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Contents The Toll of the Troll Ian CA Buchanan

The Use of Laptops in the Classroom Is Hindering our Academic Performance Carly Mathes

The Language of Headlines Jordan Moslowski

Women Work too Hard! Millennialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Effect on American Work Culture Lauren

Crazy Thing we Call Catfishing Melissa Heath

Tinder: The Start of a New Era Danielle Ternyila

Our Internet is Not the Same Tiara Washington

The Case for Laptops in the Classroom Chelsea Ray

NewsBait

Shannon Farrell

How is the Internet Affecting Us? Shanna Scott

Dendrite Death: The Blue Light Effect Morgan M. Douglas

Commit this to Memory Daniel Norris

TheToll ofthe Trol by Ian CA Buchanan

ave you ever been trolled? Chances are, the answer to that question is yes. If for some reason it happens to be no and you’ve been dying to get trolled, then I apologize because this is not the place that it will happen. If that disappoints you and you no longer wish to continue reading because your dreams have been crushed, then I point you in the direction of literally anywhere on the internet. Go ahead, give it a try. Comment your opinion on a public post on Facebook. Or Twitter. Or YouTube or Reddit or any other place that has some kind of public forum. The trolls are out there and instead of hiding under bridges as in times gone by, they now hide behind the safety of computer screens. Instead of asking for riddles to let you pass, they ridicule you or even bully you just to get a rise. This is our new world. Before I go on any further, I just want to give you a quick explanation of what trolling is in case you’re confused and think that I’m talking about the fishing term that it derives from. As described by the top definition on Urban Dictionary, the go-to place for all things internet slang, trolling is “being a prick on the internet because you can. Typically unleashing one or more cynical or sarcastic remarks on an innocent by-stander, because it’s the internet and, hey, you can.” Think maybe you’ve been trolled in the past now? Even if you haven’t personally been trolled, you’ve probably seen someone get trolled. Maybe you’ve even been the troll yourself and this article is filling you with an odd sense of pride. I myself used to do some trolling back in my Neopets days before I was so suddenly frozen because of a simple mistake (I’m still salty). It was nothing major, but I had my fun with it. That’s what trolling used to be anyway, just some harmless fun before it made way for the harassment that it has transformed into. For me, it wasn’t something I really kept up with because I grew up, but for some, it has consumed their life. In the Vice video, “Confessions of an Internet Troll,” a man sits high and mighty in a chair while wearing a crudely paper-mached mask made of newspaper articles with words like “guilty” and “destroy” boldly emblazened upon it. This is a man who spends his time on Instagram and Facebook, creating fake pages to bother people or make them think he’s someone else, sometimes even actual celebrities. The characters he has created (as he himself remains anonymous) receive both death threats and fan letters all the time because so many people buy into these fake personas. Trolling has become a focal point in his life. “It’s a compulsion now, it’s really, it’s nothing more than an addiction,” says the Internet Troll nonchalantly. “It’s put a strain on relationships. Cause people think what I’m doing is immoral, and they’re not wrong.” Despite how tremendously creepy he is portrayed as being, he does have a limit on how far he goes with his trolling. What he does, though rather extreme, isn’t overtly harming anyone. That is not what he has set out to do. Trolling can be harmful, yes, but it doesn’t always mean that you’re being a bully or harassing people. But that is when the line begins to blur and the Internet truly becomes

a dark place. There is such a thing called the “dark web,” a place where you can find offenses such as drug and sex trafficking, as well as paedophilia, but what’s truly terrifying is that you don’t have to go that deep to see how awful people can be. Trolling, though often used as a way to get a laugh for yourself and for those that are just reading along, can lead way to online harassment, and has even spilled into the real world.Any time some kind of celebrity or political figure is lying or joking, people say that they’re “trolling” everyone because their intent the whole time was supposedly just to get a reaction from people. The article, “It’s Time to Reclaim Trolling,” posted for the NYMAG and written by Libby C. Watson talks about how overused the term trolling is and that it should just go back to its original intent of being for a laugh. “Abuse and harassment on the internet can ruin, or end, lives,” says Watson. “It’s wrong to minimize that behavior by calling it the same thing we call dumb articles from political journalists. And it undermines the good work that the best trolls do in making the powerful look foolish, or just in making us laugh. The world is shitty, and the internet especially so. Thank god for the small joy of making bad people look dumb.” Watson believes that is where the line between trolling and harassment should be; trolling is meant to be funny and ultimately harmless, whereas online harassment can dessimate a person. I know what that’s like. I was bullied during many of my younger years, and while the schoolyard bullies weren’t very threatening, my early days as a “YouTuber” were met with heavy criticism. Even that is putting it lightly because I didn’t just have people telling me that I wasn’t very good or that I had to improve my humor or singing, but I received actual death threats. I warn you, the following comments posted to my old videos are not appropriate in the slightest and may cause triggers, but they are screenshots taken directly from the comment sections of the videos I posted on my old YouTube channel. I have censored out the names of the commentors so as to protect their anonymity.

“This is our

new world.”

person looking at it to make a decision.” Remember when I said my Neopets account was Keep in mind that the last video I posted was 7 frozen? That’s because I was on a message board and used years ago: the word “favs,” short for “favorites,” and it autocorrected to “fags.” Due to the site’s lack of moderation by real people, my account was instantly frozen. And I’m very fortunate that these are the biggest comparisons that I have in my life because so many people have it much worse than I did. And while strides are being made to put more power into the hands of the users for what can and cannot be posted on their accounts (such as Instagram recently starting to allow people to turn off and filter comments), there’s much more to be done in terms of real human moderation to make sure hateful comments like the ones I received become a thing of the past. The problem doesn’t just lie in the medium, however, but in the hearts of the people who post these things. If we can’t exist in peace and love outside of the internet, how will we ever accomplish it with its confines? We can’t. There That’s not all of it, but they are the highlights (if can be all kinds of new moderations set up, and it might you could call them that). There were put up a roadblock for the people a handful of positive comments, t is a problem that that make it an issue, but it doesn’t including from one person whom I create a solution on how to stop never forgot that made it a point to them. The focus needs to be off the persists throughout call out the bullies and say uplifting internet to make the strides done things on several of my videos, but social media on it even more impactful. Though I they were few and far in between don’t have a perfect solution besides compared to the hateful, unjustified and gaming platform just showing everyone love and comments. Now, I always used to compassion right now, I’m confident that one day it can be laugh off comments like those as a coping mechanism done if we all just start working towards that goal now. for all of the unwarranted hate that I received, but looking back, my heart breaks for these people. Maybe they’re different than they used to be, just as I’ve changed, but the problem still exists, and it’s only gotten worse. It is a problem that persists throughout every social media and gaming platform, and essentially anywhere that people can interact with one another on the internet. There have been efforts against online harassers, but much of it is in terms of automatic moderation that’s not done by real people. Monika Bickert, head of product policy at Facebook, took part in the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival this past March, in which she had some words of her own on that very subject. “You might, for instance, have someone using a racial slur to Ian Buchanan is a senior at Rowan attack a person, and that would violate our policies. [But] University with a passion for writing and you might also have somebody using that slur to say ‘this helping people. He strives to be a cammorning, on the subway, someone called me this word, pus minister after graduating college. it was upsetting,’” Bickert told the BBC. “We need a real

“I

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The Use of Laptops in the Classroom is Hindering Our Academic Performance By Carly Mathes In today’s society, there are so many things people can access from the use of a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Most children and young adults are well-versed in the musings of these devices and what applications can be used on them. Because of this, many college professors are banning the use of these devices in the classroom. Why? Because how are students supposed to pay attention to what their professor is teaching them when they are sitting on their laptop on Facebook or YouTube? One professor was genuinely confused when a colleague of his sent out a department-wide email explaining why he was banning laptops in his classroom. The content of the email was not the surprising part, as many educators have started doing that. What was confusing was that this professor worked in the computer programming department. His job was to teach students how to use computers and was now banning them from the classroom!

Princeton University conducted a study to test the abilities of students who used laptops in the classroom, versus the students who simply hand wrote their notes. The study found that “while more words were recorded, with more precision, by laptop typists, more ended up being less: regardless of whether a quiz on the material immediately followed the lecture or took place after a week, the pen-and-paper students performed better.”

“His job was to teach students how to use computers and was now banning them from the classroom.”

As for those students who claim that they can multi-task--can you listen to your professor and absorb everything he/she is saying while also being on social media or online shopping? That could potentially be detrimental to your learning and your brain. Clay Shirky posted an article about why he asked his students to put their laptops away in class. In this article, he states, “we’ve known for some time that multitasking is bad for the quality of cognitive work, and is especially punishing of the kind of cognitive work we ask of college students.”

