Life With Technology

Ever wonder how companies survive in the rapidly growing tech market?

How technology impacts teenage

mental health

p.30

Billy

p.20

Joe

Date Issued: 10/10/93

Billy Joev

Billy Joev Bob

Could you risk losing your job to technology?

Find out about technology’s impacts on education p.6

p.24

Learn about the benefits of

standing desks p.12

Fall 2019

Life With Technology Letter from the Editors Dear readers,

Before you begin reading, take a moment to think about how much time you have spent on your phone today. The average American spends 5.4 hours on their phone per day. Is this you? As freshmen at LASA High School, we believe that technology is becoming a bigger part of our lives by the day. It causes us to wonder how adults and children are being impacted by the increasing Courtesy of Claire Payne. amounts of technology in their lives. Our magazine explores how technology is affecting members of the workforce, students’ mental health, the learning environment, companies and industries, and physical health.

Many professionals who work in these fields have been interviewed and students have been polled to gain the most accurate understanding of the topic to present to our readers.

When creating this magazine, we first agreed on our theme and everyone’s individual contributions of an infographic and feature story. At this point, we began drafting our infographics while seeking out interviewees. Following a process of gathering interviews, we worked to find the most valuable information that we were given and then used that to write our feature stories. We proceeded in creating and putting together the product that you hold in your hands. In addition, we have worked extensively to tell the story through the eyes of professionals who constantly work with technology. A lot of effort was put into making our magazine visually appealing so that it would capture the interests of many. We wrote five stories that are unique and share the views and perspective of others while expressing the common theme of technology. We are proud of how we have all come together and worked hard to create a commodity that we can be satisfied with and show off to our readers.

There have been several frustrating moments and celebratory moments while working throughout this semester, and it’s been a rollercoaster of a ride. Thank you for taking the time to read our work. We have put a lot of effort and time into the production of this magazine and we express our gratitude to you for choosing to read it. Enjoy!

1

Table of Contents 4

Editor Bios

6

Tech in Education. Revolution or Confusion?

How technology is impacting the school environment.

10 Edu Tech

Students’ thoughts on increased technology in schools.

12 How to Stand

The benefits of standing desks.

16 The Evolution of the School Desk Cover Page designed by Luke Jackson Inside Cover Pages designed by Nora Kelly Letter from the Editors designed by Jeremiah Martinez Table of Contents designed by Sathvik Chemudupati

18 A Change in Health with a Change in Tech The ways technology is impacting teen mental health.

22 Teen Tech Trends

Student technology statistics.

24 Is Keeping a Job as Easy as it Seems?

Technology is having adverse affects on job opportunities.

28 How Technology Affects People’s Jobs 30 The Fifth Generation

Improvements in the tech industry.

34 Technology Usage Meet the Editors designed by Ned Yu Letter of Thanks designed by Luke Jackson Back Cover designed by Luke Jackson

Meet the Editors An athlete, Nora spends her time playing golf, soccer, and doing homework. She began playing golf this year for the LBJ team and enjoys the practices because she gets to be with her brother. She has played soccer competitively for as long as she can remember. In eighth grade, she was proud to be the captain of the team when Kealing got third in the city championships.

Her favorite school subject is math but she also enjoys science on occasion. For this magazine, she came up with the features of the pages, such as the folio and pull quote design. She enjoys going to school to learn and see her friends, then enjoys going home and spending time alone on the weekends. She hopes to pursue a career in nursing or children’s health which is why she chose to write her story about how technology is affecting students’ mental health.

As a self-proclaimed musician, Sathvik spends much of his time playing the violin and improving his sense of musicality. For the last four years, he has been involved with various orchestral programs while pursuing his passion of learning how to code and program. He loves math and biology and spends much of his free time with his friends. Additionally, he plays tennis and participates in the martial arts. In fact, after over six years of learning martial arts, he attained a black belt. He enjoys practicing the piano and reading novels in his spare time. He has written a feature story regarding how technology impacts education and has created an infographic about survey results in regard to this topic in the magazine. He aspires to pursue a career in computer science, a factor that inspired him to take up the topic of technology in daily life for his electronic magazine.

Luke was born in Austin, then moved to Ohio, and then back to Austin. At LASA he spends most of his time out of school not doing homework but rather doing band or ultimate frisbee.

Aside from those two activities, he enjoys having fun and not getting bogged down by work. He also enjoys reading, playing around with Adobe Illustrator, and video games. At school, he likes math more than his other classes, with biology being a close second. He helped make most of the art/illustrations in this team’s magazine and contributed a lot to the cover.

Ned, fifteen, likes sleeping. He enjoys playing the piano and spends a lot of time preparing for competitions. His most recent achievement that he made was on the dates of October 26th and 27th of 2019, where he competed in the Senior Division of the Houston Chopin Youth Competition and won a bronze medal in the finals. In addition, Ned also participates in Science Olympiad, a club that competes in different science topics across the United States against other schools. He competed at Cornell University at the end of his eighth grade year in 2019, but unfortunately did not win anything. His favorite subjects are Biology, Pre-Calculus and Chinese, and he likes being challenged in those specific classes especially Biology because he hopes to follow a medical career in the future. For this magazine, he interviewed people from different companies who manufactured the internal processors of technology.

