Creating a Culture

SWISS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL QATAR
Creating a
Culture
Grade 8 Culture Study students use
ethnographic research to create a
culture of digital well being.

Creating A Culture
Grade 8 Culture Studies students use
ethnographic research to create a culture of
digital well being.
By Swiss International School Qatar
INSPIRED! FULFILLED! PREPARED!

Prologue ......................................................................6
How does time on digital devices affect empathy?
- Leah F. A. ....................................................................7
What does the digital culture in grade 8 even look
like? - Natalie K .........................................................15
Is technology a bigger priority than family? -
Ellemieke W ..............................................................25
How have females of color (ages 11-15) been
affected by white beauty trends online? - Madelyn
D .................................................................................30
How much time do SISQ students spend on
screens compared to the global average? - Dustin
M .................................................................................40
Is screen-time affected by parental ethnicity? -
Grace M and Rita K ...................................................43
What are the effects of social media on MYP
students at SISQ? - Adwita V ...................................52
Headphones or headaches: are we harming our
hearing? - Jana E? ....................................................57
Social Media and Academics - Keziah S and Marc
Aurele Paul G ............................................................66
Apple vs Samsung - are we paying the price? -
Ioana V .......................................................................75

Girl Gamers: answer to social media? - Shreedhar
K. .................................................................................89
It’s Not As Bad As You Think - Ethan ......................95

Prologue
Kofi Anan believed that young people should be “active
architects” in achieving the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals. At Swiss International School Qatar, we
cannot agree more and this is reflected in our mission:
“Inspired! Fulfilled! Prepared!”
In 2020, the midst of lockdown, our grade 8 Cultural
Studies boys researched how lockdown had impacted the
digital behaviour and mental well being of other young
people their age.
Their research was so well executed that they won
international recognition through The Global Social
Leaders Competition and we formed a relationship with the
Ministry of Public Health which has allowed our students to
continue applying their learning in practical and ethical
ways.
This journal is a reflection of some of the questions posed
by our 2023 cohort of students (of both genders) and their
recommendations for our school leaders and pastoral
team.
Students were supervised by pastoral leads and provided
with guidance regarding ethics and confidentiality. No
students were forced to participate and students were
encouraged to contact staff at the first sign of distress or
concern.

How does time on digital devices
affect empathy? - Leah F. A.
During the last few weeks, my classmates and I have
been collecting data from different topics
surrounding digital culture. I have decided to focus
on technology and empathy because I feel like empathy is a
very underrated topic that people should be more aware of
as it is crucial to our mental health.There are different
types of empathy. The first type is referred to as "active
empathy". It describes the inner emotions that surface
when we witness other people expressing emotion. This is
a subtle imitation of those expressions. The second is
"cognitive empathy," which is the ability to comprehend the
meaning of other people's emotions and why they occur.
(“Which Factors Shape Our Empathy?”)
Empathy isn't only used for compassion but also for
manipulating and harming. (Bonnette). It is crucial for
human beings and for the success of our society, helping so
that we are capable of empathizing with others, to feel as
they do, to care about their well-being, and to act with
compassion, all resulting in a thriving society. (“Why the
World Needs an Empathy Revolution”)

My literature findings show that empathy is different
depending on the gender and the role in life of the person.
The study shows middle children are more empathetic than
only children. The author uses personal experiences to
justify her points (she said her brother aka the middle child
vomited due to anxiety when their sibling got bit by a dog).
It is also mentioned older and younger children have
almost the same levels of empathy, only children’s scores
are the lowest and middle children ones are the highest.
Only children do not have siblings to negotiate and worry
about which is one of the reasons why they are less
empathetic. (“Which Factors Shape Our Empathy?”).
“During the Covid pandemic, empathy was
compromised”
During the covid pandemic empathy was compromised.
(“Technology and Empathy in the COVID-19 Era”)
Teenagers nowadays have the capacity to understand what
someone is feeling but have a lesser capability of mimicking
and understanding what to do in that situation. For
example, Student X hurt Student Y. Student X took notice
of what Student Y was feeling but didn't know how to act.
Student X didn’t know how to apologize or how to talk to
Student Y to x the situation.
On the other hand, according to a current study, healthy
young people’s social empathy abilities decreased a year
after the pandemic breakout. On the other hand, their
tendency to identify with fictional characters has increased.
Not only because it is a normal response to growing up to
relate to a character's emotions and actions but also

ecause the participants
showed higher levels of
cognitive as well as
emotional components of
empathy. However, they
maintained the same levels
of affective empathy. (Chiara
Baiano et al.).
I gathered my research by
asking teenage students from
ages varying from 13 to 15 to
answer a survey that included questions about empathy,
relationships and adaptation. Twenty three students
answered, consisting of 12 males and 11 females. I divided
my questions in two categories in my notebook: the ones
whose answers had to be separated because of gender and
the second category in which I would look at the overall
result without separating males and females. Sixteen out of
23 people answered .

This circular graph shows that 16 of the 23 don’t feel like
they have been capable of readapting to their old routine
from before lockdown. This is due to the fact that during
the 2 years of lockdown social events were prevented and
working from home was adopted.
By the time people had to go back millions of people
decided to
stay
working
from
home
due to
adopting
social
anxiety
while
being
away
from
others for such a long period of time. Furthermore, the
majority of students consisting of 17 have noted a
distancing from friends and family after being exposed to
an abundance of technology. Eight of the seventeen
students were males and the rest
female.
But what
about
people
who lack
empathy?