Now while I agree with this statement, I don’t fully believe that all aspects of using a computer in class can be considered multi-tasking. If someone is simply just taking notes on their computer, then can’t it also be considering multi-tasking when someone is hand-writing their notes? There are so many ways that multitasking can be explained and to totally ban laptops, especially for those who may not have accommodations but just focus better with typed notes, is a little absurd considering a teacher’s job is to help their students learn.

I’ve been using my laptop in the classroom for years. I’ve always found it much easier to take notes if I’m typing them but I have below average writing speed and many learning disabilities that hinder my use of pen and paper. And on occasion–even though I’ve been provided documentation of accommodations I receive because of my learning disabilities–I’ve had teachers who refuse to allow me to use my laptop. Their reasoning? Too many things can distract me from my actual note taking and they want me to pay attention to their class, not Facebook or Twitter.

“Because how are

students supposed to pay attention to what their professor is teaching them when they are sitting on their laptop on Facebook or YouTube?” A recent CNN article claims that although you think you are focusing on both tasks at once, you are simply diverting your full attention from one task to another. This shows that while you may think you are listening to your professor explain why the anatomy of dogs and cats are different, you are really only giving your full attention to the Victoria’s Secret website or to that important game you missed last night. Overall, laptops are causing us to lose focus on what is important: our academic success.

This article was written by Carly Mathes. She is a student at Rowan University and is an avid Gilmore Girls watcher and loves reading. In her spare time, she loves to nap and avoid all responsibilities until she absolutely has to take care of them. Her dream career is to be a book editor.

Commit This To Memory

DANIEL NORRIS

If I were to ask you which country won the most gold medals in 2004 or what movie won Best Picture in the 1998 Golden Globes, most likely you would pull out your phone or open up your laptop, bring up Google and type in the question at hand. In a matter of seconds, the answer would pop up in big bold letters at the top of the page. Once you hit the red ‘X’ button, you’d likely never think of the answers to those questions again. Relying on Google for answers has become a norm in the last fifteen years. Students use it for research, online shoppers use it to find best deals and practically everyone uses it to look up basic information or for something they cannot remember. But the question I’d like to present, and this one you can’t look up, is: Do you retain any or all of the information you find on Google?

Nicholas Carr, writer for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, fears that the Internet, and more specifically Google, Do you retain any or has a negative impact on the information you find human race's intelligence. In his article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, he expresses his concerns that using search engines and the Internet too much hurts our ability to read and focus. He believes that we rely too much on the Web to do our thinking for us.

"Never has a communications system played so many roles in our lives—or exerted such broad influence over our thoughts—as the Internet does today." What Carr says is mostly true. We are certainly in a remarkable time with such advanced technology. The Internet especially plays a huge role in our everyday lives. However, I do not believe that this is a bad thing. I’ve been using Google to look things up for a huge chunk of my life. Over the course of the past fifteen years, I do not believe that this excessive use of Google has negatively affected my ability to read, focus, think or take in information. I would argue against what Carr fears. I think Google is an excellent tool that helps people gain new information. If I were to look up who won Best Picture in 1998, I would remember and retain that in my mind. My mom will often criticize me for immediately looking up something on Google. She believes that I’m “not giving it any thought” or “just being lazy”, but the former isn’t entirely a bad thing. I may not take some time to think about what I don’t know, but in this age of technology when I have quick access to the answers, why should I?

all of the on Google?

Carr presents the point that not only are we letting the Internet do our thinking for us, but also we are hurting our ability to read. He believes that reading on the internet is different from the reading of physical books. From my own personal experience, I do not believe that reading online has had an negative impact on the way I read actual books. I do not lose focus when reading; I still find myself getting drawn into a book and not being able to put it down.

Who is to say that reading online isn’t actual reading, just because it’s not on a piece of paper? Because of Google, I am able to search for web articles relating to content I’m interested in. There are millions of fan fiction stories out there that I someI do not believe that this excessive use of times get wrapped up in. In my opinion, Google has negatively affected my ability there is no difference to read, focus, think or take in informabetween reading online tion. and reading an actual book. Both are outlets Can it be proven that using Google too for information, education and entertainment. much is actually hurting us? Could it be proven Carr’s claim that excessive online reading hurts that it is beneficial? one’s ability to focus isn’t necessarily true, and I disagree with his viewpoint. Evan Risko, professor of cognitive psychology, conducted a study involving people searching for John Naughton, professor at The Open Uniinformation on the internet. The article “Is Relying versity, believes that Google isn’t having a negative On Google and Satnavs Making Us Stupid?” discusses impact on our ability to think, read and comprehend. this study. After this, they were asked questions He argues against Carr’s article and the fear that about unrelated topics, and still insisted that they Carr has towards the internet. In his article “I Google, felt they retained more information that those who Therefore I am Losing the Ability to Think”, he adhad not used the search engines. Of course, this is dresses that writing has faced major changes before, only one study and many, but still shows a positive and this widespread fear is nothing new. He uses the side to the use of Google and the Internet. example of ancient Greeks and the invention of writing itself to prove his point. People have always feared An argument against the use of a search change, and have worried that new styles of writing engine relates to people instantly draining and reading can affect the way we think. Naughton their brains of what they just learned. A perwould certainly be on my side of this debate, as he and son can give you the answer to a question, the I both agree that the use of the Internet isn’t somedate of an event, or the spelling of a celebrity’s thing to fear. name, but the issue is that the information is forgotten. I don’t believe that the Internet should be something we view as negative or harmful. It I will agree that for some people this has done a lot more good for us than it has bad. may be true; they may never give any thought Sure, people like Carr can say that too much of about the small piece of history they just surfing the web can impact one’s reading, but learned. However, in my life, I’ve always I think this becomes a point of evaluating perseemed to retained the knowledge I’ve used. sonal experience. When I look at my own life, I see Google as widely helpful in my assignments Next time you use Google, think about throughout my school career and alowing me to what you learn and focus on retaining the inlearn new information just with a few clicks of formation. The Internet is a remarkable, edua button. This shouldn’t be an argument that cational tool that we shouldn’t view as negais decided by articles or professors; deciding tive or take for granted. whether or not Google is good for you should be a personal evaluation.

I, Daniel Norris, am a Junior at Rowan University. I am a Writing Arts Major and have always had a passion for writing. This assignment allowed me to explore in more detail the effects the Internet and Google have on our human minds and the way in which we read and write.

Tinder: The Start of a New Era By Danielle Ternyila

Today, we are faced with major changes in technology, and now it is affecting our dating lives. We can fight this, or accept that it is time to move on from our old habits. So many things change with technology, and dating is no different. When relationships and communication change as much as they have since the start of the internet, it is no surprise that people are using our new technological advances to meet new people and possibly fall in love. While online dating is still growing to its fullest potential, there are many critics that stand strong against it. Since 2013, Tinder has taken over the dating world, but people are judging this new way of meeting fellow singles as shallow and superficial. Nancy Jo Sales of Vanity Fair describes the use of dating apps to be the death of dating in her article, “Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse.” Sales believes that this app is not only

putting an end to our tradition of meeting new significant others in person, but is also creating a rise in ‘hookup culture’ where people will no longer seek serious relationships when they can find comfort in quick one night stands made easy with Tinder’s “game” of meeting singles. Here’s How to Play. Users can personalize their profiles quickly and easily by linking to Facebook. In fact, you cannot use the app at all without having a Facebook account to use. While that may not be a completely fool proof way of keeping out the catfish, it does give a grand

Judging a person based only on their looks does seem shallow, but people do the same thing in person.

effort. From this point, singles can swipe left or right over the profile pictures of others the app finds in their area. If two were to mutually swipe right on each other, they would be informed of a match. This is the only way to actually message someone or view their profile. This is where critics have their biggest issues. We aren’t rating anyone based off their intelligence or a meaningful conversation. The only way you get a match is based off how you look in your profile picture. Sales says that this makes people shallow, but can you really blame such a characteristic on the app alone? Judging a person based only on their looks does seem shallow, but people do the same thing in person; there is just less swiping and comparing than on

the app. To say that people have never before judged one another based on attractiveness is a ridiculous statement. Tinder didn’t create this phenomenon. It just gave us more freedom to do so. Look How Far We’ve Come. There has never been one standard way of dating. In fact, the concept of dating has changed many times. Moira Weigel, author of “Dating Will Never Die,” challenges this by comparing different dating scenarios overtime. While it may sound common and of the “norm” to meet someone in a bar and talk until one day you two marry, Weigel brings us back to the early 1900s when dating involved much different rules. Typically, men would come to inter-

views at a woman’s home, where the two would be chaperoned, then part ways. Hell might have frozen over if the two conversed on their own in private, however, women today would be offended if their dating decisions were handed off to their parents like this. Tinder really isn’t killing off “dating.” It is simply beginning a new era. As Weigel put it, “If the Industrial Revolution didn’t kill it, how could Tinder?” Critics only blame this app because it is new, foreign, and hard to adjust to. In reality, we can’t write Tinder off and assume that this is the end of dating altogether. The transition between reality and the virtual world can be tricky, but many have done so with great successes. In today’s age, it is not uncommon to find happily married couples that met online before anything else. Whether it was through Facebook friends, Match.com, or similar online dating sites, these people have dated, fallen in love, and married to raise families of their own. I don’t see what is different in that scenario than any other. The truth is, any time a new way of dating has come about, people have shown extreme

deteste for it, until it has finally been accepted by all societies. Dating has been happening since

