s impact on mental health, as well as the positives and negatives of social media. According to (onlinedegrees.unr.edu 2017), “While social media provides easier and more accessible opportunities to interact with others, how we communicate and interact hinders the quality of our interpersonal relationships. The quality of interpersonal relationships is at risk because as the Internet is becoming more interwoven into daily life, the use of the Internet and/or social media becomes a higher priority.” This was a statement made in 2017, we are now in 2021 and these true statements are preeminent more than ever. Social media has grown at a rapid pace over these past couple of years, and has altered our lifestyles. In an article done by (knowledge.Wharton.UPenn) the researcher discussed how irreplaceable social media is, and how we as a country must conform to the way social media is taking over.  In another article written by (onlinedegrees.unr.edu) the researcher discusses how detrimental social media is to young adults mental health and that more rules and regulations need to be made to slow down the rate of social media. With that being said, it’s pertinent to analyze both articles and discuss the big points from each point of view.

Looking at the article done by (onlinedegress.unr.edu), by dissecting what the researcher was saying this is what I took from it. Social media is fun to have but comes with lots of hidden manipulations and problems. Since 2015 it is proven that young adults spend the most time socializing through social media, which means a greater chance to experience the negative effects of social media. Social media started for the sheer purpose of communicating with friends, it has now gone way beyond that to

topics like marketing, politics, education and health. A recent poll done by   (National Center For Health Statistics) shows 90% of teens under eighteen have used at least two forms of social media, 75% of all teens have at least one active social networking profile. With that being said, according to a study done by Pew research center in 2018 on teens in the US, 42% of teenagers experienced name calling, 32% have spread false rumors, 25% received unsolicited explicit images, 21% had their activities and whereabouts tracked by people other than their parents, 20% received physical threats, and lastly 7% had images shared without their own consent. The survey done after showed 90% of teens believe online harassment is a problem for people of their age, and 63% identify it as a major problem. 20% of people with at least one social media account feel the need to check them at least three times a day, sometimes more to avoid feeling anxious. Social media leads to depression in many cases, in the same study they analyzed how spending more time on social media was linked with feeling socially isolated. 67% of teens who are online have been cyber bullied, which has led to spread of depression across many teens in the US. Depressed students are more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol, and engage in risky sexual behavior. It is also a major risk for suicide, the third leading cause of death for teens and young adults from ages fifteen to twenty four .  This is definitely a concerning fact for parents and those with varying social media accounts, this can get worse in the coming years as kids want to be like celebrities and everything they see on Instagram while not trying to be or find themselves. Finding ways to neutralize these sad facts should do wonders for social media and social media users.

On the other hand though social media isn’t all bad, there are some ways social media enhances us as a society and can be good. Social media has begun to be a place for resources and learning. Of course it is most known for socializing, but it can also be a place to share knowledge and update oneself on world news and new information. Another positive that sometimes can be seen as a negative , is the ability to share different opinions on different topics. Depending on the topic, conversations can become helpful and a source of entertainment for some. Advertisements benefit from social media tremendously, as they are able to promote their business and ideas while having teens’ attention due to the immense attraction to the screen. Some negative effects are that students are now more dependent on information on social networks and the web, which in the long run diminishes their learning and real research capabilities. It has now become we depend on virtual learning rather than present day to day learning. Now of course with the pandemic going on in our world today it is much easier to fall in this trap, which makes the negative side of social media that much more prevalent. In terms of posting, teens want the acceptance of others as they get a positive feeling over how many people like their posts, and as to be expected a sense of let down when you’re not getting the likes that some of your peers get. Social media can reduce social skills later in life, as our human to human interactions decrease tremendously. Sometimes though, social media can boost one’s confidence due to the fact that they know they will never see some people in real life. For example someone can portray as being belligerent , or someone they’re not because some people they interact with won’t actually see them in the real world. Which obviously can lead to cat fishing or altercations. In terms of older users , they use social media for more business purposes and creating contacts through social media. Businesses thrive off social media, it helps them connect with customers, increase awareness about your brand and can boost leads and sales. As stated before, businesses can advertise immensely on social media apps for younger adults as well as older adults. It’s much easier to get a business out there and get exposure by taking the social media route, below shows what businesses use to get content out and the percent.(marketing insider 2018)

Searching business and learning more about them through the web is how customers determine whether your business is the one they want to support, so making sure the website is informative can play a big role as well. In this day and age social media helps business tremendously with very low deterring factors. If we could get every usage of social media like that, it would be a virtue for all. The researcher from (knowledge.Wharton.UPenn) compiled a lot of these points regarding the conformity we as a country should do for social media.