21.7% of students in total have chosen answers that link to
having a lack of empathy but this does not mean that they
have no empathy. It could signify that they have less
empathy which is not unusual after a pandemic. Although
some people lack empathy due to traumatic experiences it
can also happen due to illnesses or maybe their emotions
are just diminished. People with low empathy can have a
hard time realizing how their behavior is affecting others
and might struggle making strong relationships. In addition
low empathy can cause constant friction and a lack of
strong bonds. This is because when someone has
difficulties understanding peoples emotions and their
actions no significant connections are made. (Drake).
As observed here, most people questioned usually look at
their phones when someone else is sharing something with
them. This is significant because the person glancing at
their phone is giving o a message of not being 100%
interested in what the person is sharing. Counsellors or any
professional that has a job where they have to talk to a
patient learn a position called the square. The square is

used to emit a welcoming atmosphere for the person
bonding with them. When others look at their phone while
someone is talking to them it is rude and can cause the
person to feel excluded and neglected. This links to
another question in my survey.
We can clearly see that more than 2⁄3 of people are feeling
neglected by other people, could be their parents and
friends. is can cause serious trouble in the person’s mental
health and also shows a lack of interest and empathy from
the person who is using their phone.
In addition, this links
to further research I
did. I asked a
question about
friction in
relationships, 6
people said they did
feel like they were
having a hard time.
Similarly, 3 people

feel like they are struggling relating to others. Nevertheless,
this shows how there are many students with low levels of
empathy who don't realize they have this problem. This is
evident because 3 people realized they are struggling
relating to others which is a “symptom” of low empathy. On
the other hand, 5 people showed lack of empathy, this
shows how they aren’t aware of this connection.
One of the biggest findings was that the majority of people
have decided to take a break from social media. A total of
56.5% (or in other words 13 out of 23) provided reasons
such as:
● “Lack of sleep”
● “Because i kept getting bullied in grade 7 (cyber bullying)
● “Procrastination,anxiety,startingtogetmealittlesadbutnott
oomuch.”
● “ProbablybecauseIwasgettingabittooaddictedilemyphonebehindfora
week and felt so much better
without all the craziness of social media- like I could
finally breathe”.
● “Because sometimes I get into a time of life where a lot of
things are happening at the same time and it would've
been better for me to take a break from social media.”
● “I'm gonna be honest because I was too tired to deal with
the drama that happened. So I stopped for maybe 1-2
months and had a very close friend give me advice and
went to Gym.”
● “I was spending too much time, I had to cut down on it.”
Linking back to my literature findings, bonds with fictitious
characters are very common with teenagers (especially
girls). This phenomenon has increased after lockdown
because of the lack of socialization. It is shown in my study

that 10 students said “yes” to creating bonds but 13 said
“no”.Although, due to the fact that there are more boys in
the survey the majority chose ‘no’. In other words more
girls chose yes than boys - which mirrors global trends.
My recommendations to preserve empathy are to
acknowledge your mistakes and make more eye contact
with others. Don’t take things so personally.
Bibliography
Drake, Kimberly. “Is It Possible to Lack Empathy?” Psych
Central, Psych Central, 21 July 2021, psychcentral.com/lib/
why-do-some-people-lack-empathy#lack-of-empathy.
Accessed 11 June 2023.
Chiara Baiano, et al. Empathy through the Pandemic:
Changes of Different Emphatic Dimensions during the
COVID-19 Outbreak. Vol. 19, no. 4, 20 Feb. 2022, pp. 2435–
2435, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8872216/
#:~:text=The%20present%20stud
y%20showed%20that,identify%20with%20fictional%20cha
racters%2C%20increase d., https://doi.org/10.3390/
ijerph19042435. Accessed 11 June 2023.
“Why the World Needs an Empathy Revolution.” Greater
Good, 2019, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/
why_the_world_needs_an_empathy_revolutio
n#:~:text=The%20ability%20to%20connect%20empathicall
y,and%20thrive%20as% 20a%20society. Accessed 11 June
2023.
“Technology and Empathy in the COVID-19 Era.” Center for
Global Development | Ideas to Action, 2020,
www.cgdev.org/publication/technology-and-empathycovid-19-era.
Accessed 11 June 2023.

Bonnette, Rachel. Rethinking Technology’s Impact on
Empathy. 2014.
“Which Factors Shape Our Empathy?” Greater Good, 2017,
greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/
which_factors_shape_our_empathy#:~:text=O
ur%20level%20of%20empathy%20does,we%20can%20dev
elop%20through%20eff ort. Accessed 11 June 2023.
What does the digital culture in grade
8 even look like? - Natalie K
(Peer reviewed by Shreedhar)
In today’s day and age, we use technology so much in our
daily lives that we don’t even realize it that much. Because
of this, it is hard to detect how social media influences our
daily lives and how we live, and in what way it impacts our
social life, academic scores, participation, and
collaboration in school. How do we know if it is such an
uncommon topic to discuss with people? Why do people
barely bring up the subject of social media and how
addictive it can be? How addicted are people to social
media around us? Well, you are about to find out after
reading about my findings both in my literature study and
my own study. This case study mainly focuses on 8th
graders in SISQ during the academic year of 2022-23, their
social media usage, what social media app they use the
most, what device they use the most, and if they play
online games or use social media more.

According to the study I did about people in 8th grade of
SISQ, I have been able to find out a lot about our peers as
well as the difference in our views. I was able to form a
hypothesis that I thought that the most used social media
platform would be TikTok or YouTube. This is as I see (from
observations) my peers use it the most (as well as me,
personally, who uses these two platforms quite often in my
daily life). Not only that but I also thought no matter how
many social media platforms they have, it would be the
same continuously, which the results were but it wasn’t the
sort of same I expected. However, my results showed
something quite similar but also quite different which took
me by surprise.
Before I observe and state my results from the survey I
sent out, I will also mention what I discovered during my
literature study when I was trying to find out what people
had already studied about this topic.
One of the first studies was this article published on
exploding topics. According to (Howarth), this article has a
lot of good information about statistics about how much
teenagers use the app, especially information on the
nationality of the people who use TikTok as well as the age
range of the TikTok content creators that are also known as
influencers are all in the age range of 18-24 (52%) and the
other higher percentage is content creators in the age range
of 13-17 (18%). One thing I found quite surprising is that the
percentage of TikTok users is pretty even except that 57%
of users are female and the rest are male. 25% of TikTok
users are in the age range of 10-19.