In today’s age, it is not uncommon to find happily married couples that met online before anything else. the start of life and has changed many times since. Is Tinder Really a Problem? Wagatwe Wanjuki, author of “I Saw You on Tinder,” believes there is a fighting chance for online dating. After doing research of her own, she found that forming relationships online can actually be very beneficial to our society. Wanjuki says, “Relationships that start online do just as well - if not better - than ones that start in real life.” While some take all the swiping as shallow acts of judgement, meeting people online helps you to decide what relationships are really important and which are not. Don’t you have a friend you met in real life but really wish wasn’t always around? By meeting people online, you can opt of that relationship before ever meeting in person. With other research, Wanjuki found that marriage rates have increased since the start of online dating while

the amount of “hookups” has decreased drastically. With Tinder’s millions of users, singles are given a much bigger dating pool to select from. Singles can also gain a major confidence boost when they find matches. Seeing someone you found attractive finds you to be just as attractive is an amazing feeling. Tinder isn’t selective in users, either; it appeals to everyone. Users can search for singles of the same or opposite sex freely and without judgement. Users can also exercise extreme control over who may interact with them. If they meet someone on the app and begin messaging through it, they can quickly take back that person’s ability to communicate with them in seconds. The biggest fear with Tinder is that same ultimate risk you take every time you meet someone. There is no way of pulling out the creepers and liars of the world, but you couldn’t do that in the 1800s either, when men showed up and told the parents his name. Were you sure that man was who he said he was? You couldn’t ask for a form of ID and letter of recommendation, but with Tinder, all users

must at least have a Facebook account available, and should have a list of mutual friends available. Social media isn’t called “social” for nothing. It is an important part in communication today. People rely on it to communicate with long-distant friends, family members, socialize with their peers, keep updated with their professors, and so much more. Facebook and Tinder are still new enough that people are trying to figure out what they are comfortable with online and what they are not, so it only seems fair that we give online dating a chance. After all, you probably wouldn’t even keep in touch with a lot of people in your life if it wasn’t for the opportunities you have gained from social media sites in general.

Danielle is a senior at Rowan University studying Writing Arts. She loves reading, writing, and using snapchat as a main form of communication.

Dendrite Death: The Blue Light Effect. By: Morgan M. Douglas

What I found is this: Today’s children are finding it, like most adults, much more convenient to use a computer instead of reading a book or using a writing tool and paper. Adults are finding it more convenient for children to use technology as a source of keeping them busy and occupied, especially when time or babysitters are unavailable.

“Technology limits children- why limit them when they have all of their life to decide what will and what will not be their limitations.”

When I was a child, I can recall my fascination with computers and electronics. My father’s business allowed him to work from home on a business laptop. I thought that was cool. My primary care physician used a tablet to type in appointment notes. I thought that was cool too. I started to read Nancy Drew books, and all about her gadgets. I thought that they were cool as well. Then I started first grade in homeschooling, my mother did not think that electronics were cool. Karma- right? No, not at all. My mother had the insight as to how electronics would affect the brain’s functional development. She, after ten years of being a public school teacher, understood that my brain would develop differently if I continuously used technology. Wisely, she limited my use of the tv, and I used the desktop a few times a week, for about a half-an-hour each session, to do spelling through an online homeschooling database. Up until this semester, personally, I have adapted to the fact, that in order to survive in the growing society, one needs to keep up with technology. Yet, after this semester with being in a class called, “Writing, Research and Technology”, along with taking another class, titled, “Writing and Craft for Elementary Education”, I’ve opened up my mind to ask the question:

“What is happening when we introduce technology to children at such young ages?”

The problem doesn’t lie in the fact that most kiddos aren’t learning how to write or to read books- the problem comes from the fact that children’s brains are being reformed by the way they are being educated by technology. I’m not denying that ‘old-school’ materials don’t change the way that children’s brains work, they do- but they don’t cause dendrite death. Dendrites are the small neurons in a person’s brain. Every time we learn something new, dendrites grow. The more we repeat something, the more the dendrites branch off into other dendrites. It becomes a circut-web of neurons. Which is extremely beneficial for brain growth and memory strength development. In Judy Willis’s, online article, “Researched-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning”, she addresses the misconception that dendrites eventually stop growing or being created. As long as a person is capable of retaining information and learning, their brain will remember and retain the information, and dendrites will continue to grow (Judy Willis). “Dendrites increase in size and number in response to learned skills, experience, and information”, states Willis. Technology limits children- why limit them when they have all of their life to decide what will and what will not be their limitations. Let’s talk about Rote Memorization. In Rote, dendrites grow, but then they dye. With Rote memorization the problem is that children are forced to learn things at a quick repetitive pace, then they take a test, and then that information is no longer useful to them. The dendrites that formed while they were studying eventually die over a period of just a few short days or maybe weeks at most. I hated Rote Memorization as a kid - the brain wasn’t created to be a whiteboard with an attached eraser, it was created to be an open book with google amount of pages to fill with retainable information.

Dendrite death happens when people use technology. Technology does not allow children to remember things, it does not allow children to spend time focusing on something because they don’t have to remember it - technology will remember it for them. Children are smart enough to know that they don’t need to spend time remembering something, when something else will remember it for them. Dendrites are important, not only because they are a part of the process that retains information, but they are key to keeping the brain strong, and are extremely important for when it comes down to being able to retain information in the long run. There are four hemispheres in the brain, and each one is responsible for something, but all of them have dendrites, and without these In my, Writing and Craft for Elementary Education dendrites, these hemispheres cannot function or retain class, we focused on how to help children learn from the information that is necessary- long term and short their difficulties, before giving them the answer or term memory are affected by dendrites. the solution to whatever they are struggling with. A lot of times, children are just prone to give-up When people use any electronic source, their brain will on things. It isn’t because they aren’t trying hard retain the pattern needed to access the source, but once they are on it, they have nothing else to remember. Their enough, it is because they have adapted to having brain, after several uses, is already programmed to know things at their immediate use; there are no dendrites that it does not have to retain anything. Google will do it in their brain for them to retain information from. for them. In John Naughton’s article, “I Google, therefore Since they have nowhere to pull information from, I am losing the Ability to Think”, in response to Nicholas they are left with having to ask several questions in order to find the answer. In most instances, whoever Carr’s article, “Is Google Making us Stupid”, Naughton they ask, will just give them the answer because it is mentions that within the last couple of years of his life, it is more important for him to be able to search the web easier. However, once again, that is not helping them remember anything for long term, and no dendrites with precision than it is for him to remember things. are growing. The teacher is not at fault in these This is quite scary. Naughton is an adult admitting that situations. It is very difficult to teach children how to at this point in his life, he has a hard time remembering the most simplest things, yet has no trouble searching the slow-down and problem solve, when in most cases, the entire class will be struggling under the exact internet like a pro. Since adults that never grew up with same circumstances. It is snowball effect, however, this much technology are struggling to retain that does not mean that it is impossible to reverse information, it should be obvious that it will be hard for children to also retain information if technology is more this train of process. important than the learning-process itself. A light at the end of the tunnel, Nicholas Carr, found Spelling has always be a worrisome task for children and out from James Old’s, in Carr’s article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid”, that “The brain,” according to for teachers. Now kids are using tablets and ChromeOlds, “has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, books early-on in school, and are losing the ability to altering the way it functions”(Carr). This goes back problem solve and think before immediately hitting the spell checker button or asking someone to give them the to my earlier statement of brains not being whiteboards with erasers, and are more adaptable than answer. Just because adults use advanced technology to what we actually give them credit for. Which is vital help them in their everyday tasks, does not mean that children need to be taught or expected to use technology in understanding that no matter how damaged the brain may be from technology, it has the ability to at an early age. reverse the damage and start a-new.

