T he Voice of the Marion Indians
the Vox
Check out p. 8-9 to search how technology has advanced through the years.
February 9, 2011
Volume: L XIII, Issue: 4
Social trendS keep Mickala connected Pelley stays in the loop with the latest social trends by staying connected with her friends. By: Kaitlyn Nathem [Staff Writer] She logs onto the computer and within seconds she is already connected to Facebook. She checks her phone and has received a text from Twitter, saying that Snooki is having a great day! Just last year though, she would have been busy searching for the latest Myspace codes or changing her top friends. Just like most other students in Marion High School, sophomore, Mickala Pelley, has followed the standard social network changes. Starting off in middle school, most kids were contacting each other through Myspace. Changing layouts, commenting on people’s profiles, and searching for the latest music were the main obsession that kids focused on when they were on the site. “I loved changing my profile and making it look cool!” Mickala said. Myspace was the first major social network that students in our generation started to widely use. Myspace began to fade for most students when they went into high school. Writing on people’s walls, tagging people in photos, and updating statuses on a regular basis were the best and most used parts of Facebook. “[I use Facebook] to creep on other people.” Laughed Mickala. Most students and sometimes-even parents use Facebook as a way to stay up to date with other people’s lives. Seeing who’s in a relationship with who, what so and so did yesterday, and who has been writing on so and so’s wall blowing up on everybody’s news feed. Facebook is still relatively popular for most Sophomore, Mickala Pelley, logs onto her computer to socialize students. with her friends, and stay connect through social networking Twitter is the next big thing, it’s already widely used by most people. “A lot of people don’t like Twitter. I like Twitter, I just wish there was a like button.” Twitter is mainly used for people to talk about their problems in a “status” form. Most people complain about life, talk about what they’ve doing every second of everyday, or have conversations back and forth to each other. Instead of having friends on Twitter, you have followers. The students have followed a trend in what social networks they use. “Depending on what someone uses effects what other people use,” Mickala stated. Students are followers to each other and almost always have been. If one student uses Myspace then soon almost the whole school has it, just like what has been happening with the other social networks. People follow social trends. “First it was Myspace. Then Facebook. Then Twitter.” Most people have been following the same trend, even though some have not gotten too attached to Twitter. Before she goes to bed that night, she checks her Facebook one last time to see her notifications. She has two, a photo comment and her best friend just wrote on her wall. She checks them both and then logs off. Lying in bed she receives three texts, all of which are from Twitter. She tweets to her followers and says “good night.” She will be back on soon enough tomorrow.
Technology: solutions or more problems? By: Jordan Hansen [Opinion Editor] Texting furiously, the teen is oblivious to everything around him. Texting his way down the hallway, he sees nothing and is not paying attention, and he runs into an unsuspecting teacher. Not that this has ever happened in our school, but it could. In fact, some people are wondering if there is a limit on which to put on technology its self. N a t h a n Deeney, junior, Nathan Deeney, is very into junior
technology, and quite knowledgeable about it. He, like many Americans, sees many benefits of technology. “A lot of technology is user-friendly, it only takes a couple of days to learn it.” Technology is used by almost everyone, everyday. It saves people, can solve problems, and can even help with education. High-tech education is definitely up-and-coming at Marion. “I think we have enough [Technology], but the performance is the problem,” said Nathan. “I don’t think it would be a bad idea, but money would be an issue.” Though the benefits of tech far outweigh the problems with it, massive problems with it do exist. In today’s society it is extremely easy for people to say mean things about others, and
Index Opinion...............p. 2-3 Activities...........p. 4-5 Entertainment...p. 6-7
C enter Spread....p.8-9 Senior Interviews..p.10-11
World News.........p.12 Features.........p.13-15 Back Page...........p.16
Life without technology Commentary Every day, every hour, every minute, every second someone is using technology around us. In one day you might be on the computer to check your Facebook, Twitter, or any of the other communication sites out there. Then you use your cell phone more times you can count to talk, text, and to maybe even get on the Internet some more if you have one of those fancy smart phones. To top it off, you might even play some video games or watch TV in your spare time. We use technology in our lives more than we By: Hannah Miller realize. [Design Editor] Technology is a part of our lives and we depend on it more than we think. We use it to communicate with others, in our work at jobs or school, to have fun, and in pretty much of every aspect of our lives. Technology makes life interesting and just plain easy. Without it we would be lost. It would take hours to do something that might be done in minutes with the technology we have right now. We take technology for granted and need to realize that without it life would be much harder than we think. Technology takes over every aspect of our lives and I bet most of you wouldn’t be able to live a day without it. Just think about everything that you use that is considered technology. That’s your cell phone, iPod, computer, video game systems, even your refrigerator or dryer. Technology is pretty much everything you use in a day that uses some kind of electricity. Life is full of it and you couldn’t do most of the things you do in your day without it. The next time you are using technology just think about what life would be like without it. Try to imagine what your day would be like if you didn’t have all the conveniences of today’s technology.
spreading rumors is easier than ever. “[Technology] is bad when it’s used to spread rumors or say bad things about people.” Along with high schools, technology is also used in many colleges and universities around the United States. According to a survey by the North Central Regional Education Laboratory, (Also know as the NCREL) 90% of all schools have internet access, yet nearly 30% of teachers surveyed said they only use the computers one hour a week. Even more alarming is the survey also discovered that 40% of the teachers never used them at all. Technology has infiltrated its way into sports as well. New training methods, instant replays, and many other advances in sports medicine are now commonplace. “It’s all about the sports,
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Alicia Livingston talks about being Person of Character on p. 16.
but new equipment is nice,” commented Nathan. With all the advances, it is a debate whether sports are more about the natural talent of the athlete or about their high-tech training program. These new programs, and also gym classes are using more technology to tailor workouts to student and athletes strengths and the areas they need to improve. Marion, with its grant, has changed much of its physical fitness program to be more beneficial to the students health. This, among many other changes, will hopefully lead to more healthy teens. The student apologizes profusely, but its not enough to keep the student from losing his phone for the day. After school, he will get it, but for now, he’s separated from the tech filled world we all live in.
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