The second article that piqued my interest was published
by the National Library of Medicine. According to (Tang
and Patrick), there have been very few studies that focus on
children's usage of interactive social media let alone their
academic outcomes of the usage of social media; however,
it is shown that college students’ academics are affected
when using social media. When it comes to gaming and
television screen time, there seem to be more studies that
focus on that for children and social media usage for
college students.
Further information on this topic is included in this
article, it is the difference in males' and females' usage on
screens. It is usually that females text and are on social
media more meanwhile males are gaming online more
instead. It is also shown that white kids watch TV more
than black and Hispanic kids because they have less access
to computers and TVs. According to this research, the
impact of this can be both negative and positive. Why I
think this is because
The third article was a study published in the world
economic forum. According to (Ellerbeck), Almost half of
the teenagers say that they use technology almost
constantly in the last year (2022) compared to 2014/15 who
said that they only used technology several times a day.
It is also mentioned that 95% of teens use youtube, 67%
of teens use Tiktok, and 62% use Instagram (top 3, 2022).
On average, the teens that use the internet the most are
females. When it comes to ethnicity both Hispanic (55%)
and black (56%) teens use the internet the most. When it
comes to age, teens that are in the age range of 15-17 use it
the most (52).
The last article I mentioned showed very different results
due to this study being conducted and published in 2018 by

the Pew Research Center. According to (Anderson and
Jiang), Even though this article has a lot of interesting
information, this study was conducted in 2018 before covid,
meaning that the information on this website is likely to
have changed now after the global pandemic.
When it comes to how teens see how social media affects
their people their age seems to be pretty mixed as well as
pretty debatable amongst the teens. 24% of the people who
took part in this study said it has a negative impact, 45%
said it was neutral and 31% said that it has a positive effect.
It is more common for white and black kids to have access
to computers than Hispanic kids. Another thing is that
when it comes to the parent's level of education and their
income, it shows that people with an income lower than 30
thousand are less likely to have a computer.
On extended research, 66% of TikTok users in the Middle
East are men, according to Statista. The prevalent social
media habits are completely at odds with this.
Now, after reading all of these articles with all of this
information that helped me with my hypothesis, let me
now get into the responses I got to share with the grade that
have helped me build up my case. My only data collection
tool was that I sent out a survey to all of grade 8.
The first chart shown here shows the percentage of both
genders that filled in my form. This is the finalized version
of my form, yes, however, due to a minor
misunderstanding with some other classes from other
grades, I originally had 26 responses, although due to an
inconvenience, 4 responses out of the 26 (15.4%) were
exterminated due to them being contaminated responses.
This question was quite a broad one however it helped
me prove my prediction that the majority of my peers have

a lot of social media platforms, however, when it came to
individual responses (which will be kept confidential),
people either had almost all of the social media platforms I
listed (maybe not up to 3, if they didn't, have all of them),
and if they didn’t they would have very few of the social
media platforms, they would mainly only have access to
WhatsApp, Pinterest, and YouTube for example due to
them not being much considered as social media platforms
because they are more of platforms you can use to watch
videos or chat with
people online.
According to these
results, my
hypothesis was
correct about
people using
YouTube as the
most used social

media however I did not expect Snapchat to be the other
social media platform most used amongst my peers, yes, I
am aware that my peers do have this social media app
however I did not expect it to be the most used amongst all
of the platforms. I am also rather surprised that TikTok and
Instagram resulted equally as the second most used social
media platforms because according to my literature study,
ever since the release of TikTok, people have started using
Instagram less and used TikTok more. I am not very
surprised by these results due to the fact that Snapchat
resulted to be one of the most used social media platforms
out of all that I listed in the 2 previous questions. I am not
surprised about these results because Snapchat is usually
only used as a platform to chat voice or video call with
friends or people you know which doesn’t result in as much
screen time compared to just scrolling through videos or
pictures on different platforms.
I am not very surprised by these responses either
because it is very common for almost everyone in my grade

to have a phone to use out of school and to have a laptop to
use for school however I expected at least some people to
respond with that they used their iPad’s or other devices
more than
their phone and/or
laptop but barely
anyone did which
took me by
surprise.
These
results are
not that
surprising
because if
you search
up the
average
screen time
of a 13-year-old it shows that from the age of 11-14, their
average screen time is 9 hours per day according to several
reliable sources such as [CDC, OSF healthcare] and other
articles such as (“30+ Average Screen Time Statistics for
2023 | SlickText”) (which isn’t a healthy amount of screen
time of course) however here it is only the screen time on
that device they use the most so they can also have a
certain screen time on a different device which could add
up to 9 hours or even more, however also, about the
answers having a possibility not being completely accurate
because some people might have gotten confused and

answered the question as their total screen time (on all
devices they use daily) and not just on that certain device.
This question was an optional question to answer
however I am surprised that almost everyone actually
answered this question. I did not expect a lot of people to
respond with under 3/10 because I feel like mental health
and social media are very much brought up in school and
even amongst people who just bring up such a topic, or the
students maybe just don’t want to admit that social media
affects your mental health just by using social media daily,
however, of course, everyone has different opinions and it
also depends how that person interacts and uses social
media to either agree or disagree if it affects their mental
health or not.
This question didn’t relate to my study however I was just
curious if maybe it would affect my results or if it would
add up to something, which it didn’t very much except the

fact that maybe due to the very little use of screen time on
their most used social media which was Snapchat (which
people didn’t have big screen time on), it would be because
they played games more, however, I was incorrect, the only
thing it made me observe is that maybe people use their
laptops more not just to use social media (because
nowadays people also have the social media apps on their
laptops, especially WhatsApp and YouTube), but also play
games, which may be why they have such a high screen
time usage.
In conclusion, with the research that I have conducted
both as primary research sources and secondary research
sources, I believe that I can investigate and look into this a
lot deeper and collect more information about people’s
screen time usage average, what devices they use the most,
if people game more or use social media more, in more
detail, such as survey people, ask people what they use the
apps for, if they just interact with it or as well post their
things on the internet and figure out if is affecting people
around my age range in this school’s grades, if it is affecting
their mental health, sleeping schedule, motivation and so
much more. I also suggest that this should be investigated
in general all over Qatar as I don’t think social media usage

amongst people of all age ranges is discussed that often or
even researched.
References (MLA 8 and alphabetical order):
Anderson, Monica. “Teens, Social Media and Technology
2018.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 31
May 2018, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/
teens-social-media-technology-2018/
#:~:text=A%20growing%20share%20of%20teens%20describ
e%20their%20internet
%20use%20as%20near%2Dconstant. Accessed 11 June 2023.
“30+ Average Screen Time Statistics for 2023 | SlickText.”
SlickText, 6 Jan. 2023, www.slicktext.com/blog/2023/01/30-
key-screen-time-statistics-for-2022-2023/#:~:t
ext=To%20break%20that%20down%20further,screen%20ti
me%20of%207.5%20ho urs. Accessed 11 June 2023.
Ellerbeck, Stefan. “Nearly Half of US Teens Use the Social
Media “Almost Constantly.”” World Economic Forum, 30
Aug. 2022, www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/socialmedia-internet-online-teenagers-screen
s-us/
#:~:text=Youtube%20is%20the%20leading%20social,same%
20for%20Snapchat %20and%20Instagram. Accessed 11 June
2023.
Howarth, Josh. “TikTok User Age, Gender, &
Demographics (2023).” Exploding Topics, Exploding
Topics, 12 Oct. 2022, explodingtopics.com/blog/tiktokdemographics.
Accessed 11 June 2023.
Legner, Luke. “Kids’ Screen Time: How Much Is Too
Much?” OSF HealthCare Blog, 6 Dec. 2021,
www.osfhealthcare.org/blog/kids-screen-time-how-muchis-too-much/.
Accessed 11 June 2023.
Tang, Sandra, and Megan E Patrick. Technology and
Interactive Social Media Use among 8th and 10th Graders in