Jeremiah enjoys playing basketball and running track. He plans to continue basketball throughout high school and be on both the basketball team as well as the track team. He was also a former orchestra player for Fulmore Middle School before the school’s name was changed. So far, his favorite subject in highschool is computer science and biology. Even though technology has proven to be challenging he has been able to learn from it and make creative graphics including in his infographic that he has contributed to the magazine.

5

Students from the Austin Independent School District (AISD) utilize Audio and Video (AV) Technology. In the 21st century, students have more exposure to the technology that is used in the workforce due to increased availability and access across the district. Courtesy of Lynn Fossati.

Tech in Education.

Revolution or Confusion?

E

ducation is essential for students to acquire the necessary skills to succeed in their lives.

The way students learn is always changing, and constant innovation and implementation of new technology is having effects on the learning environment.

by Sathvik Chemudupati

students is at its all time peak, and its usage will only continue to increase. There is more machinery, online communication, and electronic devices available than ever before. Education has been a part of this trend because larger amounts of technology are constantly being implemented into learning.

The educational environment is being impacted in various ways and schools are facing In late 2019, the amount both positive and negative of technology available for

effects of increased amounts of technology. Additionally, teachers need to change their teaching styles to keep up with the advancing technology.

Juanita Soto, a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department Specialist for the Austin Independent School District, believes that increased technology implementation in schools across the district is having a positive impact on the overall learning experience of students.

successful in their learning as they reach their individual academic goals.”

In addition to the fact that technology will level the playing field for students to learn, it will also have other impacts on education. David Crissey, principal of Bernice Kiker Elementary School in Austin, noticed other positive changes as a result of increased technology availability as well.

Children enjoy learning with Imagine Math PreK-2, a program developed by a digital learning company called Imagine Learning. The program aids young children in their learning and allows for self-pased instruction.

Courtesy of Imagine Learning.

“If we as adults know how to channel [technology] and use it, it will change the way everybody learns because it will give them access and it will be able to eliminate some of those learning deficiencies and disabilities that kids have,” Soto said. “It provides equity as long as students have access to a laptop and wifi. It allows for the inquisitive gifted and talented student to go out and learn about anything they want to learn and read about anything they want to read.”

Sherri Walker, communications director for Imagine Learning, considers technology to be a tool in contributing to the needs of each individual student. Imagine Learning is a company that develops digital content and solutions to be implemented into classrooms.

“I have been in school administration since 2007 and I have seen a great change in regards to access and use of technology over the last twelve years,” Crissey said. “Positive aspects include engaging students in their native environment with opportunities to create, collaborate, and problem solve.”

“Each student shows up with unique, individual learning needs and experiences,” Walker said. “Educational technology helps to meet each student where they are and offer them challenging but appropriate instruction to help them grow With these positive changes, and learn.” increased amounts of technology in schools is Walker explained how the aiding many students who technology developed by his have learning deficiencies, company is contributing to Soto said. Technology helped attaining the needs of each her son succeed in spite of a learner. learning disability.

“We believe that the digital education programs created by Imagine Learning are helping to create an educational environment where every student can succeed, regardless of their background,” Walker said. “Our programs help bridge the learning gap for students, helping them feel

“My son was dyslexic and he graduated two years ago,” Soto said. “Had it not been for the technology that was available for him, the spell check that was available for him, the easy access to those kind of

7

techniques, the Grammarly and all that, he might not have gotten those AP scores that he got.”

change their teaching methods as a result of more technology availability. This can be done by implementing online programs in the classroom to assess students’ performance to understanding where each student stands in their learning to be able to provide them with the necessary aid for their improvement. Walker explained teachers can use technology to keep track of each student’s progress and requirements.

Although students have been subject to many changes in regards to the way they learn, teachers have also experienced alterations in the ways that they need to present course material to students. Soto explained teaching methods are being altered due to the increased availability and access students have to technology in education across schools.

“Teachers have multiple students in their classrooms, “We have to really give them each with individual needs,” opportunities to use technology Walker said. “Educational but to use it in a way that they technology helps a teacher can learn from it and not just reach each student and their

“

I believe that teachers feel challenged to ‘stay ahead of the curve’ in regards to technology and often that is difficult considering their other roles and responsibilities. ”

It is necessary for teachers to

“It can also bring various subjects to life by integrating multimedia and open educational resources or OERs,” Bluestone said.

Though teachers have options to make the classroom environment more active, Crissey said it is not always easy for teachers to utilize technology in education in the most efficient and effective ways due to the rapidly growing amounts of it.

“I believe that teachers feel challenged to ‘stay ahead of the curve’ in regards to technology and often that is difficult unique learning needs and considering their other roles can provide data showing and responsibilities,” Crissey where each student is on their said. academic journey so that teacher can provide helpful Although teachers struggle to intervention or additional keep up with the rapid growth instruction.” in technology, there are other negativities associated with While teachers can use student technology access. technology to acquire data

- David Crissey, Principal of Kiker Elementary School

gather ideas and facts,” Soto said. “We are past the teacher that just gave facts because you can get those anywhere.

We are now in the process of helping you think and create and investigate using the facts that you can get.”

on their students and help them learn, there are other technology based resources that can be used for a similar purpose. Marissa Bluestone, the communications director for Macmillan Learning, said technology can be used by teachers to help their students easily engage with the course material. Macmillan Learning is a company that develops digital content and products for educational purposes.

Imagine Learning addresses and combats the negativities to ensure success for all students that utilize their programs.

