Social media is the universal platform for communication, entertainment, and a way to feel involved in the world. Social media is used by nearly 225.61 million US citizens a day according to statistita.com. In other parts of the world there is a total of 3.78 billion users according to oberlo.com. Social media is a method that expanded our generation to new lengths in terms of how we share and receive information. For example, when Facebook was released, it was just a communication place for Zuckerberg and his fellows at Harvard. You can learn more by clicking here. The intention was never to become a huge company but a way of communication. Alongside Instagram, its primary purpose was to become a photography application. But now these two primary sources of today’s generation is how we see what other’s are doing and can see events from a long distance and even dance to music directly. A new Chinese app called “TikTok” or originally “Musically” is a dancing to music platform. What does that mean, people record themselves in a 10–30 second time frame dancing or lip syncing to a specific sound or music. This app has made so many people addicted and has made people go viral for simple dances. For example, the famous TikTok star, “Charli D’amelio” has over 100 million followers for her dances. One of them being the renegade created by Jalaiah Harmon, a 14 year old from Atlanta Georgia. This dance has become the most danced movement from 2019–2020. TikTok and its competitor Instagram with Instagram Reels, also get content other than dances, people also post funny videos, life hacks, food hacks, and other entertaining pieces. This generation has made people viral with social media. One of the main reasons it mostly happens in these platforms except for Facebook is because teens have the ideology that Facebook is for elderly people, so they don’t use that platform. Another popular app, SnapChat, is mostly for chatting and using funny filters that change your appearance or can change your voice. Platforms like these are all serving one purpose, influence users to publish content. Social media has a huge impact on a teen’s life because of its use of communication and entertainment. The best thing about it, it’s all FREE. No charges for using the app, but of course the company gets money for the amount of users on the platform. Social media recently has been used by current President Trump on the app Twitter for encouraging the riot of the capitol. As we all know President Trump has “tweeted” a lot of false information and accusations on Twitter, as stated in various CNN interviews. This has led to people having riots such as the one that happened in the capital hill and protests such as the one that we all have heard of, Voter Fraud. As a result to the controversy, Facebook and Instagram decided to delete his account and ban him from his accounts. But enough about President Trump let’s talk about how social media affects a person. View the video by Jubilee that discusses about the pro’s and cons of social media.

Many of the topics featured in the video are something familiar to teens. The video also discusses how social media can effect young adults.

How does it affect teens physically?

Many people think something such as social media does not affect teens physically but it does. According to aaapublications, they state that it disrupts sleep, affects a person physically by taking off time of exercise. It also causes strain to the neck, which can lead to future health problems. Also, according to offeringhope.org it states that it leads to children having a sedentary lifestyle, which means that you are in one position or a non-moving position.

How does it affect teens mentally and emotionally?

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Elon musk and other successful people are now the top people that rule our technology, society, and how we do things. In an Instagram Reel, Elon musks states, “Colleges are for fun and that you can do your chores” Some people agree with this statements. Multiple people of wealth and fame and intelligence such as Elon musk, Bill gates, and others say the same thing. College isn’t nessecary to succeed. In fact, Elon in previous interviews stated that you don’t have to have a college degree or a high school degree to work at Tesla. You just need to demonstrate that you are willing to work hard and demonstrate that you can apply the things they teach you to that job. So, the big question here is “Why do colleges exist and do you need to go to college to be successful in life”?

The Big Question

Do you need to go to college? The answer is simply no. I say this because people that are doing labor work such as farming or constructing and other work forces don’t need a degree that indicates that you know how to work or make something function. You just need to put extra work and problem-solve. An example of someone that does not need a college degree to be successful would be a programmer. A software engineer can be self taught and learn everything for free practically except if there are some paid courses that you absolutely need to purchase…

Winter Break is here! With that, there are many activities you can do during the break. One holiday favorite is watching Christmas movies. Here are 10 Christmas movies the Knight Times team recommends watching over the next few days of break.

#9: Elf: Buddy’s Sing & Cheer Along (PG)

Code is the very thing that makes our devices run and perform certain tasks. Think about it as a mini computer. Without programmers, working devices would not exist and we may still be using mail to communicate. People think of programming as boring, time-consuming, and a waste of time. While some of it may be true at times, programming is the fundamental of every electronic. Programming opens up a new world of not just learning how to code, or using a interactive development environment (IDE) or Online Editors such as Wix, WordPress, and Google Sites, but also the design process. The design of the process is what makes websites so beautiful and appealing to other people.