“Because of Creativity and Imagination we have technology - those children, that are now technology creators, were not raised on electronics- they lived in the midnight adventures of Peter Pan, fighting their own battles against Captain Hook.” So what do we do about it? In all reality, there is no way around technology, however, that does not mean that kids have to conform to technology at an early age. As an adult looking back, I didn’t have all the technology as a child that I have now, I learned to adapt to it - when I FINALLY needed it. Children, shouldn’t have to use technology unless they absolutely have too. Because of creativity and imagination we have technology - those children, that are now technology creators, were not raised on electronics- they lived in the midnight adventures of Peter Pan, fighting their own battles against Captain Hook It is especially important that kids learn how to remember things without the use of a computer. A lot of kids learn better, and will retain information, when they get involved with things. Kids will most easily retain information for the long term (creating a ton of dendrites) if they have a way that will engage them in their learning process. Kids love to be engaged with things. Kids love to learn and explore; and by getting them involved in their own ‘brain- training’ process, they will willing retain “Just because adults use advanced technology to long term information because it will be fun. Somehelp them in their everyday tasks, does not mean times all kids need to retain information is a rhyme that children need to be taught or expected to use or a hand-clapping game. When repetitive actions are technology at an early age.” introduced with a learning challenge, most children will remember things for it will involve their cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the outside layer of the brain that Morgan M. Douglas deals with thought-process, language, attention, and is a student at memory (About Education). All are key points when Rowan University, majoring children are in the process of retaining information. in Writing Arts and Biological Sciences, followed by a In conclusion, all children grow at different rates, the concentration in Pre-Med. main key is to allow children to be children for as long Hobbies include: swimming, as possible. Let them enjoy the magic of learning and hiking, baking, writing, growing, for one day, that magic will not exists. It is the interning in the medical magic of learning that counts, not the number of icons feild, and volunteering at that are on their tablet. As an adult, I still think Church. technology is cool. But like everything else, there is a time and place for it, but during the developmental stages a child’s life is not the time. Photo Credit

many things from reading arti- and deal with it.” Guinevere F. Eden from a study team at cles about young children and their take on reading online and Georgetown University dishow online reading is affecting cusses how the brain alters when reading online. When them. For example an article called Literacy Debate: Online, individuals read online they The question, is internet making us do not get the same affect and R. U. Really Reading? Fifteen smarter or dumber? seems to be a hot year old Nadi Konyk enjoys their brains do not react the topic lately. Is online reading hurting reading online rather than read- same way as if they read a or helping us? I myself have been doing a pabook. Ken ing a lot of online researching, which perback “The brain is malleable and Pugh an consists of reading different articles book. adapts to its environment. individonline, I have learned many things This is Whatever the pressures are ual who about reading online with just the becom- on us to succeed, our brain has also touch of a button. For example intering a will try and deal with it.” conducted net is consuming most of our time, but more research not only is internet consuming most on how common of our time but it’s consuming most of trend in today’s generation, the brain is wired and how it our “reading” as well. I have learned functions, states that “Reading it’s a fact that technology is a book, and taking the time to increasing therefore, online ruminate and make inferences reading is becoming more influential on today’s generation. and engage the imagination processing, is more cognitiveResearch studies have been ly enriching, without doubt, conducted by scientists and it than the short little bits that has been found that reading online changes the brain’s way you might get if you’re into the 30-second digital mode,” of thinking that is divergent to Although many individuals reading a book. find online reading more help“The brain is malleable and ful due to the fact it is much adapts to its environment. easier to open up your mobile Whatever the pressures are on us to succeed, our brain will try device, search an article or

How is Internet Affecting Us? By Shanna Scott

find your recent eBook you have actually flipping a been trying to get through than page. Reading online rather than to lug around an old textbook reading a book is changing our that is five times the size of your brain and our way of thinking. phone or tablet. This is teaching It’s okay to change individual’s children that reading online is way of thinking because in a easier, we are setting the stage way it broadens our knowledge for the generation behind us, and and enables us to be able to read we are setting the example that words in all scenarios, however reading online is “better” than it’s not okay to become depenreading a book. As human beings dent on technology and only we are naturally lazy individuals, reading online. leading us more toward online reading than traditionally reading I also recently read an article that a book. My grandmother always discusses a well-known blogger used to tell me, “You kids nownamed Nicholas Carr. This artiadays have these cell phones cle was called I Google, Thereand everything is at the touch fore I am losing the Ability to of a button” I would reply with think, written by John Naughton. a smartass comment like “well, John Naughton talks about Nichtimes are different now, technololas Carr’s theory about online ogy has improved and I can do reading and Google in general. nothing about it.” This is true, but His theory revolves around the what my “My mind now expects to take in brain and grandhow the mother information the way the net distrib- internet is has utes it: In a swiftly moving stream of altering our always Carr particles. Once I was a scuba diver in brain. said, talks about is true, the sea of words. Now I zip along the how he can times his way surface like a guy on a jet ski.” feel are of reasonmuch different and everything is ing adjusting more and more at the touch of a bottom, everyeach time he reads online. Carr thing is laid out on a silver platter thinks that’s because he has been just waiting for us to barely lift doing so much online reading, a single finger. We as individuhis brain has adjusted to the way als can’t lose sight of our tradiwords and different information tions, reading from a book and is portrayed online and his brain

has become used to this so when he tries to go back to reading in traditional ways such as reading a book, Carr is unable to do so because his mind has already become accustomed to his new reading ways. He states, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the net distributes it: In a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a jet ski.” Just like Carr talks about and even Mokoto Rich an author of a popular article called Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading all ties in together. All these readings are based on the internet, online reading and how it is modifying our ability and the way individuals read. Reading online is different than reading a traditional book, so the more you read online the more your mind will adapt to that type of environment. The real question is are you willing to let your mind alter in such a way that changes the way you read and decreases your ability to focus in such a way? Many of us, including myself enjoy reading things online. For example, this may include going on social media, opening up Facebook, finding a link, maybe it’s the gossip on Brad Pitt and Angelina or an article about the top ten hottest actors in the world, either way we click on this link and begin to “read” or that’s what we say we’re doing. When in reality, we haven’t really been doing much “reading” online. In fact what we have been doing is a lot of skimming and

browsing. Don’t say to yourself, no I actually read the articles I click on because you and I know you just skip to the part where it explains why you clicked on the article you chose in the first place. Face it, the internet is filled with things that are designed to catch our attention and attract viewers. Individuals are so accustomed to going online and looking at and searching for what they like they don’t even bother to “read” anything anymore. Not only are we reading more online but many of us in school complete and are required to submit assignments online as well. In reality it’s hard to avoid technology and avoid being online. I recently read an article titled, Is Google Making us Stupid? It discusses how individuals have no intentions of even “reading” anymore. It talks about how individuals have become so used to just gazing over articles and readings instead of just “reading” them. Online readings are easier access than physical books therefore it’s easier to access and easier to take advantage of and just skim. With this being said individuals are becoming lazy when reading, going online is easier than just opening up a book being most individuals are already on the internet for other reasons, skimming becomes a natural reaction. Google is involved in this

process and does not help when it comes to actually reading, google makes it easier for individuals to skim. With this being said most individuals need to focus more on reading material rather than just skimming, individuals should start by opening up a book instead of a google tab, would you rather become accustomed to society or read from more an orthodox point of view? I’ve been doing a lot of talking about online reading and how it’s making us dumber, or less intelligent. Most of my thoughts consist of the disadvantages of online reading and how it alters the brain. Maybe, just maybe the more and more you read online this brain altering can help. It’s no secret that technology is advancing, if this is the case and technology is enhancing and basically taking over the world, would it benefit us if we did more online reading in order to alter our brains and prepare us for what’s to come? In an article I read called Learning to think in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf. Wolf is not totally in favor with reading online however she believes that technology is progressing, wolf feels that electronics control reading, she thinks that our brains should first become mature and comfortable with reading text before

we progress to online reading. She states, “There should be a developmental perspective on our transition to a digital culture. Our already biliterate children, who nimbly traverse between various modes of print, need to develop an expert reading brain before they become totally immersed in the digital world. Neuroscience shows us the profound miracle of an expert reading brain that uses untold areas across all four lobes and both hemispheres to comprehend sophisticated text and to think new thoughts that go beyond the text.” Reading a traditional text helps our brains expand in ways of thinking, however Wolf is not against online reading 100 percent. With this being said there are some benefits to online reading. In another separate article I read, The Benefits and Advantages of eBooks by Remez Sasson. Sasson discusses how online reading can be helpful. For example online reading is easier to take with you rather than carry around multiple books; you can just use one tablet or laptop. Less paper is used the more you read online which is helpful to the environment. Reading online from an eBook is easier; everything is at the touch of a button or at the tip of your fingers. So now that I have touched both the disadvantages and advantages of internet reading, what’s your opinion or online reading?

Shanna Scott College sudent at Rowan University. She is a senior majoring in Elementary Education and Writing Ars.