the U.S. And Associations with Homework and School
Grades. Vol. 86, 1 Sept. 2018, pp. 34–44,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6223659/, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.04.025. Accessed 11 June 2023.
Is technology a bigger priority than
family? - Ellemieke W
After reading Leah’s research, the question arises about
whether technology will ever replace our friends and loved
ones.
While asking this question I have found some interesting
answers from grade 8. I got 16 responses which I agreed to
keep anonymous. Therefore names will not be stated.
I gathered my research by sending out a Google form. For
this research study, I did not choose to interview anyone,
but this did make me wonder if I should check in on some
people who answered this and I decided to refer them to
the school counselor instead.
Whilst doing my own online research, I found some
interesting things about technology. I will put it below in
English and in Dutch as I researched in my mother tongue.
“Volgens ouders en tieners waren de vier belangrijkste
iirzaken van eenzamhijd bij jongeren problemen met geld,
vertrouwen, vriendschappen en verlegenheid.” - Dutch
(https://www.facebook.com/InternetMatters)

“According to parents and teens, the top four causes of
youth loneliness were problems with money, trust,
friendships, and shyness.”
“TalkTalk Teenage Eenzaamheid en technologie verslag
onthult dat de helft van tieners in her VK (48%) denkt dat
sociale media en internet hen minder eenzam voelen,
twerwijl slechts een kwart (26%) van hun ouders darmee
eens is.” - Dutch
(https://www.facebook.com/InternetMatters)
“TalkTalk Teenage Loneliness and Technology report
reveals that half of UK teenagers (48%) think social media
and the internet make them feel less lonely, while only a
quarter (26%) of their parents agree.” - English
Findings from our school
50% of people in grade 8 got their first phone at the ages
of 8-10 (8 people), whereas according to other people's
research, most people only get their first phone at the ages
of 12 or 13. (Kids typically own phones between the ages of
12 and 13. In light of this, parents should make the best
decision on whether their child is prepared for a cell
phone.) - (all4kids) So the information I found is very
shocking to me and very unexpected. As only 31% of
students (5) got their phone when they were 11-12 and only 1
person (6.3%) got their phone at the age of 13-14.
Another thing that really surprised me was the screen
time, according to research, children between the ages of
five and 17 should limit their daily screen time to two hours,

according to some health professionals. (“What Is the
Recommended Screen Time for Children? - Answered -
Twinkl Teaching”) The shocking thing about my research
was that 2 people said they spend less than an hour on
their screens (12.5%), and 1 person (6.3%) spends 2-3 hours
on their screens. But the majority of people (25%/4 people)
said they spend 7-8 hours on screens.
The following image truly shocked me a lot. 2 people (out
of 16 people, 12.5%) think that technology is a better family
than their real family. This, to me, was really shocking as I
did not expect to get this result. I didn’t think anybody
would say this, but I am very thankful that they trusted me
with this information.
To me, another shocking finding was how important
technology was. I did not expect the majority of people to
think technology was a 7. The reason to me was shocking
too. You’d expect people to find technology important
because of social media and to be cool, but most people
said they think it's a 7 so that they can communicate with

friends and family abroad. This completely contradicts my
thesis. Technology is important BECAUSE of family.
I sent a similar research form to some teachers of the
school asking them about technology. For that I got 7
replies, I was hoping for more but I can work with 7 as
these teachers gave me the answers I needed.
Not surprisingly, 100% had phones but one response
surprised me.
One teacher (out of the seven that responded) has
admitted to hiding technology from their kids or partner so

that the other is unaware of how much they are using it.
Not many people would blame this person if they were
hiding it from their kids because if the kids see an adult
using technology they would probably want to use it more
too. But what if they were hiding it from their partner is
that question that was shocking? This was probably the
most interesting question in my form, and I got an
interesting response too.
In conclusion no, technology is not a bigger priority than
family. But that does not mean that we don’t have some
students that are struggling.
My recommendation is that we should check on students
in different grades. Whether it's a higher grade than grade 8
or lower. I would think I would get many different results
varying from each grade. Another recommendation is that
if someone is shocked by a result, they should check in on
them. Even if you are not sure it is major, for their safety
you could check in on them. Mentally or physically. If they
are not okay you could help them by telling an adult that
can help.
References
https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/recommendedscreen-time-for-children#:~:text=It's
recommended that
children under,screen time to 2 hours.
https://www.internetmatters.org/nl/hub/news-blogs/newresearch-reveals-parent-and-teen-divide-over-impact-oftech-on-loneliness/

https://www.all4kids.org/news/blog/when-shouldchildren-get-cell-phones-2/#:~:text=The
average age kids
get,ready for a cell phone.
How have females of color (ages 11-15)
been affected by white beauty trends
online? - Madelyn D
With the rise of social media, the skincare, makeup and
fashion industries have continued to grow, with current
data showing that this pattern will continue for the coming
years. Beauty trends especially have been displayed all
throughout social media, gaining large followings. Tik Tok
is now a platform with an enormous audience of a wide
range of ages, making it extremely popular among young,
impressionable
teens.
Though these
platforms are
‘social’, the majority
of effects are the
opposite with selfesteem,
socialanxiety
and
confidence taking
great reverberations.
This is a result of the
social comparison in
which the platform