“Some negative discussion around technology in schools is that students spend too much time on technological devices in general and that students may become so used to engaging with technology that they have a more difficult time engaging in real-world experiences,” Walker said. “Our programs are used minimally throughout the day and week, depending on the age of the students. For example, our literacy program — Imagine Language & Literacy — is recommended to be used for thirty minutes, three times a week for midelementary grade students. In this way, students spend the grand majority of their time with traditional instruction but can turn to Imagine Language & Literacy for extra support and learning that might be needed in addition to their traditional instruction.”

A fill-in-the-blank style question is displayed on a program called Imagine Language and Literacy that was created by a digital learning and content company called Imagine Learning. Courtesy of Imagine Learning.

interactions.

Increased availability and access to technology causes students to be more involved and immersed in their electronics. This may result in less physical and personal interactions between students, sparking a need for additional programs that enforce these

providing students with a safe environment to explore and “The less conversation with engage,” Crissey said. students, the less conversation with each other, and with that Though there are negative comes the inability to cope impacts of technology, Soto with some situations because believes proper implementation they don’t have to,” Soto said. of technology is a key factor in “There is a big push for SEL, combating these negativities Social Emotional Learning, and ensuring that technology in because we have realized that classrooms leads to successful the more you get into your students. Technology has its phone the less social emotional fair share of positives and learning you are doing.” negatives, and combating the negatives is essential to bring With degrading personal out its full potential. interaction, there are other potentially negative impacts of “It isn’t necessarily harming,” technology on students. Issues Soto said. “I think that we associated with increased need to still teach the skills and technology implementation the basics but incorporate the and accessibility for students technology.” have been observed at an elementary school in Austin.

Graphics by Sathvik Chemudupati

“A

challenge

has

been

9

Edu Tech

43 high school freshmen in Austin discussed how they use technology for school.

by Sathvik Chemudupati

Which Devices are Used by Students to Complete Homework Assignments?

Cell Phone

School Chromebook

What do Teens Think About Blend?

Blend is a software based on Canvas used by many schools for students to keep track of their assignments from their classes.

I love Blend!

15

12

76.1% Desktop

9

92.5%

6

3

I hate Blend because it is unreliable I would rather communicate with the teacher in person Blend is unecessary

Laptop 0

Blend is useful but I Blend is prefer another mode I do not have an not useful of opinion on Blend organization

23.9%

28.3%

Which Devices are Used by Freshmen to Complete Classwork?

72.9%

School Chromebook

22.9%

Laptop/Macbook

More Technology in Schools?

Online or In Person?

54.3% of 91.3% of

freshmen claimed that teachers are moving towards using more technology in the classroom.

freshmen prefer to complete assignments online than in person.

Harmful or Beneficial? are in n e m h s f of fre echnology l a h n dt tha .

More of increase e classrom th rt suppo entation in m imple

% 3 .

56 Students surveyed at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School in Austin, Texas.

11

How to Stand

The Truth Behind Standing Desks

by Luke Jackson

D

ean Karnazes is a long distance runner and cyclist who has participated in the Badwater ultramarathon.

He believes that sitting is the new smoking because our body is not meant to sit around and do nothing all day. Standing is a better alternative, for it has more health benefits and prevents issues caused by sitting.

Desks are everywhere in offices and they are a vital element in the workplace. Different desks can be helpful to meet different needs and many people seek out standing desks for health reasons. People have started looking for different ways to improve their health, and one way that this has been done is through their desk. The Human Solution a company that provides ergonomic solutions in the office and has been providing different types

of ergonomic, designing and arranging objects in order to make it as efficient and effective as possible, desks throughout the years. Mary Gonzalez is a doctor who specializes in physical medication and rehabilitation (PM&R).

Chronic

repetitive

preventable measure that can be used to help prevent or heal injuries.

“A lot of these injuries can be prevented by preventative measures by ergonomics,” Gonzalez said.

stress Exercises where stress is put on the bone are called weight-

“ A standing desk can prevent chronic repetitive stress injuries.”

- Mary Gonzalez, PMR

injuries are injuries caused over time from overuse on the human body. Usually, the people who have this type of injury are people who have disabilities.

bearing, and these can be used to prevent injuries that are a result of sitting down too long.

“When you are standing, you have the benefit of weightbearing,” Gonzalez said.

“A standing desk can prevent When a human stands up, the chronic repetitive stress weight of their body is put onto injuries,” Gonzalez said. the structural support bones, A standing desk is one which are critical in supporting the body.

any weight on them,” Gonzalez said.

One of the reasons people get osteoporosis when they are paralyzed is because they are constantly in wheelchairs and not standing. This results in the bones used for standing to be underused and severely weakened or osteoporosis.

Exercises that are physical activities do not always help or support weight bearing.

“Exercises that support weight-bearing are walking and running while exercises like swimming and biking The bones in the leg, fibula, tibia, femur, and patella. Pressure is being put on the bones aren’t putting any weight in the leg. Graphic by Luke Jackson on your bones so they “Your bones get stronger when will get weaker compared to have little effect on weightthey have weight on them the bones that are used. An bearing,” Gonzalez said. and their bones get stressed,” example of this is when sitting Gonzalez said. the bones that a person sits Although standing desks on will be strengthened while allow for weight-bearing, they When weight and stress are the bones that are used while can also be helpful for other applied to a certain part of a standing will be weakened health problems, such as back bone, that part of the bone will as pressure is not constantly problems. get stronger. applied to them.

