Charlotte+C’s+2016+OpEd+Article

Dear Dan,

My topic is about how I enjoy calling my teacher's by their first names. Take last year for example. Mrs. Eualu, or as I like to call her, Cherie, was my world history teacher. Often when I had a question I would raise my hand and then yell out, "Yo, Cherie, I don't understand question number 3!" This is perfectly fine in my opinion. I mean come on, why shouldn't I be able to call out to my teachers by their first names? They call most of us by our first names, right. Unless you get a teacher who has no idea who you are, and let's be honest this happens. Take my current teacher (who will remain anonymous), this person didn't even know my "elbow partner" Josh was in our class, until he moved to the front, second semester. So, imagine how great FTHS would be if we students were able to shout out "John, explain that Physics to me" and "You go on explaining that Bio Mika" and "Dan, history is looking good today." That is the school I want to attend.

Cherie and Rick

(just kidding, MY work is below)

Technology Technology. What a useful piece of our modern culture. It allows us to have all of the answers at our fingertips, be able to contact whomever we please, and connects us all over the world. But when it comes to connecting people to those directly in front of them, it creates a gap. A huge gap than cannot be conquered, so long as any little piece of distracting electronic is in between us. For everything technology can do for us, no one realizes how detrimental it is for any real relationship that we can have with each other face to face.

Technology hinders our ability in a relationshi p to know basic facts about one another. People don't bother to learn birthdays because their calendar will automatically remind them. They don't memorize phone numbers, because all of that information is safely stored in their contacts. No one could ever learn an address, because google maps will easily guide you there. Spelling a name? Why bother memorize that when your phone will just autocorrect it for you. All of this basic information that forms the foundation of any friendship/relationship is easily lost because of the “convenience” of your electronics, and their “all-knowing” ability. Because these devices know everything about everyone, we are required to know nothing about one another.

Manners have been lost due to the tiny little tablet that we fix our eyes upon ALL OF THE TIME. I’m not sure if kids my age realize how ridiculously RUDE it is to always be staring at their phone when trying to have a conversation. Learn to make eye contact. When you are staring at your phone and talking to someone at the same time, you are half-assing the conversation. You aren’t fully engaged, you definitely aren’t hearing everything that they are saying, and you are positively being extremely rude. Why should anyone give their time to someone who is only giving them half of their attention in return? Kids physically cannot tear their eyes away from the screen long enough to have a full conversation. No one talks face to face, it is always face to the top of someone else's head while they look down. The biggest way that I see technology ruin relationships is over social media. With all of the subtweeting, and seeing who was where with who and when, obviously something bad is bound to happen. It just sparks arguments all of the time, and since no one dares communicate face to face, things get far worse. EVERYONE becomes involved when it was none of their business in the first place, and when people argue over a screen, they are far more likely to say something regrettable because they have a little curtain of text to hide behind. People become harsh when they don't have to say a criticism to someone while looking them straight in the eye. And tone of voice? Forget it. Words can be comprehended in so many different ways just depending on the tone of voice, but when there is no tone, people could be saying completely different things than what is understood by the other pers on. People often forget how important experiences and memories are. They are so caught up in their image on their various social medias, that they forget to experience, and create memories with their friends, and the ones they love. Technology has ruined the manners, memory, and relationships of too many people. Live a little and put your phones down, it’s not that hard.