Social media has enhanced us overall, however in some ways it has diminished us as well. For example we can look at the situation with Twitter, Facebook and Donald trump. It seems as though social media helped his rise to presidency, but it also led to his fall, as he was banned from Twitter for life and is currently still banned from Facebook. For his rise to presidency social media played a big part in his success, he was able to communicate with supporters through tweets and posts, and was also able to share his opinions and plans for the world to see. However social media also led to his demise, as his posts became misleading and too much for the world and his social media accounts to handle. In terms of youth, social media presents both risks and opportunities for adolescents. It is important for young men and women to develop a coherent identity, social media makes it unclear if people are engaging in real life presentation with a lot of ideal-self or false-self presentation. However some tend to believe the online life and offline life are disconnected, but in some instances there is much fluidity and connectedness between the life offline and online. The saying you never know what you have until it’s gone would fit social media perfectly, if we lost social media life would be dry for those coming up in this century and slow down many processes we are accustomed to and been accustomed to. As social media is growing expeditiously, answers to social media should be taken away, or used even more will unravel itself through how the world uses social media, and how we conform to lessen the negative aspects of the social media environment.

Through the negatives of social media , it’s imperative we as a society  find ways to diminish the problems and enhance the positives. Because of the rise of social media, there should be classes and services giving adolescents strategies for safe use of social media. Limits should be set on how much a kid can be on or use social media, the less a person is on it the more it can have a more positive rather than negative impact. Ten to forty minutes per app a day, according to (journal of social and clinical psychology 2018) undergraduate students to limit themselves to that time were generally more positive and had better self images. They also reported less depression and loneliness after three weeks. Parents should keep tabs on their children and the usage of social media, without crossing boundaries and privacy. It definitely starts at home, and giving discipline to young kids to differentiate the positive and negative parts of social media. That is easier said than done but can be manageable in a household setting, the biggest authority to a kid or young adult is their parents and by giving them the freedom to use social media but also indicate mitigation, it will help distinguish the positive from the negative. Which makes social media a safer and more positive entertaining experience.

In conclusion, social media has a huge impact on today’s and the coming society. There are many ways it progresses us as a nation, but of course ways where it degrades and regresses us as a society. There’s no telling where social media will take us, or how it will change how we go about our day to day life. Social media has already made a big impact on our life’s and the up and coming children. If we as a nation can construct social media for better purposes all around, and give safe guidelines, social media should be a positive force for years to come. The social media use is only going up as the days, months, and years go by.  It isn’t coming to a stop anytime soon and shows no sign of decreasing. Addressing the articles stated in the introduction, they obviously differ dramatically. However no one researcher is correct, as both have good points regarding their take on social media. It comes down to alleviating problems that social media brings and elevating the positives. Once we can find a solution for that, both sides should be able to come to a clear consensus on the future of social media. So I end with, what can you do to make social media more positive for yourself as well as those around you?

Work cited:

Author, G. (2020, September 18). Why Social Media Is Important for Business Marketing. Marketing Insider Group. https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/why-social-media-is-important-for-business-marketing/

Buschjost, K. (2020, March 3). The pros and cons of social media and its impact on youth. KRNV. https://mynews4.com/news/local/the-pros-and-cons-of-social-media-and-its-impact-on-youth

Rettner, R. (2018, June 1). These 5 Social Media Habits Are Linked with Depression. Livescience.Com. https://www.livescience.com/62718-social-media-habits-depression.html

Anderson, M. (2018, September 27). A Majority of Teens Have Experienced Some Form of Cyberbullying. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/09/27/a-majority-of-teens-have-experienced-some-form-of-cyberbullying/

The University of Nevada, Reno. (2019, December 30). Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health. University of Nevada, Reno. https://onlinedegrees.unr.edu/online-master-of-public-health/impact-of-social-media-on-youth-mental-health/

The Impact of Social Media: Is it Irreplaceable? (2018). Knowledge@Wharton. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/impact-of-social-media/

HR: Prof smith

     Most students in high school more than likely stay with the school they started out with, whether that be a public or private school. More importantly, most student athletes stick with the sport at the school they attend, while allowing their game to develop over the four years at the public or private school. However I didn’t follow this norm, and got to experience both a public school and a private school. With my experience in both settings, it’s effortless  to compare as well as contrast to two, while explaining my experience in both types of environments, and how they each played pivotal parts in my life.