“You can have a protruding “There is something called “What happens to astronauts, disk, a disk in the back of Wolff’s law, so if somebody is what happens to people in your spinal column and you constantly walking on the side wheelchairs, and possibly have material there and it is of their foot that bone will get people who are in a desk over protruding out,” Gonzalez said. stronger,” Gonzalez said. a prolonged period of time is There are some people who When someone does not put that they develop osteoporosis, any weight on certain bones the or weakening of the bones, bones that they are not using because you aren’t putting

13

have a ruptured disk, which is where there is a rubbery disk ,kind of like a soap bar, between the spinal bones. This makes it difficult for them to sit in certain desks and can therefore select a directional preference for their desk.

“There’s some therapist out in Australia, his research shows that when you did extension bias exercise, it promotes the extension of the spine if it’s like a soap bar you are squeezing that bar into place,” Gonzalez said.

Some people need to get a standing desk for medical reasons so they can stand for prolonged periods of time to

help with their ruptured disk.

“Probably you have them [ankles, knees, hips and “Everybody is different. No elbows] at 90 degrees so you one fits into one category. don’t put too much stress on Everyone has to listen to their them,” Gonzalez said. own body to decide how long they need to stand,” Gonzalez When someone is sitting their said. ankles, knees, hips, or elbows, need to be kept at a 90-degree Some people only need a 15- angle or as close to as possible 20 minute standing break, to avoid long term bone multiple times throughout the problems. day while others cannot sit down at all.

The Carpal Tunnel is an essential path of nerves, Although sitting down is not as tendons and other important good as standing there are ways bodily elements used to move that you can improve yourself your hand and fingers around by keeping your ankles, knees, hips and elbows at a certain “The same thing for your hands angle. like people with carpal tunnel so there is a tunnel in your hand that’s made up of bones,” Gonzalez said.

Carpal Tunnel syndrome can be caused when someone has poor typing posture because they do not have their hands flat and instead keep their hands at an angle. An example of this is typing with the wrists on the table instead of keeping them elevated.

Carpal Tunnel

Nerve

Muscle Tendons

Flexor

Carpal Bones

Flexor

The hand split at the wrist portraying the different bones and other things in the carpal tunnel. Different important body functions run through the carpal tunnel which can get cut off when the wrist is at a bad angle. Graphic by Luke Jackson.

“There are seven things that run through the tunnel, arteries, veins, nerves ... one of them is your median nerve, so when you do anything that causes that tunnel to narrow you can get tingles in your hands,” Gonzalez said.

Standing desks are great for the

human body for a multitude of reasons. Daniel Freeberg has been selling ergonomic standing desks and chairs for six years at Human Solutions.

“I do probably stand about a third of my day and it comes to about 15 to 20 minutes out of every hour, Sometimes a little more,” Freeburg said.

Freeburg shares his favorites with his standing desk including how his height plays a role in his liking of the desk.

“What is great about our height adjustable desk is that it is very adjustable, like I’m 6 feet tall,” Freeburg said. “This desk here An electronic standing desk with a computer and other office objects. The is a desk at 30 inches and this is standing desk can be moved up and down depending on their height. Photo by actually a little too high for me Luke Jackson because it has to be more than understand the perspective of desk for different health issues 90 degrees, so where I use my one of his customers to fully desk it is a little lower,” understand this product. Eddy “I use it for health reasons,” McAndrews said. “I think it The desks that are sold have McAndrews has had a standing helps with mobility and stuff of four different presets that you desk for many years because of that nature. Since I have started customize and adjust to the his health problem, pulmonary using a standing desk, I feel that tenth of an inch, and can fit embolisms. my hips have opened up, like pretty much anyone.

“I have been diagnosed with my back has kinda straightened “The people that have gotten pulmonary embolisms which is up because I had bad posture,” them that have to sit down where blood clots in my lungs McAndrews follows a longand be writing they can have and it was suggested to me to distance runner and biker, Dean it sitting but when they have get a stand-up desk because it Karnazes. a meeting that they want to helps with blood flow in my move along more quickly or body,” McAndrews said.

“Dean Karnazes is this something like that they raise People with pulmonary it up everybody’s standing,” embolisms cannot sit for Freeburg said. too long, otherwise they are Freeburg works to sell standing susceptible to blood clots, desks, and it is necessary to McAndrews uses a standing

psychopath who runs 50 miles a day, and he said that ‘‘sitting is the new smoking,’” McAndrews said.

15

The Evolution of

by Luke Jackson

1881 In 1881 the Sydney School Furniture company made the first fashion desk that was created to provide people a place to work instead of a bench and had different sizes for different sizes.

1920 In 1920 the welsh desk was made to accommodate the influx of students during the 1920s.

1930 In the 1930s the adjustable desk was created for students to be able to change the vertical height and swivel around.

the School Desk 1970 In the 1970s a desk was made and it had space under the desk for a backpack and limited writing room and it was terrible for left-handed students. It was used because of its affordability.

2000 In 2000 the child standing desk was made in order to combat the health risks of sitting down. It allowed students to stand and work comfortably.

2010 Triangle school desks are able to be arranged in various ways depending on the room and the assignment. They range from $120 $140.

Information from TimeToast, Suiter, School Outfitters

17

A Change in Health with a Change in Tech

The mental and emotional stability of teenagers is going up and down, causing worry throughout the city.

