Eating disorders. Body image. Social anxiety. Fear. Depression. Suicide. Social media causes many users to empathize with these experiences. There is no young person left untouched. It is a new way of life—our generation is just the first to undergo the psychological fallout of social media.  The...

Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One hundred. I finally reached one hundred likes on my latest post. OK, now my next goal is 170. I think my record of likes on a single Instagram post is 160. I cannot compete with college students who maintain over one thousand followers, constantly comparing their posts to...

When I turned 13, I wanted a Facebook account because I wanted to play Farmville. I was not interested in posting selfies, updating my status or making virtual friends—I just wanted to produce my own virtual crop and animals. My mom made me complete summer school for the privilege of my first social...

In today’s culture, the world is exposed to a critical and judgmental way of thinking. “Cancel culture” is widespread and affects everyone. With the helpful watch of social media, people monitor and record every move. Anyone with access to the internet freely comments and criticizes others.  As...

Former President Donald Trump’s permanent suspension from Twitter brought forth two primary reactions from the public: outrage and relief. To some, the censorship of a world leader reflects bias from social media platforms, while others wish Trump had been banned from social media for his insensitive...

By all reasonable measure, most Americans have a normalized addiction: smartphone use. According to The Atlantic, we “tap, type, swipe, and click on our smartphones 2,617 times a day.” We sleep with our phones, go to the bathroom with our phones and turn to them when we feel the slightest twinge...

After reading headlines like “This ‘Imagine’ Cover Is No Heaven” and “The terrible video of celebrities singing ‘Imagine,’ explained,” I was expecting Gal Gadot’s celebrity compilation of ‘Imagine’ to be truly horrific. Instead, I was met with an innocent attempt to bring a little...

Nearly 82,000 people have died. More than 10 million Americans have filed for unemployment. We are encroaching on the peak of COVID-19. During this time of devastation, mass financial insecurity and overwhelming grief, it is insulting to see celebrities flaunting their wealth in an attempt to stay relevant...

(This story was originally published in print on Feb. 20, 2020). ANONYMITY ENCOURAGES UNITY  “Send us your juiciest confessions. Shared anonymously.”  Instagram pages such as @byeolaconfessions and @biiola_tea have had a major impact on the student culture at Biola University. These social...

(This story was originally published in print on Feb. 20, 2020). DANGER OF ANONYMITY  When I was in high school, I was sitting in my freshman English class when a student decided to catapult a paperclip into the back of our substitute teacher’s head. The substitute felt the bald patch where the...

Candidates of the 2020 presidential election are spending millions of dollars on their campaigns to reach as many people as possible through social media. President Trump has spent $3.5 million in Facebook advertisements, as well as $1 million in Google advertisements since 2016 for the 2020 election,...

(This story was originally published in print on Oct. 17, 2019). With cybersecurity threats on the rise, colleges and universities around the country have seen an increase in data breaches. An attack at the university level could result in massive data loss, which corresponds to massive financial...