    My public school years were quite the experience. I attended Dieruff high school, a fairly overcrowded poor school in one of the worst cities in Pennsylvania. I had just moved to my dad’s house from Brooklyn, New York, so Pennsylvania was a new experience and vibe for me. As a new kid, basketball really grew my popularity which I needed being from a whole other state. I was also a 5”5 sophomore, so leading the school as a basketball player did wonders to my confidence. Going to school was kind of like what you see on tv or in some movies, there were fights if not everyday, every other day. We had a dress code but students would show up with pajamas, and quite frankly anything they felt like wearing that day. Teachers were more friends with students than actual authority figures, work was barely handed out and I can’t even describe the testing environment. Students taking pictures of the test and sending it to the class so everyone would get a good grade. Lunch was packed, as some students had to sit on the floor, we had three separate lunch periods and every single one was crowded or over filled. Students would skip class and go to their friends’ classes while the other teacher allowed it. Cussing and derogatory phrases were used unconsciously from students, but from teachers as well. Admittedly,  I was a part of a lot of these  misbehaviors, but being around it so much you’re bound to pick up on some of the bad habits exhibited. In terms of basketball, I was averaging 25 points with no offers and no schools in my phone. My game wasn’t polished enough, as I played like an inner city Brooklyn kid. A chip on my shoulder with ill regard to how anyone feels including coaches. I would quickly learn how detrimental this would be to getting a college offer.

   As a 5”9 junior in high school it was beginning to be crunch time, me and my dad had a lot of thinking to do. We started reaching out to prep schools , hoping for a better opportunity as far as academics and of course basketball. Perkiomen School  came up through a basketball influencer my dad knew. I ended up going on a visit, they interviewed me on the academic side and then I had a basketball workout with the head coach. You could tell just by the visit the maturing I would have to do, many little things that made  the school better than my previous school . A quick week after my visit we applied and told the coach I was ready to make the jump. When going prep the school advises for students to reclassify, which is doing the same grade over again. Most people think it’s just for sports, however that’s not true it’s actually my guidance counselor who would end up being a person I will have by my side for life’s idea. It’s to get an extra year to adjust to rigorous academics prep school has to offer, obviously it also helps in recruiting and getting an extra year to play on a high level for college coaches to see. I jumped back to the class of 2021 and began my repeat junior year as a perkiomen school panther. Going into it I was very nervous, skeptical, and uncertain. Little did I know how different the environment would truly be , but also how  influential and promising this school would be for me, and those I love most.

   From the jump you can see how rigorous not just the academics were , but the school as a whole. We had a suit and tie dress code and consequences would occur without following such rules. I was always a disciplined kid so it took little time for me to acclimate to the boarding school lifestyle, such as workouts at 6 in the morning, breakfast, school, then practice, then homework that was college level work. There were no shortcuts in this school, you got  what you put in. My use of slang, and non dictionary words were ridiculed by teachers and staff. The sagging of my pants was sought after vigorously, and procrastination got thrown out the window all in the span of a couple months. The school is so diverse, and brought me together with people I would have never thought would be my friends. So many different cultures and ways of thinking about things really enhanced my knowledge on many different things. It’s a college prep school , so juggling basketball and school was not easy, however I was never the type to back down from a challenge though, my actions came up to par and I ended up having a great year and  season as a junior.