users are exposed.
With the human addiction of becoming a global sensation
and gaining income, waves of beauty trends surface Tik Tok
monthly. These trends entail dressing or looking a certain
way, whether it be with the use of makeup, or a different
hairstyle. What the majority of people don't see however, is
the lack of representation these trends have, stemming in
negative responses, predominantly in females.
Tiktok, launched in 2016 by ‘ByteDance’ (A Chinese
technology company). It eventually became, for some, a
periodical application, and for others, part of their daily
routine. It should be noted that Tik Tok uses an ‘algorithm
system’ in which individual engagement is evoked by
recommendations, resulting in a highly personalized
experience. Consequently, no one trend is seen by all users.
However, creators can encourage their videos to be
recommended with the use of hashtags. These hashtags
allow videos to reach accounts with more ease, ultimately
allowing the creator to receive more views and
engagement.
The online beauty trend which has proven to have a great
following is the ‘Vanilla-girl’ trend. “On TikTok, the hashtag
#vanillagirl has amassed an enormous 547.1 million views
and counting, while #vanillagirlaesthetic isn't far behind at
141.2 million.``, “It consists of just a dab of concealer,
blush-flushed cheeks, fluffed-up brows, a slick of mascara,
and (almost always) straight, blonde hair.” (Lartey). In spite
of this trend’s seemingly innocent appearance, the true
effects of this trend can even be seen in the name of it.
‘Vanilla’ has had a prolonged use in writing and cosmetics,
typically describing ‘white-ness’. This term can be seen in

ordinary situations, for example foundation, “deeper skin
tones are often referred to as 'chocolate', 'caramel', 'toffee',
or 'cinnamon'. To suggest
that the vanilla girl
beauty trend is inclusive
would be untrue.”
(Lartey). This trend
promotes the features
primarily seen in white
females and does have
significant
representation of
females of color.
Following this trend, I conducted research regarding the
whitening-products sold in skincare, predominantly in
Asian countries. As per this source (Noble), “Half of the
population in Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines uses
some kind of skin lightening treatment. And it's even higher
in India (60%) and African countries, such as Nigeria
(77%).”. In contrast to online media trends, this is no
original discovery. Light skin was recognized as a luxury as
it meant that the person was not required to work in the
sun. “Having light skin implied that one was a woman of
high class, education, and leisure,” (Noble). However, this
meant that those without a lighter complexion, were not
seen as to such a high degree. These ideologies carried into
current trends and beauty standards in the present.
Overall, ‘whitening’ has become incredibly normalized
despite the fact that the term itself creates a society in
which white and euro-centric features are the ‘norm’. It
should be noted that these features are also praised on
social media, a platform that is majority western creating a

larger need for ‘white-washing’ one's self as it is ‘required’
increasingly.
At this time, I was thoroughly informed in cosmetics and
makeup trends, however not in cosmetic surgery. Plastic
surgery has created a large ripple in the world of beauty
today. Plastic surgery dates back as far as the 1400s with
nose jobs gaining popularity up until the late 18th century,
eventually developing into facial reconstruction for soldiers
in war. Now, it is widely
known as a cosmetic
service opposed to its
past reconstructive
purpose. Plastic
surgery is most
commonly recognized
as the ‘nose-job’ as it is
the most commonly
seen and normalized.
“Approximately 74
percent of patients who get rhinoplasty, commonly
referred to as a nose job, are white. But a narrow, one-sizefits-all
focus on the “American nose” fails to preserve
patients’ ethnic identity” (“Redirecting”). In particular, the
26 percent of patients, do not only have aesthetic based
alterations, but health alterations. “Applying Caucasian
rhinoplasty guidelines to the face of an African-American,
Asian, Native American, or Middle Eastern patient may
result in potential breathing issues and an increased risk for
needing multiple or revisional surgeries.” (“Redirecting”).
Plastic surgery was once purely for changing lives of those
with health related complications. Now it has become a

usiness for aesthetics. People seek out the ‘white nose’ to
adhere to the white beauty standards. However, these
surgeries can result in breathing issues in different ethnic
backgrounds. Additionally, altering one's nose can
permanently result in a loss of ethnic features and cultures.
Alternatively to the topic of “white-washing”.
Within east Asia, a particular surgery is very relevant. The
‘double-eyelid’ surgery. This surgery entails the surgically
created upper eyelid
crease to mimic a more
‘open’ eye. The procedure
is incredibly common with
there often being a very
young age limit. “In Japan,
for example, 187,000
eyelid procedures were
done in 2017 – well over
the amount of every other
surgical procedure
combined (roughly
107,000).” (Ng). The purpose of this surgery is to ‘widen’
the eyes to achieve a more ‘attractive’ and ‘western’ look.
Though, like most cosmetic procedures, it is undermining
the natural ethnic features of the person to attain a
conventional adhered appearance.
CHOSEN SAMPLE & PRESENTATION OF DATA
I have chosen to collect data from a young-teen sample as
social media has sky-rocketed in youth. The covid
pandemic plays a large part in this as during the lockdown,
teens were secluded to nothing but their devices. At one
point in the pandemic, Tik Tok reached almost 80 million
downloads. It should be noted that Tik Tok has an age limit

of 12+, yet children younger than this have the ability to
access the exact content as every other person. Does this
unlimited internet access have consequences of ‘growing
up too quickly’?
To answer this question, I conducted a survey for the SISQ
grades: 6, 7, 8, particularly females of color, to find out if
these online beauty trends actually have a difference on the
maturing mind of a female imprisoned into a world with
unrealistic beauty standards.
The data was collected anonymously and ethically and was
shared with the school counselor for provisional support.
My interpretations of my data are that SISQ, Swiss
International School of Qatar, generally does not follow the
global trend except for the use of filters.
I suspect that this is due to less exposure which Qatar has
to western social media. In addition, Qatar is a Muslim
country, making it reasonably conservative which could
counteract the drastic trends online. Nonetheless, those
who are exposed to the rapid modernization of media, do
show similarities to young teens who are exposed to media
without restrictions. Because of this, I believe that the lack
of diversity in the modern trends and set beauty standards
are relevant in SISQ.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS
With reference to my findings, it is undoubtedly important
to raise awareness and to inform students, parents and
teachers of the effects social media has on youth. I
recommend doing so in mandatory advisory sessions and/

or assembly classes where information, such as the sources
previously stated, should be thoroughly discussed to create
a broader understanding of the effects that social media
has. I believe that it is of utmost importance to highlight the
effect social media has on females of color specifically, as
the lack of representation online is not something that can
be overlooked. If overlooked, a blindspot is created