T

by Nora Kelly

he advancements of technology have changed the consumers, and a change in the mental health of students can be seen.

Technology has been around constantly throughout the twenty first century in a variety of forms, including computers, smartphones, and televisions, but with all the new advancements, it is changing the world and the people in it.

Computers and smartphones are commonly used in the classroom to help enhance student learning.

In fall of 2017, Austin Independent School District (AISD) provided chromebooks to high school students so that they would have access to a computer when not at school. Along with the benefits of technology, there are risks and dangers to letting such a powerful tool have such an impact on one’s life.

the world. Dr. Paula Gay, a licensed said. phycologist who has been practicing for more than thirty years, shared The changes of technology can easily be seen at home with the her opinion in regard to this. increased presence of computers, “I think technology can either be phones, and televisions, but there a weapon or a tool. It’s like one of are also noticeable changes in the the best things and one of the worst education system. Laurie Beaman, things that has happened,” Gay said. a technology design coach in AISD, believes that even with the increase If technology is used correctly, it of technology, the classrooms are

can either be a “ Technology weapon or a tool.”

- Paula Gay, Licensed Psychologist

is beneficial to its consumers but not making drastic changes to the if people are not aware of all its way they run. capabilities, technology can quickly become very dangerous.

“There isn’t a large transition what classrooms looked like before, “It is really important for parents and except they may not be copying the families to be talking to their kids actual paper,” Beaman said. about it from a very early age, not just when they hit middle school. There are teachers who are adapting In the 2000s, technology has Instead, they should be talking about and changing to the technology but evolved drastically and changed what they’re watching, what they’re there are also teachers who aren’t seeing, what they’re reading,” Gay changing their classrooms. This

In Dr. Gay’s office she has Max, a therapy dog, to help her clients relieve some of the stress they have when they come to her office. When her clients come in and are stressed, Max helps them relax and opens them up to her. Courtesy of Paula Gay

is because they like the way their Beaman said. room has run in the past and do not want the improved technology to Blend is allowing learning to become more individualized and change that. focused towards how specific “Some teachers use Blend as a students learn best. repository right now and if they had a worksheet before, it’s a worksheet “It is giving teachers the opportunity on Blend and it’s just virtual now,” to give assessments to students

to see what they are interested in doing. And then, they can channel them to resources or assignments that are specialized for them and are going to help them reach their learning goals in a way that is unique to them,” Beaman said.

19

The changes with technology are carried out in classrooms but the ideas come from the district.

Catherine Molina, a counselor at Ortega Elementary School, explained different district projects are carried out in specific ways.

“Many districts are ensuring each student is given access to different technological devices on a 1-1 ratio,” Molina said.

When students are provided chromebooks the administration

can collect data from those devices. delete it but it exists somewhere out there, if you send a message “This data helps administration, it exists somewhere out there,” instructional coaches and teachers Beaman said. decide how to target the specific needs of each student,” Molina When something gets posted online, said. it can have serious consequences to people who and to some point the The technology is giving students people who see it as well. freedom they have not had in the past and with that comes a great “Particularly for girls, it’s become deal of responsibility. much easier for middle schoolers and high schoolers to bully other “Whatever you post is essentially girls anonymously through permanent. You might be able to technology,” Gay said..

Te c h n o l o g y makes it possible to compare yourself to others very easily.

“Because of Instagram and Facebook there’s much more comparison that goes on with girls and other girls. This girls prettier than me, this girl has a better life than me,” Gay said.

The AISD blended learning model is meant to turn students can’ts into cans. Courtesy of Laurie Beaman.

The most changes can be observed in children and adolescents but there are also changes in the way adults are

carrying themselves and how The technology design team is they are using their time. all about helping teachers use technology in an effective way.

“I have found adults and students alike, are checking their phones “Our main thing is that teachers are for updates or texting others, the experts and we’re just there to causing distractions in their work listen, and be thought partners and or learning,” Molina said. see how we infuse instructional technology to make their practice

“ Technology can lead to

distractions if not utilized the right way. ”

what she learned.

“As a student, you’re going to have some teachers who have really great classroom management and things are very aligned and then you’re also going to have some teachers that struggle to keep everyone together on a task,” Beaman said.

Since some teachers have a hard time keeping control of their classroom, technology can easily become a distraction in the classroom if it isn’t used efficiently.

“Technology can lead to distractions if it’s not utilized the right way, but Even though adults and teenagers and what they’re already doing we want technology to empower and so we’re all about the blended are both changing, the negative stronger,” Beaman said. learning model.” Beaman said. effects of technology are more commonly seen in female teenagers It is up to the consumers to use Catherine Molina agrees that she and adolescents. technology responsibly and there would rather see kids interacting are ways that schools and resources, “I don’t know how many times such as the technology design team, with each other but has more to add.

I’ve heard I saw online that this girl can help their students do well. went to a party and I wasn’t invited.

“I would rather see children That stuff is very very public now “Schools can come in, and teach interacting with each other and and it wasn’t necessarily fifteen literacy like how to look at your playing, than have an iPad in front years ago,” Gay said. posts and how they might affect of them. However, there are a ton other people that you might not The district has provided support have noticed on your own. How to of great educational programs and resources to the teachers so look at your feeds, how to look at which can improve children’s that they can get all the information what’s going on and then how to learning. These programs can be they need in order to create a well critique it, And also how to explore used for either a gifted or struggling run classroom, and one of these is how it sits with your own values.” student,” Molina said. the district wide technology design Gay said.