There’s pros and cons to all situations in this world, and of course in my situation there were many. Brooklyn made me have to carry myself so confidently, as if I was untouchable. Show no weakness in no shape or form, I’ve been in many fights, suspended from school and even got jumped. Dieruff high school resembles all these things, so my attitude and the way I carried  myself never really changed. I’ve never been a yes man type of guy , but was never a tough guy either. Growing up that’s the image I had to portray, at Dieruff it was the same thing if I didn’t want to get taken advantage of or looked at as a target. At Perkiomen I was more of myself, which is a mixture of both. A very articulate prominent speaker, approachable person, fun to be around, teachable and coachable. I stood out as a student athlete at the school, and the school instilled morals in me I will keep for the rest of my life. The school’s motto is “Risk becoming your best” you can associate that with anything you do in life, not just school and basketball. Making Dieruff sound like the worst high school ever is not my intention, actually the school helped me in ways as well. Dieruff high school taught me to go get what you want as nothing is given to you, especially in a small inner city school like that. It gave me grit and a sort of mental toughness that only comes from experience. I still to this day cherish some of the friendships I made, and on the basketball side my confidence grew astronomically in my years as a dieruff husky , as I was able to hone in my skills and really be able to take my talents to the next level.

   Honestly though just like most things, there were negatives to prep school too not as much as my old school but there are cons in everything. As a boarding high school student you lack the freedom of a day student who travels back and forth. Living with roommates you have to share bathrooms and have less privacy then in your own home. It made me more selfless and caring for others though, which is also an important trait for a young man. Having a bedtime with teachers checking up to see if you’re sleeping could get annoying too, especially once I turned 18 and was a thriving young man. Of course the worst of all is being away from family , especially my mom and little siblings who I’m supposed to be there for. The end goal though however is to take care of them, and prep school was a step to getting me to that goal.

  Public school and prep school differ in many ways, however both played pivotal roles in my life and have excelled me to get where I am today. I have taken mindsets and actions from both places and learned how to balance out the two to make me a respectable young man. I am now a division 1 basketball player with a free education and a mind to learn. As I get older neither of places will ever leave my heart or mind, I am forever embedded in both discourse.

HR: None

Writing and reading  are skills we are taught at a very young age, for some we pick it up easily, and in some instances it takes years to develop higher level reading and writing. As I’ve gotten older I realize we all have different ways to interpret writing, different ways in how we write and different inspirations in terms of our reading and writing. Some could be parents, teachers, librarians. Many different people or resources that give us the motivation or will to read and write. People I’ve encountered as a child, experiences I’ve had has led to the way I read and write. In this essay I will be discussing my inspirations, how I deal with writer’s block and how my writing and reading developed as I got older.

  I have many inspirations, sponsors and reasons behind my mindset when it comes to reading and writing. From a young age it was imperative that I read more than anything else, my dad only bought me three things as a child. One was basketballs, another was football and lastly was many books. I fell in love with basketball at a young age, but my parents equally expressed to me the importance of school because without school there is no basketball. That was my first motivation to really get into reading. It was apparent that as I read more and more, my vocabulary would grow expeditiously. It also allowed me to articulate myself better than other kids in many instances. One memory that is preeminent in my head was in third grade, as a young kid growing up in Brooklyn New York it was somewhat of a struggle living with just my mom and siblings. There’s also a certain way you have to carry yourself being from Brooklyn, in school I would act out and get in trouble a lot, however I was very intelligent but spent more time acting a fool. I got in trouble one day for bantering with a fellow student, my teachers called my dad as quick as a blink. He drove down to the school, picked me up and took me to his house. After a good beating to my behind, he then proceeded to make me write a 3 page essay about how I would act moving forward. That stuck with me forever, after that day I began getting back to reading on my own and focusing on the craft of basketball. By the third grade I had an 8th grade reading level.

   Interesting enough, I still have many of the books I read growing up. As I walk through my room and examine them they bring so many memories, that I can recollect just by looking at them still to this day. Books made me feel as if I was one of the characters, made me feel I was in a new life in some instances. Which gave encouragement to make some stories of my own, or share my experiences and allow readers to put themselves in my shoes. As I got older and started writing more meaningful essays for school, it became effortless to me and my teachers noticed. However one teacher helped my writing tremendously getting me to the next level. That teacher was Mr. Trevor smith, his critique and judgment on my writing really excelled my use of punctuation as well as words. It was evident that I was a strong prominent writer, but there were many subtle areas of my writing that degraded my overall essay or paper. Working with him helped enhance the overall level and competence of my story telling and writing, and I will forever thank him for that.