preventing people from seeing the whole picture -
ultimately resulting in a loss of care for the young
generations left unprotected from the harsh reality of social
media.
Additionally, the role of parents in social media which their
children are exposed to, should be studied to create a
better understanding of how parents influence their
children's decisions. This study could be conducted with a
subsidiary survey to gather honest and clear information.
Parents contribute to the development of the child,
meaning that their parenting styles could have an effect
towards the child's way of approaching life and their self
control of social media. As a result, I believe that this topic
is incredibly important to prevent the ‘blind spot’ from
occurring.
CONCLUSION
Social media paved the way for a new world of connected
services through portable devices, much different from the
once complex communication services. Social media has
been developed to promote, teach and, not to mention,
generate new markets.
Through social media, people are influenced to follow an
exponential way of life. This is done with the help of
‘influencers’ or a coded and calculated algorithms,
delivering all one needs for a consistent connection.
However, the effects of this innovative culture of online
interactions is far more than what meets the eye.
In the words of Albert Einstein, “I am absolutely convinced
that no wealth in the world can help humanity forward,

even in the hands of the most devoted worker in this cause.
The example of great and pure characters is the only thing
that can produce fine ideas and noble deeds. Money only
appeals to selfishness and always tempts its owners
irresistibly to abuse it”.
Applications once dedicated to entertainment, have now
shown to be dedicated towards generating a ‘buzz’ all for
the sake of profit.
Young followers buy into this and allow creators to gain the
following they need for their net-worth to skyrocket. So
what is the effect on the followers? Thousands of popular
online trends surface monthly, promoting non-inclusive
standards of appearance and lifestyle. However these
trends do have an origin. Beauty standards have been
prominent for years, dictating the way one should appear.
The effects of these are lowered self-esteem and unrealistic
views on beauty and how to achieve it.
In SISQ, a large portion of grades 6, 7, 8, particularly
females of color, have similar effects to social media and
what it promotes in spite of their young age. Consequently,
I believe that it is important to debrief the severity of social
media’s effects and the danger it poses. Without adapted
use of social media, the preconceived beliefs of one's self
worth, are set to endure.
All images were taken from the Dove Reverse Selfie Campaign.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
● Lartey, Alicia. “Here’s the Big Problem with TikTok’s
“Vanilla Girl.”” Refinery29.com, Refinery29, 18 Jan. 2023,

www.refinery29.com/en-us/tiktok-vanilla-girl-aestheticbeauty-trend-problematic.
Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.
● Noble, Audrey. “Skin Lightening Is Fraught with Risk,
but It Still Thrives in the Asian Beauty Market—Here’s Why.”
Vogue, Vogue, 9 Aug. 2019, www.vogue.com/article/skinlightening-risks-asian-beauty-market.
Accessed 4 Apr. 2023.
● “The Art of Ethnic Rhinoplasty: A Nose Job That
Preserves Your Cultural Identity | Plastic Surgery | UT
Southwestern Medical Center.” Utswmed.org, 2021,
utswmed.org/medblog/ethnic-rhinoplasty-nose-job/.
Accessed 4 Apr. 2023.
● Ng, Amanda. “Why Is the Double Eyelid Surgery so
Popular in Asia?” Dazed, Dazed Digital, 27 Feb. 2019,
www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/article/43499/1/why-doubleeyelid-surgery-popular-asia.
Accessed 6 Apr. 2023.
● “Albert Einstein Quote.” A-Z Quotes, 2023,
www.azquotes.com/quote/536395. Accessed 31 May
2023.2023.

How much time do SISQ students
spend on screens compared to the
global average? - Dustin M
Today's children spend a large amount of time staring at
screens, which include a variety of electronic devices such
as smartphones, tablets, computers, and televisions. The
development of technology and the digital age has resulted
in a fundamental change in the way children engage with
the world around them. According to surveys(“Kids as
Young as 8 Are Using Social Media More than Ever, Study
Finds (Published 2022)”) and (Siegel), children aged 13-14
spend around 8-9 hours each day on screens, which
includes entertainment, educational activities, and social
contacts.
While screen time provides various advantages, such as
access to information and connectivity, it is critical to find a

alance and encourage a wide variety of activities to
maintain children's overall growth and well-being.
I recently conducted a research survey on the topic to
compare the results which I had found online to the ones
that I would get at the end of the survey. I found that the
highest value of total time spent on screens was 16 hours,
that is two thirds of a day set on screen time, meaning that
this user only doesn’t use screens when they go to sleep,
which is quite concerning as this response came from a 8th
grader in the Swiss International School of Qatar. However,
the lowest value was 1-2 hours but this user also stated that
they spent 3-4 hours on screen-time despite their total
screen time being only 1-2 hours, thus making this response
invalid. The next lowest value was 3-4 hours. The majority
of respondents stated that they only spent 7-8 hours on
screen-time which isn’t the best thing in the world,
however it is much less in comparison to the highest value
recorded.
Excessive screen time has become a growing concern in
today’s digital age/generation. However, there are several
effective ways to diffuse this habit and strike a healthy
balance. First, creating different limits and designating
screen-free areas or times might be helpful. To ensure a
break from screens, set aside certain times each day for
things like exercise, hobbies, or spending time with loved
ones. Additionally, avoiding mindless scrolling may be
accomplished by engaging in attentive screen usage, which
involves being conscious of the objective and duration of
each session. Taking part in non-screen activities such as
reading books, exercising outside, or engaging in creative
pursuits is another beneficial strategy. Last but not least,

using screen time tracking applications or features on
devices can offer insights into usage trends and assist
people in efficiently managing their screen time. One may
adopt a healthy lifestyle and reduce excessive screen time
by putting these tips into practice.
Some responses stated that their total screen time is less
than the amount of screen-time that they say is used for
work. Some students stated that their screen-time was
equivalent to the amount of time they spent on work,
meaning that they have used all of their screen time just on
work. This either means that they are fully dedicated to
their work and only work, or that they have just submitted
in is invalid. In comparison to the average set by
“mykidseyes.org”, our school’s current 8th graders in the
2022-23 year has on average, is 7.25 hours, which is
significantly less than the average set by the online source.
This means that some of our students do indeed spend
quite a lot of time on screens, however if we look at the
majority of our students, we are much less than the world
average.
In conclusion, the screen time that children among today
use is a significant concern, the survey which I conducted
revealed that there are various amounts levels of screen
time amongst the students, such as previously mentioned
before; having students with 16 hours of screen time tells us
that we need an awareness for moderation of screen time,
especially with the fact that this was sent in by a 13-14 year
old teenager in the eighth grade.
On the other hand, there were also other students who
showed that they spent less time, however the large
majority of students (which was 9 students) still fell into the