As technology is advancing, the team. risks are also becoming more Laurie Beaman was a highschool prominent “We are split up so we see a mix of teacher until Summer 2019 before everything that is happening in the she transitioned to a technology “Technology is the cultural district and we kinda have a mix of design coach, this gave her the wallpaper, we can’t get away from all different kinds of campuses,” opportunity to see how technology it and we all see it,” Gay said.

Beaman said. is used in the classroom and now she can help other teachers with - Laurie Beaman, AISD Technology Design Coach

21

TEEN TECH TRENDS

by Nora Kelly

15 minutes

Time Without Electronics Before Bed

45 minutes

1 hour or more

All of the information presented in these surveys was collected from eighty freshmen in Austin.

Looking at electronics right before you go to bed can harm your health so a survey was taken to see how much time freshmen are spending screen free before bed. 66.2% of the surveyed people said that they shut off all electronics between fifteen and thirty minutes before they fall asleep.

9.1% said they fall asleep with their phone right next to them becuase they were on it right before going to sleep. 18.2% of people put all electronics away between fourty five minutes and an hour of going to bed. The remaining 6.5% said they don’t use any electronics within an hour of going to bed.

Percentage of Sudents who Average Sleep Gotten by Freshmen

Own a Phone

3.9% of students don’t own a phone

96.1% of students own a phone

Time Spent on Phones Daily 3.9% 22.1%

59.7% 14.3%

1-3 hours <1 hour 4-7 hours N/A

Too much time on any kind of electronics can be dangerous and detrimental to someones health.

The majority of students spend anywhere between one and three hours on their phones daily.

According to CBS News, the healthy amount of time on electronics is no more than two hours. If students are spending this much time on their phones than the total amount of usage on technology is going to be much higher because at school computers are used at least in one or two classes per day. If we were to add up the average amount of time spent on phones, computers, and televisions we would go way above the recommended two hours.

The average amount of sleep gotten by people who were surveyed is between six and seven hours.

The lowest amount of sleep that was found was between one and two hours. Even though the healthy and recommended amount of sleep is ten hours for people between fourteen and fifteen years old. Throughout a persons life, the amount of sleep needed changes. Small children and babies need less sleep than teenagers. Teenagers need the most sleep, more than adults also because their brains are less developed.

In Austin, around 96% of the high school freshmen own a phone. This leaves only 4% of them who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a phone.

23

Is Keeping a Job as Easy as it Seems?

T

The Effects of Automation

By Jeremiah Martinez

echnology is always improving and making daily life easier, but it can severely affect the working environment of a doctor for example, creating a more efficient way to store their notes on patients but in the process having the doctors get used to the new technology which can prove hard for some.

opportunity for programmers, but there is controversy over how technology is affecting people’s jobs in a good or bad way.

then once I got into private practice I started turning over to the electronic medical record,”.

Medicine Delia DeLeon, an OB-GYN specializes in women’s health , explained there have been changes in the medical industry with increasing amounts of technology.

The electronic medical record is an online device for the OB-GYN that is used to easily store and manage information about patients.

However, it was awkward for the doctors to use at first.

In the 21st century, technology has come a long way and has advanced to create jobs while making some disappear. Most people have experienced major changes with technology in their jobs throughout their lives as technology advances and evolves over time. With new phones and computers coming out every year, the working environment can be drastically altered to do more online work. Technology can have positive impacts in many instances creating more

“Medicine specifically is probably a little bit behind in technology which is interesting,”

“It’s interesting because … we actually had an older doctor that was on

“ We’re using robotics and now we are able to operate on a patient when we’re not right next to them. ” - Delia DeLeon, OBGYN

Delia DeLeon said. “But for me, I started off where a lot of taking histories and notes and even doing documentation on patients was all on paper and so I started off knowing that era and

the verge of retirement and probably the biggest thing that bumped him over to the side into retirement was this electronic medical record technology,” DeLeon

and cause a distraction.

“When I’m trying to type what they’re saying I don’t want them to think I’m not paying attention and just looking at a computer.

So I actually don’t bring my computer A display of equipment that is utilized during in. I’m still a surgeries. Hospitals are implementing more writing down technology to complete operations. Courtesy notes trying to of Delia DeLeon. make the patient said. “He just couldn’t keep feel comfortable, “ DeLeon up with it and he wanted to said. write everything on paper and charts and he would stay As technology improved, at the office so late trying to put data into the computer and update his technology,”.

The electronic medical record changed the way that the doctors see their patients and could sometimes interfere with their appointment

robotics has improved as well, and the OB-GYN were able to build machines that allowed surgeons not to get their hands dirty when doing a surgery while being just as accurate if not better.

“We’re using what’s called robotics and now we are able to operate on a patient when we’re not even right next to them. We’re on what is like a video game what is called a console and we’re able to move all these buttons and all the machines that are doing exactly what we do are in the patient and operating on them and probably the biggest improvement on that is we can see things with this camera that we couldn’t see before and we can just do so much more on this technology than we could in the past,” DeLeon said.

25

The Austin Central public library work area during the day. Increasing amounts of technology are visible across various libraries. Photo by Jeremiah Martinez.