  When free writing or writing a story of my choice , they’re many topics that I can and do choose from. The easiest is basketball, the experiences and situations that come through basketball are meant for story telling. Playing the sport for 17 of my 19 years on this earth makes it impossible not to have many fond memories and stories, but in all honesty those get played out as my life is way more than basketball. Sometimes I write about how I feel during the day or week, more like a journal but I took those really seriously as relaying my thoughts to the paper made me feel better, and also allowed me to go back and see different moods and feelings I had during those days. The easiest yet hardest topic for me is very vague, it’s my life. Being through so much and having so many experiences it’s as if sometimes I don’t know where to begin. Living in Brooklyn, New York for 14 years , then moving to Pennsylvania for high school and attending a boarding school. There are so many topics and stories to choose from , but it’s definitely something I can relay with minimal effort. The hardest part is what to choose and where to start.

  As I got older my motivation lies in the classroom, reading and writing really comes from the teacher. Though I’m not proud of it, I kind of got away from reading on my own and with technological advances I have more in depth with social media than growing my vocabulary and writing skills. I believe as I’m getting older and am a college student now, it’s important I belligerently get back into the sport of reading and writing on my own and allowing my mind to grow out of the high school mindset to the college mindset. I feel this school will also be a literary sponsor for me, I say that because with very little down time and not being able to be on social media as much, it forces me to be more productive in the time I’m not doing duties for the rat line. Jotting down my days and my feeling towards certain things could be great for my time here, as we all know it’s not easy being a rat at VMI. Gives me memories and something  to look back on as I get older about my experience here.

About a week ago I started writing an autobiography on my life, just turning 19 I feel there’s so much I want to get off my chest and advice I want to give out. I have a grandiose amount of events and experiences in my life worth sharing and allowing others to view for themselves. My dads one of if not the most influential sponsors in my life, he has two books published and that did very well in sales and gave many eye opening and motivational stories within it. We have already talked to a publisher, and it’s on me to continuously begin to construct a well written and well thought out book on my life.

Writer’s block was very detrimental to my work, as it happens very often leaving me stuck with no real direction in where my writing is going. If I’m being honest I had writer’s block in this essay, but I used the advice we learned, and took many breaks until I found something to talk about that would enhance my answer to the prompt. There’s other ways I individually got over writer’s block, for instance when writing about a topic I’m unsure about and know very little about. It’s important to find ways to get over the hump of not writing. One strategie I had was to honestly listen to music. It kind of cleared my mind and allowed me to think more freely about words and ways I can associate my writing to the topic.

  In conclusion my reasoning, motivation, and literary sponsors are all distinctively different from others, as me and other people have different life stories and experiences. Coming into my freshman year at VMI, I will be a English major. Hopefully learning the tools to be able to teach and inform ones coming after time the importance of reading and writing, and watch as these skills enhance their life’s year after year, and that’s what it’s all about. Hopefully with the guidance I get throughout my time at VMI, I am able to pick up tools that will challenge my mind in terms of my reading and writing skills. After my time here I hope to be the best instructor and professor I can be to those after me.

Help received: None

Reflecting on my essay, there are good takeaways, however many bad takeaways I must harp myself on. For starters my thesis was quite frankly garbage, and instead of relaying an adequate thesis I ended up announcing what I would be writing about. That was a huge detriment to the overall understanding of the essay , as well as the grade of my essay. In my next essay I made sure to have a clear thesis, honestly I think I had 2 just to be sure. One in the introduction paragraph and one in the concluding paragraph. I also wasn’t descriptive enough in my writing, this left many questions about what I was referring to in many situations. Moving forward I went into more depth on the topics being brought up , and gave as much intriguing detail as possible. A good takeaway I think was my punctuation and grammar. I pride myself on being able to use appropriate punctuations such as commas and periods when needed. This was honestly the highlight of my paper as it seemed I did everything else wrong. I don’t think I went deep enough into my literary sponsors  enough, I feel like I brought them up and kept moving to the next topic, not spending enough time elaborating on how much each one impacted my writing and reading. In the next essay I spent more time revising work, doing a work cited and making sure everything was perfect and left no room for extreme error. I feel like this essay was one that should’ve been easy for me, I think I took that too literally and ended up getting a 75. That’s the lowest score I’ve gotten on an essay since middle school. I didn’t feel however and made sure my next essay was up to the bar I’m capable of. So In  all I used this essay as a stepping stool so that the next one is much better.