7-8 bracket. While it is still a substantial amount of screentime,
the students aren’t above the world average in screen
time. I think that it’s quite important to address the
negative impacts of using too much screen time on
children’s mental health, well being and development. I
think that by setting time limits, creating screen-free zones
or only certain amounts of screen time per day, we can
greatly reduce the amount of screen-time SISQ students
spend on their screens. By doing these, we can greatly
reduce the amount of time students spend on screens to a
more moderate and healthy level.
This article was peer reviewed by Rita K.
Is screen-time affected by parental
ethnicity? - Grace M and Rita K
Grace explores how ethnicity impacts screen time while Rita
continues Grace’s findings by looking at how being a TCK
causes our students to access devices at a very young age -
even in cultures that are normally very conservative.
Have you ever wondered why certain kids spend more
time or less time on their devices? Perhaps you haven’t but
this is something that truly does need to be looked into.
Due to different nationalities, this can change how parents
use strategies to teach their children discipline.
I decided to study this topic because it is something that
is not openly discussed amongst both the younger
generation or the older generation. Due to the rise of
screen time usage I believe that this needs to be addressed
which is why I have decided to conduct research revolving

around the topic of nationalities and screen time to avoid
cultural misunderstandings.
My literature findings show that a child’s ethnicity truly
does influence their screen time usage and according to the
Journal of Pediatrics, a white child’s average screen time is
3.99 hours per day however black children are seemingly
on their devices for 1.58 hours more. Although this is the
case with white and black children, Asians seem to have an
average of 0.35 hours less than white children thus making
them the ethnicity with the least screen time.
The research reflected findings from Canada, the USA
and South Africa.
The research I am going to conduct is related to the
nationality of the child not the ethnicity of the child and,
although there are some similarities, there are also some
differences regarding the colour of the child's skin as all
children can be both black, white, asian, latino and still
biologically be from somewhere as many families nowadays
tend to be of mixed nationality.
This journal was released in 2022 but their findings were
before COVID-19 as I personally do not agree that these
results would be accurate now as children most definitely
have a higher screen time then 3-6 hours as many school
use laptops and ipads nowadays to supply students with
materials, homework, e.t.c.
My choice of data collection tools
I chose to use a google form to collect my data that I
needed in order to conduct this research as it is efficient

and I can modify my questionnaire in anyway I please
meaning that these questions will directly be targeting the
audience in order for them to give me results which I can
work with to conclude my research. In order to confirm
that my data collection is efficient, I have asked my peers to
fill in their name and nationality which I will not disclose to
anyone other than the school counsellor as they have the
right to privacy.
My research findings
Firstly, I sent out a form which had questions regarding
their nationality, ages they received a device, and screen
time usage. My first question on my survey was in regard to
their nationality as this is nearly the most important
information I needed from the 25 students that have filled
out my form; however , only 24 disclosed their
nationalities. I discovered that there are 21 different
nationalities within these 24 people who disclosed their
nationality, which proves that SISQ is truly a multicultural
and international school.

Secondly, I uncovered that 12% of the 25 people who
filled out my form address themselves as part of the French
Nationality which in my opinion is not surprising
considering the fact SISQ is known to have French as their
second language.
My second question was addressing my peers and asking
them when they had gotten their first Iphone (if they had
one) and I soon found that 9 in 25 people had gotten their
first phone at 11-13 however 12 in 25 people have gotten their
first phone from ages 8-11.
If I were to further improve my survey this is something I
would include as well as their school week screen time
usage could be very different in comparison to their at
home screen time usage on a weekend. Lastly, the sum of
my research has shown me that the majority with higher
screen times do not reach the sleep minimum for our age
category which is 9 hours and above. For example, 6 out of
25 people have a sleep schedule of 6-7 hours of sleep and 3
students have filled in the form saying they consistently only
have 5 hours or less of sleep and 2 of these students said 3
hours or less of sleep.
The students screen times which have 6-7 hours of sleep
range from 10-12 hours of screen time which is in quite a high
range. This is close to almost half a day which is roughly just
below the amount of hours a student is awake. For example, if
these students are only getting 6-7 hours of sleep on average
(say they go to sleep at 10-11 and wake up at 5am everyday for
school) this means they’re awake for 17-18 hours a day and
10-12 of these hours are occupied with using screens.

In more extreme cases where students are getting 5 hours of
sleep or less their screen time seemingly ranges from 10-16
hours however there was 1 extreme case where an anonymous
participant that has filled out this form has a rough screen
time average of 31 hours and you may ask how this is
physically possible as there are only 24 hours in a day,
however, using multiple devices at once adds onto the amount
of screen time usage being done as the brain is not fixated to
one device but multiple at a time which is even more
damaging.
Another interesting piece of data I uncovered was the
fact that these children that have higher levels of screen
time have parents who do not ask for them to place their
devices in another room other than the room they’re
sleeping in which can hugely affect their sleeping schedule
as they have access to electronic devices in the room which
may distract them from the sleep they should be getting.
But is this affected by ethnicity?
My limited study suggests that our school is similar to the
global study with Asian students reporting that their
parents are stricter when controlling devices. This varies
when children come from multi cultural backgrounds as
these families tend to be more easy going.
I recommend that we study this across the school to
learn from different cultures about how we can work
together to help our students to handle technology.