Crazy Thing We Call Catfishing By Melissa Heath

When you think about reality shows and how ridiculous they are, do you ever wonder why we still invest in them? Perhaps it’s a good looking guy on the show that keep the ladies at the edge of their seat, or it might be a drama filled show about someone’s life that’s more interesting than your own. I will say it takes a lot to grab my attention on the T.V. screen, but I can’t ever deny a new episode of MTV’s Catfish.

“ GROWING UP IN THE LATE 90’S WHEN THINGS LIKE THE PC AND LATER ON MACBOOK BECAME POPULAR, I WAS SO INTRIGUED BY ALL THE THINGS YOU COULD GET A HOLD OF ON THE INTERNET.“ From the second it came out in 2010, I was hooked. For those who are not familiar, Catfish stars two best friends, Nev and Max, who travel the world to help reveal who people are really talking to behind that screen. I would say more than half the time, it is someone completely different than who they portrayed. With an average of 2.5 million viewers, this show is very effective because people are using such pathetic stories to cover up why they catfished in the first place it’s ironically interesting. They think if they ignore what they did wrong and say some sad excuse instead, the world will forgive them for their horrible actions. They think their actions are justified but in reality that is false.

Growing up in the late 90’s when things like the PC and later on Macbook became popular, I was so intrigued by all the things you could get a hold of on the internet. For example, the first time I realized you could chat with literally anyone on the internet, my world changed. When I was in the 8th grade, I had an online boyfriend who lived in Ohio. We met on a website called Kidzworld which looking back, is a lot like a modern day Facebook. You had a profile, you could comment on people’s pictures and best of all you could instant message people around the world. This “boyfriend” and I would literally talk for hours on end, typing out our feelings for each other. Feelings?? Ha. At fourteen years old I knew nothing about love but boy did this kid have me “head over heels.” The thing was, we NEVER spoke on the phone and although video chatting wasn’t as popular as it is now, we never did that either. Something was definitely fishy. As you might have suspected, my online lover and I lost touch. When the show Catfish aired he was the first thing that came to mind. How naive was I to think he was going to meet me at some point in our online relationship? I eventually realized how pathetic and sad I was to believe whoever was behind that screen, but what is even scarier is all the evidence was right in front of me. Our relationship ended when he pretended to drive to come meet me in person, but claimed he “got lost and turned around”. Unfortunately like the people on the show, the evidence was right in front of me, but I was too caught up to realize it. In the article “Consider the Catfish” Amanda Ann Klein explains why online dating has blossomed so much in this generation. She states, “Social media has made it simple and comfortable, almost reflexive, to communicate with people who are not physically near, thus removing proximity—usually the primary way we find and meet romantic partners–from the intimacy equation altogether.”

So if people find it so easy to find their perfect match on the internet, why is Catfishing even a thing? Isn’t it more work to pretend to be someone you’re not just to get online attention? As a viewer of the show, I have found that a lot of the stories end up being very similar. For instance, the couple has been talking for years, rarely (or never) video chats and when they meet, one person is not who they claimed to be. When they are confronted they usually say it was because they were insecure about their looks, had a life trauma that made them fall into the trap, or they had something from the past to hide. The founder of the show, Nev Schulman, gave some of his personal insight in the article “The Psychology of Catfishing, From Its First Public Victim” by Leslie Horn. Nev was Catfished by a woman who was the completely opposite of who she said she was back in 2010. She not only catfished Nev by using false photos, but she lied about her age as well.

“ IT’S SO EASY TO BELIEVE SOMEONE BEHIND A COMPUTER SCREEN AND IT IS ALMOST EASIER TO PRETEND YOU’RE SOMEONE ELSE BEHIND A T.V. SCREEN.“

thing that makes you happy and distracts you from all your problems isn’t real is not what people want ... So they choose not to.” So what have we learned? For one thing, hopefully we understand the heartbreak behind being catfished. Who knows, perhaps if my 8th grade online boyfriend had really come to Jersey, maybe we would still be together. Let’s be honest, the internet is really an outlet to just about anyone in the world. It’s so easy to believe someone behind a computer screen and it is almost easier to pretend you’re someone else behind a T.V. screen. Before doing something like that, keep in mind all the people that are affecting by catfishing. I think as a society if we used online dating how it should be operated, we wouldn’t be so weary of it. Like the article I Saw You On Tinder explains, researchers have proven that online dating and technology actually gives our society a lot of hope. It states, “Relationships that start online do just as well-if not betterthan the ones that start in real life.” Perhaps there aren’t enough stories that are revealed about people in real life portraying themselves different than who they really are. We can’t put all the blame on the internet, because in reality it’s everywhere. The goal should ultimately get more people to be comfortable in their own skin so they don’t need to bother pretending to be anyone else.

Nev claims that people cannot blame the internet, however, for catfishing becoming a trend. There are many people in real life relationships that alter their personalities in some way. For example, the girlfriend who is really normal at first and the more you get to know her she’s a closeted control freak. Even the people who live a double life and cheat on their spouse are technically catfishing. This is proof that before the internet started booming with social media sites, people had the ability to be somebody else. The internet has opened doors for people to not only be multiple people, but to catfish multiple people at one time. In the most recent Season, Season 5, a famous Youtuber had her identity as well as her whole entire families’, stolen. When confronted, the catfisher explained that it was easier to make it more believable if she pretended to be the whole family. At first you want to believe these people are actually evil but when they break down and explain why, you actually feel for them. In reality, not everyone has the confidence to go outside and meet someone. As Nev says in the article, “I think people want something, they believe they deserve something, they’re also likely trying to avoid something—and online relationships offer the perfect remedy or solution for those things. So finding out that the

Melissa Heath Senior at Rowan University. Writing Arts Major with a minor in Education. Loves writing and aspires to be a Pre-K teacher in the near future.

Crazy Thing We Call Catfishing By Melissa Heath

“ IT’S SO EASY TO BELIEVE SOMEONE BEHIND A COMPUTER SCREEN AND IT IS ALMOST EASIER TO PRETEND YOU’RE SOMEONE ELSE BEHIND A T.V. SCREEN.“

Melissa Heath Senior at Rowan University. Writing Arts Major with a minor in Education. Loves writing and aspires to be a Pre-K teacher in the near future.

Women Work Too Hard! Millennial’s Effect on American Work Culture

are we really workaholics or is there something deepter in the madness? millennials created the work martyr

We millennials are intriguing. All other generations have stereotyped us to no end, narcissistic, entitled brats, but few have taken the chance to understand us. Now that we are entering the workforce, researchers want to understand how we are changing American work culture…for better or for worse. Project: Time Off, a group who wants to shift American business culture attitudes, claims that the pressures of American work culture created the perfect conditions for work martyrdom to exist. They don’t know how the change happened, but it’s here and they want to know what is our effect. A work martyr is “someone who believes it’s difficult to take a vacation because no else can do their work while they’re gone; who shows complete dedication to the company; who avoids being seen as replaceable; and who simply feels guilty for taking time off.” Those most likely to be work martyrs are unmarried millennial females at a whopping 52 percent. But it isn’t just females, an overwhelming number of workers overall leave 658 million hard-earned vacation days unused. Over the summer, I worked intense 47-hour weeks, but it was out of necessity. I am a senior employee whom they trust can be left alone. Chick-fil-A needed me to work and I did. I am a part of the fifty-two percent. In addition to the rise of the work martyr, millennials have gone so far as vacation shaming. Yeah, that’s a thing. It’s simple: just make co-workers feel bad for taking time off and pressure them into believing that they can be replaced.

When I told my boss that I had to leave Chick-fil-A for school, she understood. I’m not fearful of my job security; I know I’m too valuable to be replaced. Even she said I worked a “crazy” amount of hours this summer. Yeah, I know, but you didn’t stop me either. Bosses don’t seem to approve work martyr behavior but they also don’t seem to stop it. If the threat of losing job security is present, are our bosses actually setting us up to work harder for free? Well, if they are taking advantage, fear is the best motivator. We aren’t the only ones to blame for the work martyr.

what millennials want in the workplace

Gen X had Bill Gates, millennials have Mark Zuckerberg. Both men are average people who had ideas that became reality. These role models are partially responsible for making us disillusioned that we too can be millionaires overnight because they made it look so easy. But it’s not easy. We are so out of touch that we only want to do what we love—fifty-nine percent of us would rather take the job we love even if it pays less.