Libraries Technology has also allowed for vast improvements in a library and the amount of technology present in the library explained Jessica Hyick, a librarian at the downtown Austin Central Library “Technology has allowed people to check out e-books from home so we have our physical collection here where people can come and check out the books and browse, then we have our virtual collection where people can read at home in their pajamas, and then the book returns itself automatically so they don’t ever

New book checkouts in the Austin Central library now have the capability to not have scan the barcode to check out the book. Evidence of increasing technology is present across the workforce. Photo by Jeremiah Martinez

have to come here,” Hyick said.

Libraries have also been able to use different technological tools that they did not have access to

so robots and coding and so that’s moved our programming in a different direction. “ Hyick said

up a whole new world of automation which is one of the main causes of job loss.

In a library, technology proved to be just as capable of doing what librarians do, putting them at risk of losing their jobs.

in the past.

“We have these awesome selfcheckouts so you can set stacks items that you want to check out on it and it would check out without scanning the Barcode and we have smart book return now where you can slide your books into a window and they check-in, “ Hyick said With so much technology becoming apart of libraries, librarians are having to switch the methods in which they do things.

“It also has changed types of programming that we do. There is more of a push for doing stem focused programming,

“It has affected my field in a positive way because it allows for more automation so we could do a lot more stuff with machines where you “I think that now libraries couldn’t in the past but I can be seen on the defensive also feel that at the same because why do libraries exist time, I feel it is replacing if we have the internet? So people so it’s kind of we’re constantly having to eliminating jobs. “ Alvarez show our worth and fight to said stay relevant in a world that is constantly changing so I think The ease of using it’s seen as a blessing and a technology has made curse, “ Hyick said people’s lives much easier so negative effects are Oil Industry Programming far outnumbered with As much as technology the positive effects of can take away, it can also automation. give back and help pave the way for success in the field “Technology is going to explains Jessica Alvarez, who continue to be booming in was an application designer the future so for a career for Marathon Petroleum in technology the outlook looks very good and “I feel more applications promising,” Alvarez said. are coming out so you have a variety to choose from, so now you have different applications that do the same thing, and it’s just not like a solo market right people can choose which applications they want; they want to have more choices, “ Jessica Alvarez said.

Graphics by Jeremiah Martinez

Evolving technology opens

27

How Technology Affects Technology Affects Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Jobs Jobs People In their By by Jeremiah JeremiahMartinez Martinez

With Withmany manyImprovements in techonolgy improvements in and the varityand of jobs techonology the people everyone varietyhave of jobs, people has experinced a a have experiencced significant change significants changeinin their thierjob. job

As technology evolves over time some jobs are lost due to robots and inventions being able to do the simple work that some people have as their job.

When technology begins to be used in a part of a job that it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used to be in before, the workers of that job may find it hard to adapt, forcing them into retirement.

Number of industrial robot installations in the U.S.A (Thousands) Compared to the rate of Job loss in due to automation 100,000

75,000

50,000

25,000

0 2001

2005

2010

2012

2016

Information from Oxford Economics

29

ARMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vision for the fifth wave. The fifth wave represents the next generation of technology advanements. Courtesy of Jun Hao.

The Fifth Generation

A New Advancement In Cellular Technology

I

n 2019, technology has become an essential factor for people to live and function in a society. This has led to competition between companies, who have been using different methods to make electronics more readily available for the customer

by Ned Yu

and to come up with new drives them to innovate. Every innovations for the future. few years, a new â&#x20AC;&#x153;generationâ&#x20AC;? of technology is born, meaning Throughout the 21st century, there was a drastic shift in technology has been evolving, how the technology at the going through several time was used and improved. generations of machinery. The constant updates in Many of the electronics generations have shaped the that people own are made business industry by changing by companies that are are the overall goal companies are competing against each other trying to achieve. for profits. It is the competition between these companies that Jun Hao, a senior

director of GPU (Graphic Processor Unit) Design at Advanced Reduced Instruction Set Computer Machines (ARM), works to oversee the development of GPU architecture. ARM is a large company that creates processors for technology manufacturers.

Hao said.

However, artificial intelligence has been around for some time, but in 2019, it can actually be utilized because now there is enough computing power for it unlike in the past. Due “ARM is one of the leading to that, the CPU is now A Silicon Wafer signed by Jack Kilby, the companies for advanced much more capable than inventor of the first integrated circuit. An integrated circuit is a set of electronic circuits technology and computing. before. on a chip. These chips brought advanced technology to the world and are in the They dominate the mobile “Now… your CPU can technology that we use every day. Photo by computing market right now. multi-gigahertz Ned Yu. They own almost 95 to 99 run together to appeal to consumer percent of the mobile CPU of frequency, you can [Central Processing Unit] process teraflops of operation, companies. market, and 50 percent of the it’s really starting to enable the “So we have a marketing mobile GPU market,” Hao said. calculation power to do the AI department, we have a PR algorithm,” Hao said. [public relations] department, During the transition of With this Fifth generation of we have a sales department, generations, fundamental parts of technology are changed computing beginning to arrive, and we also have a products and updated to fit the modern other smaller companies have department. so sometimes world. Hao is excited for the started to take strides to achieve when a big customer [arrives], fifth generation of computing, it. Vivek Sarda, a principal like say Ikea, Sony, Huawei, which focuses on artificial engineer at Silicon Labs, has well not right now [due to intelligence driven technology. started to alter the ambitions of the blacklist], ZTE, CISCO, the company.