What Is Design?

To design something means to create a template, prototype, or any form of visual representation. It is also a way to express yourself, be creative, and make a website unique. Design is a key part of any website. Without the design, the website may be unprofessional and messy. The point of making the design or the “Front-end” as most developers call it, is to attract users on their website for long periods of time. This means that the developer would get more attention from the viewer who, in some cases, may be a potential customer (or other target audiences). People…

Movies and TV shows are a huge part of how we entertain ourselves. Streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon Video, and due to this epidemic, much more have joined the fray such as HBO Max and Peacock. The epidemic drastically changed the movie industry. Theaters have been forced to shut down as they could lead to a spread of the virus. Because of this, streaming services have been dominating the industry. Over the span of COVID-19, more people around the world started watching shows to entertain themselves while in quarantine. Usually, to watch the newest movies, people are required to go to theaters such as AMC, Regal, Cinemark, etc. However, as time goes on, movies have evolved, and so has the way you may view them. Streaming services have revolutionized how and where people can view -new or upcoming, to old and classic- movies and TV shows. You could be watching the latest Marvel movie on your couch, or even catch up on “The Sopranos” during your commute.

What Are Companies Doing To Get Customers To Enjoy A Movie?

One of the movie theater companies, AMC reopened 100 theaters on August 20th with a price of 15 cents per movie! However, the price isn’t always what makes the movie enjoyable. The theaters also need to provide a good experience for the viewer with accessibility to snacks, comfortable seating, good viewing areas, and most importantly, the safety of each and every viewer.

Safety of the viewers is very concerning. If the theaters don’t take certain precautions,. the disease could be transferred from one person to another, or to an entire theater. In order to prevent such an event from happening…

Throughout my time at Neo City I have faced many challenges and obstacles that have helped me become a better individual and student, but one thing that I could always count on to stay consistent was the grading system. This year was, however, different. The students were greeted with a new grading system upon returning to school. In a frightening turn, the new system resulted in many students not having any grades in Focus until the last two weeks of the quarter. In the past, many students regularly turned to Focus for a precise look at their grade point average…

The Student Government Association (SGA) is a student run organization within NeoCity Academy. Events and ceremonies held by the school are planned by SGA and the officers elected by the student body. NeoCity Academy has had a wonderful group of students each year within the SGA that all work together in order to create a fun and exciting school year. The different officer positions that an SGA member can run for includes President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Club Ambassador, and a Class President for every grade level. Everyone else within SGA is then split into different committees that handles responsibilities such as funding for clubs to the planning of fun events. The four committees are for events, student outreach, and finance. It is up to the entire school to elect members of the SGA for the different officer positions.

How You Can Vote:

Campaigning for the SGA officer positions start on September 28th and end on October 1st. This will give time for students to meet and talk with the different candidates for each role. Physical campaigning such as giving flyers to people or giving people food is strictly forbidden. This is done in order to allow for digital students to learn about the candidate that they want to vote for. The elections will be held the next day, October 2nd. Students will be voting on a link given out on the day of the election. …

Everyone can agree that the past eight months may not have been the most desirable, and with the continuous spread of COVID-19, many students are wondering how they will attend school. Through hopes of adapting to the unfortunate circumstances, Osceola County provided parents and their children an alternative for returning to school in 2020: online schooling! Most students had a taste of this at the end of the last school year, so this option is not too unfamiliar. However, similar to going to school in person, new standards and routines may be implemented to last the semester. The following interviews are from two students that have opposing thoughts on the subject.

Virtual-Learning Option

The first interview was with a student who has chosen to stay home for the first semester of the 2020–2021 school year. The name remains anonymous, but their opinions are clear. Since they have already experienced the nature of virtual school, they’ve spoken on their experience. According to him/her, online learning is both safer and more efficient for their schedules. Although there are setbacks such as not having all the resources in one location, staying online helps them stay energized with the efficient schedule. Read “Virtual-Learning Option Interview” below for more information.

In-Person Learning Option

The next interview explores why going back to…