Millennials don’t want a job that is just for money, says Joel Stein of Time magazine, a job needs to provide self-actualization, too. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs illustrates that once a person gets the security needed to survive, only then can a person reach self-actualization, or self-understanding. At the DreamWorks studio, there are various classes—photography, karate, sculpting—requested by young workers to help them discover themselves. The studio has a 96% retention rate.

of Time magazine. When parents attempted to create self-esteem in us, they accidentally boosted narcissism. Narcissism became the disappointment we felt when we entered real life, specifically the work force. We never learned self-esteem on our own. a twist in the trend

Murphy reports that, in regards to the workplace, millennials are humble about their work skills. Humility is the opposite of our stereotyped narcissism, though. When asked about communication skills, only 28% of millennials said we were superior to our peers. 42% of Baby Boomers said their skills were superior. The fourteen percent difference could be coincidental and Boomers could be the more narcissistic group. But consider that millennials are the workers with the most experience in communication. Not only were we raised with the technology that brought the world We want to work on ourselves, not our commu- together, but we use it daily. When everyone knows how nity. Jean Twenge, psychology professor and seasoned to communicate, it’s hard to stand out amongst peers. researcher of the millennial generation, reviewed the The opposite can be true, too. Maybe only a data sets for community service between three generselect few, the 28%, actually do know how to communiations, Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials, when cate and the rest of us are just amateurs. Murphy thinks they were at the same age (high school seniors/ college millennials are entering the workforce without certain freshman). Twenge concluded that our generation is less key skills, the same skills found in a liberal arts educalikely to appreciate politics, trust the government, or tion. respect establishments. She found that we also volunteer There is a long narrative that English, Philess. We’d rather improve ourselves. losophy, and other like degrees are useless. “56% of Back in high school, I volunteered all the time. I Emerging Adults say today’s job market does not value was my mother’s teacha liberal arts educational ing assistant, I followed When everyone knows how background,” however, her to school Parents want peoto communicate, it’s hard to employers Club meetings, and she ple who can write, and stand out amongst peers. guess what an English coaxed me into being a decorator for Project degree trains you to do, Graduation. Now as an adult, I can’t be involved bewrite! Because our parents urged us to not take the Libcause I need to focus on school and my future. eral Arts route, we earned degrees in things that matter, We want to see progress in our careers and yes, but never trained us to communicate in other ways employers laugh at us because we just entered the than sending a text message or posting to Facebook. So workforce. Murphy found seventy percent of millennials when we entered the workforce, we felt underprepared. expected to see more progress in their careers. Maybe All of this into consideration, Murphy concludes this is where the stigma that we are entitled comes from. that we aren’t narcissistic, we have a low self-esteem It’s not wrong to want to know your progress in a career, problem. That makes sense. We want to reach self-actubut we millennials need that progress bar for self-affiralization, we are trained narcissists thanks to our parents, mation. We all want to be on top of our pyramids. and we need to see our progress in our careers. Could Complicating the equation is our parents. They the work martyr just be a response to feeling underprejust gave us self-esteem. They didn’t realize high selfpared for the workplace? esteem is only a result and not a cause, reports Stein

That’s the madness. Our situation is enough to make anyone go insane. And this only examines the workplace. How much further down does the rabbit hole go? Not much farther. millennials are no different

These key workplace “skills” of which Murphy speaks are not defined. Karen K. Myers and Kamyab Sadaghiani focus on the skills needed for a healthy, functioning workplace: socialization, employment expectations, use of communication technologies, the current job market, and aspirations for job leadership. They speculated that employers need to enhance millennials’ “unique qualities” or else the workplace could be disrupted by millennial presence. The conclusion for their work was we are no different from other generations in strict terms of just entering the workforce. Each generation entered the workforce with their own set of qualities to which employers then had to adjust. Boomers were ambitious

We are no different from other generations workaholics, Gen X were skeptical and disliked group work, and Millennials only get a lot of attention. That’s it. So all of that hullabaloo was for nothing, huh? Not exactly. The workplace you knew and loved is no more, and that’s okay. It’s evolving into something better for all. Myers and Sadaghiani suggest to make the workplace more productive is to study each group’s advantages and make those traits work for the company. For us millennials, we have broader perspectives for almost every aspect of work. We want to blur the line in employer-employee relationships. We prefer open relationships with the boss. There are plenty of testimonials of CEOs receiving emails from interns talking about their ideas. Change is here. There is nothing to be afraid of, non-millennials. Work martyrs can finally take a vacation, bosses and employees are buddies, and the work world is a more sociable, rewarding place thanks to us.

about the author

Lauren is a Writing Arts major at Rowan University. Her favorite things include Mac and cheese, her dog, Kevin, and learning something new. While she also enjoys performing in choirs and on stage, her dream is to become a novelist.

NewsBait

by Shannon Farrell

Clickbait is nothing new, except that now we just have a catchy modern word for it. Clickbait headlines go to any exaggerated dramatic length to get you to click on them, usually with phrases like “You’ll Be Shocked by This One Weird Trick!” and lists upon lists of “Top 10” celebrities, behaviors, cute pictures, or unusual facts. Formerly called yellow journalism, clickbait tactics have been used to get the attention of audiences since the invention of headlines. Although many people grumble about it, the clickbait trend actually has potential to be a net positive for the world of journalism.

“ the

clickb aitiness of an article depends on its content , not on its headline ” Yellow journalism-- the practice of running a

journalism advertising. Ben Frampton of BBC news examines the complex opinions on how clickbait is changing the “face of online journalism.” While many are hopelessly resigned that clickbait is taking over the internet, other people Frampton interviewed see clickbait in a positive light: “‘Headline writing is an art, to write something that draws somebody in. Clickbait seems to be a catch-all for that skill and has very negative connotations, but the reality is more nuanced and the ability to write something enticing on Twitter to pique someone’s interest is a real art,’ said Mr Radcliffe.”

popular (if foolish) comic strip to attract readers--

How can we define which articles are clickbait and

was widespread in the late nineteenth century.

which articles might be real news?

Annalee Newitz shares an 1888 political cartoon mocking the press for “scandal,” “boasting lies,” “personal journalism,” and “paid puffery,” which is remarkably similar to the complaints heard about the clickbait plague of today. But in that case, clickbait isn’t just a modern phenomenon. It is the next logical step in online

Chi Luu, author of “How Does the Language of Headlines Work?” is a computational linguist and neuro-linguistic programming researcher. She explains that clickbait “is problematic because it’s seen as manipulative, promising sensationalized content that it doesn’t deliver on.”

With this definition in mind, I believe the

negative and positive headlines tend to attract

clickbaitiness of an article depends on its content,

more popularity, while neutral headlines tend to be

not on its headline.

less attractive.” This is the linguistic logic behind

Reputable news organizations are producing reputable articles and using clickbait headlines

clickbait headlines that draw on sensationalized drama.

simply as a form of advertising. NPR’s Jackie

Negative headlines, such as “Job Seekers Share the

Northam wrote an extremely effective, educational

17 Interviews That Were So Bad They Stood Up and

article on the endangerment of Pangolins in Africa

Left!” are much more interesting than a neutral

and Asia, even though the headline sounds like

headline about the same article (i.e.- “Stories

clickbait: “The World’s Most Trafficked Mammal Is

about Interviews”). When we see a negative

One You May Never Have Heard Of.”

headline, there is sometimes an immediate rush

Luu confirms that “more and more mainstream

of relief that the story didn’t happen to us, and instead we get to enjoy the

news publications have been

humor of it second hand.

observed using clickbait

Negative headlines also

styles…Readers do click on

manufacture a sense of

these headlines, and when

curiosity: what could have

they find real or satisfying

been so bad that these people

information, they might even

left?

engage and share the news. When used on actual news

Bryan Gardiner discusses

content, it seems that clickbait

the psychology of clickbait

headline conventions can be a powerful force for

in his ironic article “You’ll Be Outraged At How

the news.”

Easy It Was To Get You To Click On This Headline.”

