By: M. Ahmadad

On March 20, 2020, ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ was released on the Nintendo Switch, allowing for one island to be shared on multiple accounts per console. The game revolves around building and enjoying your own customized community and life on a deserted island. You can have homes with your friends or family, or invite humanoid animal villagers to live and participate in daily activities with.

The game was not meant to be released during the COVID crisis, and the Nintendo developers for ‘New Horizons’ stated that it was quite disappointing, but hoped that it could help as an escape for the mundane and isolated feeling that came with the stay-at-home requests. People were a little under 2 months into practicing social distancing, so the game was very well received.

‘New Horizons’ was not only the best selling game in the Animal Crossing series, but the best selling game of all time in Japan. It is also the best selling Nintendo Switch game, and the 14th best selling video game ever.

The 2020 quarantine is generally perceived as a major playing factor as to why so many people joined the Animal Crossing fanbase. The idea of creating your own dream town, and decorating a community, was extremely appealing for those feeling down because of COVID creating a shift of what social interactions were okay, and what weren’t.

The creativity of ‘New Horizons’ allowed players to have digital social events, such as going fishing with friends, having picnics, going to watch shows or meteor showers, building together, gardening, and more.

The game also served as a temporary replacement for events that were canceled due to COVID, like couples throwing wedding ceremonies in Animal Crossing, or having a graduation party in the game instead of in real life.

The game was also used as political marketing by Joe Biden, having his campaign team create an island that people could visit using his Island’s code. Both him and Kamala Harris were living on that island, and you could visit them and see “their version” of Animal Crossing America.

I liked ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ a lot when it came out; it was a fun way to pass the time during online school. I mostly only gardened and covered all my villagers’ houses with flowers everywhere, but I later moved on to terraforming cliffs and rivers and placing bridges to make an actual structured town.

I named my island Akkala, after the ‘Legend of Zelda’ region.

By: Cleo Newton

AI has been developing over time and has recently started to become more prominent. With more people becoming more aware of AI and its use, they’ve started to use it for things such as image generation, writing tools, and for other personal uses.

Many people have different opinions on it. From the Pew Research Center, 18% of Americans view AI as a benefit while 37% view it as something to be concerned about. The other 45% are somewhere in between. Those who are worried are mostly concerned about the possibility of job loss, and their privacy. Some people think AI can allow work to be easier and more efficient.

Self driving cars have always been something people have dreamt of, and now that AI has improved, it’s a thing companies have been testing. Most Americans see this as risky and dangerous as people could get killed or injured. There are other people who think that self driving cars could be convenient because it would make getting around less stressful. Then again, those who make deliveries in cars or any other vehicle have the chance of losing their job.

AI generated art has been something many people and artists have been talking about recently. An article from IDS News says that because the AI cannot feel like humans can, it can’t really incorporate emotions into art the way humans can. While AI can be useful for making quick art, If people were to use AI to generate images more often, artists may not be able to make enough money to support a stable home life.

All in all, it seems like people have mixed feelings about the use of AI. It can take on tasks that some people wouldn’t want to do or would find inconvenient. Despite the fact it can be helpful, for some people, it can be a problem. I think that people’s biggest concerns around the use of AI are about privacy and job loss. I think that while AI can be helpful for some things, it can be a problem if people abuse it.

By: Lauren Kottke & Ella Sutherland

*Note: This article was written at the end of the 2022/23 school year.

Social media has been consuming the lives and minds of teenagers and young adults. All of our friends have some type of social media platform and account. We use this as a way to see what each other is up to, keep in touch with distant friends, but mostly we get bored and we just scroll. Many times people we know, including us, have felt really down and our solution to these problems is to start scrolling on social media apps. This creates unhealthy habits and there are many problems with doing this.

In order to prevent social media from consuming teenagers the creators of social media platforms should restrict the amount of time teenagers can spend on social media.

The rise in mental illness within teenagers has skyrocketed since the rise in popularity of social media. COVID and the pandemic affected how often people used social media and the amount of time people went on these platforms and apps per day.

We were inside all day and we couldn’t go out and hang out with friends or go out to eat. We relied heavily on social media to keep us occupied and we resorted back to that when we were bored. Because we had access to this at the tap of a finger, we became lazy and we stopped doing creative things like crafts and projects, or even simple things like reading a book or journaling.

According to Statistica.com, a survey conducted between July and October 2020 revealed that 61 percent of Generation Z and Millennials were watching more videos on social media apps during the COVID-19 pandemic.

People spend too much time on social media per week which can lead to many negative things. There are many studies that show that being chronically online can affect your mental health and you can develop mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Social media can also affect teenagers self esteem. When you see your friends posting together you might end up feeling very left out wondering why you weren’t invited.

Social media also sets very unrealistic beauty standards for teenagers, and when you see them and feel like you don’t look as pretty as the people that post edited photos, you start to feel terrible about how you feel.

“Those who find themselves in this category often make toxic comparisons between themselves and those they follow online, and they come face-to-face with society’s perceptions of perfectionism, which is never truly obtainable.” – Selecthealth.org

Social media can be dangerous. On social media when you post things for the public you can become a target for bullies, stalkers, or unsolicited pictures. There are many instances where people have felt uncomfortable online whether that be from creepy messages or pictures of yourself getting exposed, or even receiving inappropriate photos that were not wanted. This can make it very scary for teenagers, especially young girls online.

Onlinedegrees.unr.edu reported, “The Pew Research Center’s 2018 survey of U.S. teens determined that one in six teenagers have experienced at least one of six different forms of abusive behavior online:

• Name-calling (42%)
• Spreading false rumors (32%)
• Receiving unsolicited explicit images (25%)
• Having their activities and whereabouts tracked by someone other than a parent (21%)
• Someone making physical threats (16%)
• Having explicit images of them shared without their consent (7%)”

The creators of social media apps need to restrict and limit the amount of time that teenagers are allowed to spend on social media. The consequences of social media outweigh the rewards greatly and in the end, is not worth it for anyone. It is unsafe, it is mentally draining, and it is how we spend too much of our time.