Aliyah Sarna | WRIT 2 S20

Provisional Thesis Statement Exercise: In this paper I present the idea that excess amounts of time spent on smartphones can have detrimental effects on a college student's state of wellbeing. When phone usage is beyond a responsible time limit, I show that it can have a number of effects on students by first analyzing my own smartphone activity, showing how it can result in decreased sleep quality, providing examples of how it acts as a source of social pressures, and examining how it can negatively affect academic performance. Leads Exercise: 1) The smartphone has become an ever-growing influence on our planet. Entertainment, productivity, and communication have been compiled into just one powerful device, leading it to become an another necessary component of daily life. 2) Ping! Ping! Ping! Everyday, it seems as if I receive notification after notification from my phone all day long. I try my best to ignore the stream of alerts and stay focused on whatever task I may be ...

I wasn't really given any constructive criticism in my review, so I'm not sure if my partner wanted me to change anything about my paper. However , there are a few things that I know I need to change before I submit my final draft. 1) In my first supporting paragraph, I paraphrase a sleep organization's website with the sentence, " The current recommended amount of sleep that college students should receive each night is 7-8 hours, as lesser amounts can result in sleep deprivation and other negative unwanted consequences." I don't mention the other consequences, which could help the other information and anecdotes I used in the paragraph. Also, I should improve the flow of that sentence by eliminating either "negative" or "unwanted" as they basically mean the same thing. 2) I tend to flip-flop between a first-person and a third-person focus throughout the paper. My thesis is primarily focused on college-students, so unless I change it ...

Original: There are two primary factors that affect the degree of daytime alertness: sleep quantity and sleep quality. For the student-age population, sleep quantity and quality issues are both important. Paraphrased: Among students, the quality and length of one's sleep are the two most important influences on one's ability to stay alert during the day ("Importance of Sleep & Effects of Sleep-Deprivation on College Students" 2017). Citation: “Importance of Sleep & Effects of Sleep Deprivation on College Students.” American Academy of Sleep Medicine – Association for Sleep Clinicians and Researchers , 6 Nov. 2018, aasm.org/college-students-getting-enough-sleep-is-vital-to-academic-success/.

Find the Argument: I believe that he could have two possible driving statements in his essay. The first one would be that social media is an accurate representation of oneself, as he claims that "Instagram gives an accurate depiction of a user's personality." He then supports this statement with a couple of supplemental anecdotes.  This starting argument is found in the middle of the introductory paragraph. The reason why I believe there could possibly be a different thesis statement is because he also has a set of points claiming that social media profiles/usage aren't an accurate representation of a person, due to the variable nature of usage and how a person chooses to express themselves. One's usage can depend on different factors in our day-to-day lives, and one can choose to alter their public perception by the way their profile is presented. This idea is spread throughout the last half of the paper, but is mainly concentrated in the closing paragraph. ...

When asked to think about one way to track my digital usage over the course of this upcoming week, my mind immediately went to Snapchat. Snapchat is the one app that I check multiple times throughout the day. At this point, it might be the app I spend the most time on, as it's the main way I've been able to keep in contact with my friends through the shelter-in-place order. A good way to track my usage for this app would be through the Screen Time function, found in the Settings of Apple's iOS. I now realize that if I choose to use the Screen Time function, I might as well track my overall activity on my iPhone instead. That would give a much wider and more accurate view of my digital habits, wouldn't it?  Screen Time will not only give me my data for the week, but will let me look into  the different activity breakdowns for each day too! It would be much more accurate (for me at least) than keeping up a spreadsheet, because there's a good chance that I'd forg...

I wish I could afford to take an academic sabbatical like the author David Roberts, but alas, my route to graduation and future education plans are far more important than my own wellbeing. At least I can dream. Nowadays, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of digital information being thrown at us can be overwhelming. Heck, it seems like I can't go more than 2 minutes without hearing a notification ping from my email, News app, Snapchat, or any other app trying to grab my attention from the real world. As much as I'd like to pull myself away from the tentacles of the virtual world, it's starting to seem as if it's almost more important to be present online rather than physically. "Keeping up" rather than "getting caught up" describes this sentiment perfectly. If I choose to partake in the latter, there's a good chance I'll miss an announcement from professors/the school, a message from a friend, or an important news update. A...

For as long as I can remember, I've detested the act of having my picture taken. Rather than be in the frame, I prefer being behind the camera, capturing the moment at hand. It's not so much that I hate being in the frame, but more so that I grew up in a family that would constantly take pictures of my siblings and me. I now understand why they would want to record various moments of us growing up, but it led to resentment towards the whole pose-smile-repeat ordeal of being photographed . Regardless, here are my photos for this assignment. A) Facebook profile picture At first glance, this doesn't look like the typical Facebook profile picture that you'd expect to see. From what I've noticed, the average profile picture on social media tends to be flattering, clear and free from blur, and featuring the user's full face. This picture doesn't fill any of those categories, and that's exactly I kept this as my Instagram profile picture for a good three...

This is one of the infamous minion memes, an overly-abundant and popular type of meme commonly shared on the Internet. The audience is likely those who believe they are more intelligent than other people, because the message implies that the person sharing this message is fed up with the current state of society and its supposed lack of "smart people." The purpose of this meme is for the sharer to make others laugh and feel like they can relate to it. The context in this situation is that this is a meme, and people will share this it on social media sites like Facebook in order to get reactions from others. Many people, including myself, instantly recognize this as the logo of Apple Inc. Apple's target audience is one that is younger, enjoys simplicity in function and design, and those who want to "go against the grain." This can be inferred from its multiple ad campaigns where the main theme involved separation from the mainstream, with one of the mos...

1) What is a selfie? A selfie, even in its most insignificant form, is a reflection of the person who posted it. Physically, a selfie is an actual reflection of someone, considering that it literally is a photograph of a person. On a deeper level, a selfie fills the role of both an object and a practice/gesture , according to Baym and Senft's journal piece "What Does the Selfie Say?" As an object, its primary purpose is to create a moment or sense of sharing: sharing a connection between the selfie-taker and the selfie, a mood, the purpose of the picture, and so forth. As a practice, the selfie serves as a vessel for virtual social interactions. In this form, the selfie could be used to carry a message, initiate a conversation, participate in a trend, etc. It can also be used to reflect the photographer, giving the chance for the audience to interpret the various thoughts, feelings, morals, or whatever else the selfie-taker may be trying to convey. The selfie can also b...

I, like many other people, enjoy finding out more about my so-called self through the act of taking quizzes. There's something oddly comforting in the act of taking a Buzzfeed quiz, even if it reveals some of the most artificial, generalized, and possibly outrageous aspects of a person. I also feel as if this applies to the widely-popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, although much more methodical (and somewhat more accurate) in nature. I'm no stranger to the MBTI, having taken it at least 3-5 times over the past couple of years for a number of reasons. Each time I've taken it my results have come back as  ENTP , or what 16Personalities designates as the "Debater." Extroverted? Check. Intuitive? Sounds about right. Thinking? Yes!   Perceiving (prospective)?   Totally. For the most part, I'd like to think that these tests have been pretty accurate in assessing my personality type. Why would I argue against them after they told me that I was among ...