The article “Breaking the News: First Impressions Matter In Online News” presents the results of an academic study on the emotional tone of online news articles, examining how positive, negative, and neutral headlines and content affect popularity. The authors summarize: “A headline’s purpose is to quickly and briefly draw attention to the story,” and the results of the study show that “extremely

Clickbait headlines create curiosity, manufacture anticipation, and use appealing tactics like numbers and lists. The bad type of clickbait doesn’t live up to the promise of its fantastic headline, while a news article using clickbait strategies does. What’s even more remarkable is that clickbait headlines work: clickbait makes us feel good on a psychological and neurological level, which from an objective standpoint has made it a pretty

successful advertising campaign. Despite the

At first it might seem irritating, but as we

irritation people feel when they’re tricked into

investigate further, we discover a psychological

reading bad articles, we just keep on clicking.

toolbox that journalists can use as a force for good. By using wordplay, curiosity, science, and psychology, headlines have massively improved their effectiveness in modern journalism. That doesn’t seem like something to complain about. Journalists have a responsibility to direct the attention of the audience to important subjects. This can be done through attaching attentiongrabbing headlines to substantial articles. If clickbait is seen as manipulative, consider the

Clickbait articles are annoying in the way of a

benefits of manipulating readers into expanding

younger sibling: pesky and foolish, but when they

their worldviews rather than manipulating them

yell “watch me! watch me!” for the hundredth

into reading pointless lists, tips, and tricks.

time, you still can’t help but smile good-naturedly. And click. This phenomenon can have powerful effects when applied to good articles and dangerous effects when applied to trivial ones. If the most effective headlines are being used on articles like “How To

“ we

could begin to see a positive change in how we consume online information ”

Tell If Your Significant Other is Cheating!” then

Clickbait is just a catchy term for a headline that

that’s where people are going to click. However, if

does its job and engages the reader. If the article

writers are using the same tactics for significant

doesn’t hold up to that anticipation, then that’s

purposes, we could begin to see a change in how

the real crime. Clickbait headlines are being

we consume online information.

effectively used to benefit online journalism, not

Essentially, what’s so terrible about clickbait?

detract from it, and I expect to see that positive trend continue.

shannon farrell is a junior at rowan university. she is a double major in writing arts and radio/teleivision/film, with a minor in biological science.

explained through a Pew survey. “Women surveyed by Pew were more likely than men to report that their experiences with harassment online has been “extremely or very upsetting,” almost 40 percent of harassed women compared with 17 percent of harassed men.” Anyone posting anything on the internet is susceptible to trolling, but the experiences associated with it differ depending on your gender. Why?

Our Internet is Not the Same By Tiara Washington

Tackling the subject of trolling and gender one name comes to mind, Lindy West. Her experiences as a self-proclaimed feminists writer online have been horrific to say the least. She has experienced countless amounts of rape threats or “You’re too fat to be raped” comments, more specifically, as she explains in the Cosmopolitan article How Lindy West Became the Ultimate Troll Slayer. These threats are not of the same caliber her male coworkers experience. “Obviously dudes call each other dickheads online. But in terms of ‘I’m going to come to your house and rape you,’ I don’t see my male colleagues getting that kind of overt, specific threatening commentary,” West explains. Her opinions on the conditions of women in America today make men mad. She is viewed as a bitter “fat bitch” instead of a well read expert on the issue at hand. Apparently, you can comment on the welfare of women, but you can’t be a fat woman and do so. So many of the comments she receives have little to do with what she actually discusses in her writings. These aren’t comments of “your thesis is false, I highly disagree.” These are comments about her appearance and well-being. Instead of attacking her work, they are attacking her.

The internet can be a terrifying place. Infinite amounts of information, countless sites, and millions of users leave you with no place to hide. If you are the occasional Googler, then this may sound extreme to you, but if you fully engage with the internet on a regular basis there is a chance you understand. Trolling is a trend that seems to have occupied every comment section available and is one of the ways the internet has become so scary. What is trolling? In Libby C. Watson’s article, It’s Time to Reclaim Trolling, it is defined as “provokYou might just say trolls are less educated nyone posting anying an outsized reaction.” The people with too much time on their hands thing on the internet attempt to get this reaction can who cannot eloquently state their argustem from something as simple is susceptible to trollment, therefore they resort to dirty school as name-calling to full blown ing, but the experiences yard-esque name calling. This might be true harassment. associated with it differ in some cases but in others it is far from it. depending on your gen- Some trolling takes great levels of thought In regards to trolling, the internet and effort. If not for the viciousness of it all, der. Why? imitates real life. Trolling victims I might actually be impressed by it. These experience different degrees of are people who are capable of elevated trolling based on their gender. Just as women are thought but choose to use it to wittily attack women more likely to be harassed, stalked and raped in real online. So again I ask why? Why are women tarlife, women are more likely to be on the receiving geted so much more harshly than men online? Why end of harsher trolls than men. In Soraya Chemaly’s can’t Lindy West say men shouldn’t joke about rape article, Why Women Get Attacked Online, this is without being threatened to get raped herself? What

leads men to so aggressively attack women online? As previously mentioned, the online world emulates the realities of our society. We live in a patriarchal society that allows women’s thoughts to be subjected to questioning, no matter the topic or her expertise. A society where I can do the same exact job as a man and get paid 79 cents for every dollar he makes. There are many examples I can use to show the value of a woman in this country is less than a man. These are the attitudes that people carry with them from real life to their online activities. The same people who could never consider an opinion simply because a woman produced it are the ones in Lindy West’s comments telling her she deserves to be raped. West described the most unsettling troll she was the victim of on a podcast episode of This American Life where someone created a twitter account impersonating her late father. On the podcast West had the opportunity to speak to the person behind this account and he confirmed how exactly the misogynist attitudes many suffer from led him to his actions. He told West how her forthright attitude and comfort with herself enraged him. When asked if it was because she was a woman his response was “Oh, definitely. Definitely. Women are being more forthright in their writing. There isn’t a sense of timidity to when they speak or when they write. They’re saying it loud. And I think that-- and I think, for me, as well, it’s threatening at first.” It would be slightly pompous for me to claim that everyone who ferociously trolls women are simply threatened by us, but there is something to be said that West being unapologetically herself was such an issue with this man. He was maddened to the point that he researched her and her family well enough to run a convincing account of her father. Why? Because she was a woman with a voice. Women are constantly being silenced, their words deemed not worth listening to. The extreme level that trolling has taken with women is another way to attempt to silence women, a way to make them feel as if they shouldn’t share their thoughts with the world. As frightening as it is to walk the dark streets of a strange neighborhood alone as a woman, that is the fear that is now associated with being a woman online. The dreaded

comment sections of online forums are the dark streets of the internet where I will reconsider a post with the same caution I take holding my keys as a potential weapon until I’ve reached my destination.

Tiara Washington is a super senior at Rowan University majoring in Elementary Education and Liberal Studies: Writing Arts and History.

The Case for Laptops in the Classroom By: Chelsea Ray

I can remember several experiences during my first day of classes in college, pulling out my laptop already for note-taking. And then the professor walks in, reads the syllabus and says “By the way, No electronics are allowed in my classroom”. The anger that I felt after hearing this from the professor was unexplainable, considering the fact that most of my note-taking in my classes are done on my laptop and/or ipad. It is just so much easier for me to get everything down from lecture by typing since I type a lot faster than I hand write notes. Students of a NYU professor in the article, “Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Away Their Laptops”, experienced this similar situation in their class. The New York University professor just changed her classroom rules from recommending students not to use their electronics to requiring students not to use their electronics in the classroom.The author has her reasons for creating this rule: Multitasking has a negative long-term effects on your memory. The author mentions how because a student’s’ full attention will not be on the task at hand, which is learning, the students will more likely forget what was being taught/ learned the next day 2. People who multi-task believe that they 1.

will get a lot more done when in reality, they end up procrastinating. A study was done at Stanford that suggested that multi-taskers fail to choose which task they need to focus on. This causes them to focus on the least important things more. 3. Electronics are a distraction to students. The professor stated how a Facebook notification is an irresistible distraction. Students are bound to check their notifications. A metaphor that Jonathan Hadit used is useful to support this reasoning: “Jonathan Haidt’s metaphor of the elephant and the rider is useful here. In Haidt’s telling, the mind is like an elephant (the emotions) with a rider (the intellect) on top. The rider can see and plan ahead, but the elephant is far more powerful. Sometimes the rider and the elephant work together (the ideal in classroom settings), but if they conflict, the elephant usually wins”. 4. Lastly, Electronics are distractions are like 2nd hand smoke.” We found that participants who multi-tasked on a laptop during a lecture scored lower on a test compared to those who did not multitask, and participants who were in direct view of a multitasking peer scored lower on a test compared

to those who were not. The results demonstrate that multitasking on a laptop poses a significant distraction to both users and fellow students and can be detrimental to comprehension of lecture content”.

These reasons are very understandable. As an aspiring elementary teacher, I would want my students to be successful in my class. With that being said, I would want anything in my classroom or anything brought into my classroom that is a distraction removed especially since elementary aged children get off track easily.However, since the students in the NYU professor’s classroom are college students they should be given the option to or not to bring their laptops in the classroom.