Nokia, LG, Samsung, ...we go “Now the Fifth Generation is out of our way to help them “I joined Silicon labs all about how you’re going to integrate our products into process data,” Hao said. [Data] because their technology their designs,” Sarda said. is always indicating something, was innovative, they have a like the traffic light or exploring reputation for rolling into new Despite being a small company, seismic data… artificial things with new ideas and Silicon Labs has a large profit intelligence’s computing is new methods, and disrupt the to employee count ratio. For able to take in all the data and market,” Sarda said. “We are this impressive feat to occur, train by that data, then they’re positioning ourselves as an IoT they rely a lot on teamwork able to get a pattern out of [Internet of Things] company to keep up with other tech competitors. the data… so next time when today. you see a similar thing, the In order for this to happen, “Teamwork is very important. machine already automatically Silicon Labs has several recognizes all those things, for departments that work example, Face Recognition,”

31

“

Teamwork is very important. We are a small company and we turnover about eight hundred million dollars. For a small company to put out that much, it is very important that you believe and have the team working in good formation. ” - Vivek Sarda, Principal Engineer at Silicon Labs

We are a small company with about eleven hundred employees and we turnover about eight hundred million dollars. For a small company to put out that much, it is very important that you believe and have the team working in good formation… If you cannot get things done then they cannot go where they want and they move to the competition,” Sarda said.

Currently, Shen’s team has not reached that target yet.

However, they have been developing and working on assistant driving. We have not reached that target yet, but now we have some assistant driving.

“Now, when you drive your vehicle, if you’re parking, that’s easy, but if you want to parallel park… that’s very hard, but in our vehicle you can just push a button and the vehicle actually will park to the side. It’s all controlled by the IC [integrated circuit], the car uses sensors to detect the sides,” Shen said.

Another company that has been trying to develop new things is New Experience Semiconductors (NXP).

David Shen is a performance design engineer working in the automotive business. The Since the Fifth Wave of business designs integrated Computing has already started to begin, companies like ARM circuits for car parts. have been envisioning what “There are chips behind your they’re planning to create in multimedia panel in your preparation for the future. car… we have touch sensors where you touch them and the “You have this Central Cloud… door will open, we also have that enables so many things like vehicles that pilot you. Our the IoT (Internet of Things) target is an automotive piloting Devices, called the Internet of Things Devices, autonomous vehicle,” Shen said.

driving, which automatically recognizes roads, objects… so you can process things like how a human being processes things,” Hao said.

All of these features mentioned

by Hao make up the new generation of new technology, nicknamed “Fifth Wave Computing”.

“CPU now not only sits in your hand-held device, but also in the Cloud, which is the infrastructure and servers,” Hao said. “The GPU is going to be everywhere including in the Cloud… Even in your home right now, your IoT [Internet of Things] Devices will connect to your oven, your refrigerator, so you can control it from

A representation 5G, the latest advancement in cellular technology that can help power self driving cars. ARM hopes to see this in action. Courtesy of Jun Hao

remote.”

“It’s ARM’s belief that we are going to be generating about one trillion connected devices in the world by 2035,” Hao said.

ARM’s estimate of one trillion devices that are connected to the cloud by 2035 will require lots of preparation. Hao showed that ARM is equipping themselves for this moment.

“That’s what ARM is doing, we are developing this fifth wave of computing: IPs [intellectual properties], CPU, GPU, all the system connectivity IPs,

all the processing units in the 5G Network, so we can enable our vision with one trillion connected devices in the world,” Hao said. “The center of that [image] is the 5G Network and the IoT Device.”

Specifically for artificial intelligence, ARM has been making sure it is able to integrate everything they have to make it function properly.

“For AI we also developed a neuronetwork processor… that really focuses on Artificial Intelligence and at the same time expending all its CPU and GPU capabilities to have

all these Artificial Intelligence capabilities,” Hao said.

ARM is planning on having these features introduced as soon as possible.

“So that’s the future, we want to bring this fifth generation of computing to the world so we can help peoples’ lives become much easier,” Hao said.

Graphics by Ned Yu

33

Technology

by Ned Yu

Smartphone Use

Technology usage 3.5% of people use a Motorola

3.5% of people use other types of phones

7.1% of people don’t use/own a phone

52.6% of people use an iPhone

8.8% of people use an LG phone 3.5% of people use a Huawei

7% of people use a Google Pixel 14% of people use a Samsung

Top 5 problems people have with their phone

• • • • •

Battery Life is too short No/bad water resistance Camera pictures are low quality Lacking face recognition Missing a headphone jack

Usage Windows was the most commonly used operating system out of the freshmen students.

Out of all the users, 63% of people used Windows 18.5% of people used MacOS 18.5% of people used Linux/ChromeOS

Computer/Laptop usage: 63% of people uses for work 21% of people uses for gaming 16% of people uses for media

Students surveyed at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School in Austin, Texas.

35

Thank you so much for reading! The product that you have finished reading required an immense amount of effort and teamwork.

It was a great experience for all members of the team to create a magazine that we are proud of.

Special thanks to all the people that helped us pull off this feat. We express our gratitude to everyone who made our journey possible, including our interviewees for presenting us with their views and opinions regarding the topic. Additionally, we would like to thank our school for presenting us with the opportunity to participate in this program and making our experience as smooth as it was.

Particularly, we present our major thanks to Kevin Garcia, our supervisor and editor in chief.

And lastly, we thank you readers for taking the time to read our work! We hope you enjoyed!

-The Editors