The reasoning behind this is that THEY ARE GROWN. A college professor in the article, “In Defense of Laptops in the Classroom” had this same opinion about given his/her college students the option using or not using their laptops in the classroom. The college professor said that college students are adults. They should not be told what and what not to bring in class. If the students in her class chooses to not pay attention in her class, it is on them. At the end of the day, the only person that is going to be hurt by doing so is the student. And if it is not electronics distracting students than it will be something else. Daydreaming is more so a distraction and a problem in a classroom than electronics, more specifically laptops, can ever be. Daydreaming can not be taken out of the classroom and during lecture it can be extremely hard to spot someone daydreaming, especially if they look like they are paying attention. Daydreaming can affect your memory. By the student thinking about something else other than the task at hand, they can completely forget what was being taught and only remember what they was daydreaming about at the time. Daydreaming can also causes procrastination in the classroom. If students are given an assignment in the classroom, daydreaming can prevent them from finishing the assignment or even starting the assignment until they snap out of it, which eliminates them from having the full amount of time they were given to complete the assignment or worse yet a test. Daydreaming can also be a distraction to the other students in the classroom. Suppose you are in a class and you notice one of your classmates staring out the window. As your reaction, you will look out the window as

well to see what your classmate is looking at; this is anyone’s reaction. So, someone’s daydreaming out the window can cause a distraction to others by the other classmates starting to look out the window as well. As mentioned before, daydreaming can not be taken out the classroom which consequently makes daydreaming the worse distraction than laptops will ever be in the classroom. In fact, there are more benefits of allowing students to use laptops in the classroom than prohibiting them.

Author Barbara E. Weaver and Linda B. Nilson explained 8 ways that laptops can be beneficial in a classroom in the article, “Laptop in Class: What Are They Good For? What Can You Do With Them?” : 1. Student- Data Collection 2. Student Assessment 3. Student Self-Assessment 4. Student Research 5. Simulated Experiences 6. Analysis of Digitized Performances 7. Student Collaboration 8. Learning Exercises.

As a current college student, I can say that I have done these 8 things at least twice in my college career. Having a laptop did make the activity more engaging and active. Learning became enjoyable in these classes; I actually looked forward to the lessons that included these laptop activities.

While I am all for laptop use in the classroom, I definitely see where the NYU professor is coming from about laptops being a distraction in the class and why she wanted them out of her classroom. However, Daydreaming is just as much as a distraction if not more than laptops in the classroom; unfortunately daydreaming can not be taken out of the classroom. But at the same time, laptops can be very beneficial in the classroom and can enhance students’ learning. Instead of completely taking laptops out of the classroom, Teachers/professors, like the NYU professor, who are up in the air about laptops in the classroom because of multi-tasking can allow laptops if certain conditions are met. For example, Teachers can make students with laptops sit in the back of the class; teachers can create laptop activities that Weaver and Nilson stated in their article; or teachers could shape student’s desk/table is a huge circle so that students aren’t positioned to look at others’ laptops. These are just some suggestions for teachers/professors so that students can use laptops and the teacher feels more comfortable with the laptops being in the classroom; as a result the whole learning community will be happy!

Chelsea Ray is a senior at Rowan University majoring in Elementary Education and Writing Arts. Her dream career is to become an Elemenary teacher in the hope of changing students’ lives.

By: Jordan Moslowski For everyone who has ever clicked on a list about the “27 Ugliest High School Celebrity Yearbook Pictures!” just to be disappointed, but then somehow fall for it again and again, I am here to help you! You’re probably saying to yourself right now, But wait, I thought I was the only one? but I can promise you, you are not. I too get dupped daily by our mutual online enemy: Clickbait.

this curiosity and delivers us headlines that only give us half of the information we’re looking for. So, every time a headline shouts out to you, saying how number whatever will TOTALLY BLOW YOUR MIND, you already know that it probably won’t, but now your curiosity is sparked and you are compelled to look, just to make sure you were right.

Play on Words

This isn’t the only way a headline needs to be What you think is just another goofy headline about phrased in order for it to catch your eye. In, “How how you won’t BELIEVE what’s in your food (number does the lanWhen these guage of head6 could kill you!), these headlines are actually scientifically engineered to trick yo every time, even if you lines work? The headlines point answer may don’t care about the subject. out to you that surprise you” Chi you are missing But how, you ask? Bryan Gardiner, author of “You’ll be Luu shows us that headlines some crucial inOutraged at How Easy it Was to Get You to Click on This Headline,” can give us a better understanding of can actually give formation, you much less inforthis problem. brain needs to mation, yet still have you falling fill in the gap so for their tricks. it can move on. First off, Gardiner reminds us that humans are naturally curious little creatures; if you have a secret, we’d Luu takes us through a short history of headlines, really like you to share it with the class. Clickbait uses back from the good old days when the headline just

How It Works

let you know that, “hey, this is news”, to, “THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT NEWS”, and now to, “OMG I can’t believe this is news”. More importantly, Luu shows us just how clickbait uses grammar rules ingrained in us as children first learning the ins and outs of writing to trick and attract us to an article. As kids sitting in elementary school learning all the fun grammar rules English has to offer, we’re taught

This is not something you as a reader are aware of, and these people know it. No one has ever been scrolling through their Facebook newsfeed (hah“news”feed), and thought, “Wow, this says weird in it, now I have to read it!” It’s an automatic response that’s been happening for years without you even being aware of it.

For the Love of Lists

human tendencies combined and manipulated by those responsible for clickbait, we are all target that One of the most popular tactics clickbait uses is our brain’s great love for lists. Using lists to grab attention clickbait can take a shot at any time it wants, and hit the bullseye nine out of ten times. works for a variety of reasons:

The term that Gardiner uses for this sudden need

that when using pronouns, you always need to identify what the pronoun refers to before you begin substituting. It needs to be clear what you’re talking about, so your reader never gets lost.

to acquire the information you lack is Curiosity Gap. When these headlines point out to you that you are missing some crucial information, you brain needs to fill in the gap so it can move on. So every time a headline says number 7 will SHOCK you, you almost can’t help it.

Clickbait has put itself way above and outside the rules of regular pronoun etiquette. Their headlines use pronouns without ever identifying what they are referring to. You are given mysterious pronouns right off the bat, which will trigger your brain to go in According to psychologists, it’s all about the dopamine; humans are naturally, as Gardiner put it best, search of the missing information. “pre-programmed cute seekers”, which means that every picture of a baby whatever pops up on our Clickbait has made screen, our brains releases a little shot of dopamine, it so that they don’t instantly lifting our spirits and further programming us to love baby animals.

Science Behind Clickbait

even need to actually show us the animals, they just need to make us think they’re coming eventually.

As if that isn’t enough, psychologists say that we don’t even need to read the article in order for our brains to fire off dopamine; just the article title alone insinuating that the thing we want to see is right there, just one click away, our brains are already releasing dopamine at just the thought of seeing it. Clickbait has made it so However, this tricky sentence restructuring is not enough to get you to fall for their schemes every time. that they don’t even need to actually show us the animals, they just need to make us think they’re Clickbait headlines use very precise word choice to attract you to an article you normally would not care coming eventually. about. Luu points out that words like “sex,” “scandal,” “sizzling,” and “weird” apparently are the keywords that will attract just about anyone, no matter the story.

Our brains are very lazy, and lists are very easy to read, making our brains do less work, which makes them - and us - very happy.

While the majority of clickbait articles you see appear as you are scrolling through your newsfeed on Facebook, this is actually the social media application working its hardest to get rid of the pesky intruding articles. According to “Famous Headlines, Rewritten For Facebook’s New Clickbait Policy,” by Adrienne When reading a list, you already LaFrance and Robinson Meyer, Facebook may be the know how many items are on said big-name leader in the war against clickbait. The two list, so your brain automatically cal- report that Facebook has designed a system that culates how much time you’ll need combs through the social media website in search to waste reading this list. Our very for headlines that are very clearly clickbait, and removing them. lazy brains like that very much.

Numbers can easily stand out, especially surrounded by large chunks of text, so they will grab your attention faster. And give you a mental break from overwhelmingly endless paragraphs.

Clickbait may seem harmless, and it may even be a little entertaining, but it is not our friend. It represents the people that believe they can pull the wool over our eyes without us even noticing, all in the name of advertising and money. They use their words powerfully, but with no good intentions towards their loyal (though not totally complicant) readers.

All of the information comes in small bursts that are evenly spaced out, so our brains can process the given information easier.

As many lists of adorable baby animals or hilarious memes I’ve scrolled through, I have forgotten about each of them not even twenty four hours later. None of them have made a lasting impression on me, and since clickbait is designed this way, they never will.

Lists help us feel in control, which But I hope this article makes one on you. And next time, you skip that clickbait article and keep relieves stress and relaxes us.

While our brains are extremely curious, needing to know every little piece of information they believe they are missing, they are surprisingly lazy (or maybe not so surprising). As people, we want to acquire as much information as possible, but we would also like to acquire it as easily as possible. This type of thinking is what allows us to fall into the trap of clickbait almost every time. We see an article about something we do not yet already know, sparking our curiosity, that is already perfectly broken down and arranged for us in a list, giving us the easy access we desire to information. With these two

scrolling.

Jordan Moslowski

is a Writing Arts major in her senior year at Rowan University. When she is not fighting the on-going battle against clikcbait, she is usually either busy already traveling, or somewhere in the planning stages of her next trip. Follow her blog, “Click(bait Here)” at

writingresearchandtech.wordpress.com.