Rita notes that:
When you got your first device, preferably a cellphone,
did you ever think about how much it could affect your
mental health if you got it at a young age? Well in this
generation that doesn’t matter anymore because phones
are the “hype” now and if you were caught not having a
phone it would cause drama between the person that
DOESN’T have a phone and the kids that have a phone so
today I will discuss with you the age that people in G8 got
their first-ever cell phone and whether they think it’s
essential in society. In reality, having and not having a
phone shouldn’t matter because after researching about
this I discovered that most of the students in school that
have a phone or don’t use it during class have a higher
chance to get good grades and go to an ivy league
university. If parents ever give their kids a phone at a young
age it damages their mental health (“Phones in the
Classroom Hurt Everyone’s Grades”).
I will be showing my data collection here. What I have
found during this research activity for my survey is that
most of the people in G8 got a cell phone when they were
in the age range of 10-12 which I don’t think is good because
they weren’t even teenagers yet and they got a phone
because other people had it so ultimately it’s “cool” to have
one.
Sadly, none of us can control whether our parents would
want to give us a phone or not. What we do need to think
about is the fact that some people got their first phone
when they weren’t even a teenager, this might concern lots

of people as some of them got their phone when they were
almost 16 and I think that for the students that got it or have
it now when they were younger than a teen shouldn’t have
social media as it would affect them mentally because they
would be thinking about what other people think about
them which isn't good as peoples opinion on the internet
doesn’t and shouldn’t matter to you whether you’re below
12 and above or below. Social media apps like Tiktok ruin
young audiences because of the way they are advertising
their app and the people that are on that app. Tiktok
should be an app where everyone can express themselves
and show what they love on the internet to influence others
or help them if there’s any trouble. But pre-teens should
not be unsupervised on an app where people are scared to
be themselves and show their interests.
And that is very much the case with some of our
students.
I found that 62.5% of students in G8 got their first phone
in the age range of 10-12. This isn’t good as I suggest parents
should be giving them a phone when they are mature
enough to understand why they have it and how it works.
Parents could always give their kids a phone for only calling
them whenever they go outside and you have no contact
for now.
33.3% of students in G8 got their first phone when they
were in the age range of 7-9 which I think is outrageous
because they are way too young to have a device that isn’t
an iPad. I think that at that age, kids aren’t mature enough
and don’t understand anything about it because they are
too young, but I do think that parents should take into
consideration that the only device a 7-9-year-old should

have is an iPad. 66.7% of students think that kids should get
their first phone when they are between the ages of 12-14
and I think that this is an appropriate age range for kids to
get their first phone because they are mature enough to
understand how a phone works and if their parents give it
for only calling then the teen would understand why they
got the phone and ask for permission to download any
games.
On a scale from 1-10, 25% of students chose 7 on the
importance of having a phone which could be reasonable
because of contacting family that lives far away or if you
want to contact your friends if they also live far away from
you. One of the answers I got mentioned what’s important
to have a phone and their personal opinion on
downloading social media on your phone.
Most of my responses were from girls though I did get
enough boys to answer my survey so that it’s an even
amount of boys and girls to get an accurate result. 54.2% of
the students in G8 are 14 years old which shows me that the
people that have chosen the 7-9 age to get their first phone
concerns me, it would upset other people that got their first
phone when they were 12-14 because getting a device like
that at a young age wouldn’t help the child get more mature
due to their parents/parent getting them a cellphone when
they aren’t even a teenager yet. Some of the findings I have
gotten from my survey do concern me due to the responses
I've gotten from people because all of this is confidential. I
won’t be sharing it with anyone, it does shock me the ages
people have gotten their phone and how important they
think having a phone is for example, one person on my

survey got their phone when they were 7-9 and put the
number 8 for the importance of having a phone, although I
respect whatever answer they put this is an example of why
I do get concerned for some of the people that responded
to my survey.
In conclusion, I believe that the mature age for a child to
get a phone is 13-15 this is because they have the
responsibility, they know how to work a phone, and they
are mature enough to realize that hiding stuff from your
parents on their phone makes them untrustworthy to the
parent.
Bibliography
https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(21)00862-3/
pdf#:~:text=On average, Black children reported,trends
persisted across most modalities

What are the effects of social media
on MYP students at SISQ? - Adwita V
With recommendations based on research by Mete S
How does social media affect you? In MYP, we are
transitioning into adolescence . Social media doesn’t help
the awkwardness - it actually makes it worse.
According to my literature study, there has been: “A 17 %
increase in screen use among teens and tweens in the last 2
years more than in the last 4 years prior. On average 8-12-
year-olds have been online for more than 5 hours per day.
Teens (13-18)have increased online time to over 8 hours per
day.” (“Social Media”)
Between 1-2 hours of social media affects both the perception
of oneself and their mental being.
Most results, surprisingly did not correspond with the
literature study, in fact, it, in some cases has some positive
impact on the subject.
At SISQ, a negative example of the amount of time that an
average 8th grader spends on a device (for non-related
school work), is an average of 9 hours a day, and this was
fully on social media and this does not include the time that
was spent on work.
As we all know, there are 24 hours, every. single. day.

So, hypothetically since there are 6 hours of school, we
can say 4 hours are used on a device, for school, and 2
hours for homework. So 8 hours for work and with that
average 9 hours from my research, which is a total of 17
hours together, so in total 17 hours would be spent per day.
So 7 hours would be spent in the day, sleeping.
Another quote from my research study shows how
alarming the effect is:
“ It was found that teens spend more than 7 hours on
average per day on screen for entertainment and tweens
spend more than 5 hours online and that doesn’t include
using screens for homework. But there has been a large
drop in watching television and using tv, but that does not
make up for how much the time average has increased.”
(Holcombe)
See how alarming that is?
To summarize, “teens” need at least 8 hours of sleep, but if
you have this confounding dynamic which was mentioned
above, you would be online for 17 hours per day, and then
when it is about 7:00 pm they would go to sleep.
Which doesn’t make sense.
From personal experience, this age group sleeps around
9-10 pm time. Which obviously means, they would spend
more time on a screen.
Now this get’s into a disturbing and alarming cycle of just
looking at devices all day(including lunch- breakfast and
dinner!). A daily schedule of an 8th-grade child would look
like this:
- Wake up (with device)
- Go to school (with devices)

- After school (with device)
- Routine (with device)
- Home (with device)
- Sleep (with device)
Now this shows a pattern, a disgusting one.
My research shows that about 86% of my literature study
findings were correct, based on personal experience as
well. This affects “teens” more negatively than positively. A
figure example
is provided
below.
Now, as you
can see in the
above picture,
the severity
scale is 1 being
fine and 5
being very concerned. Shown above, is a total of 18
students who have taken the survey. And 10 people are
concerned, and the other 8 are not. But taking into
consideration the answers, the majority did show that they
were concerned. Another concern for me is that at this age,
the mind goes through a very delicate phase of sorts, and at
this sort of time, parents would need to take care of their
child more.
This is where deception comes into play.
Normally when your parents tell you something, you
wouldn’t listen to them. In fact times it’s just innocent
ignorance. But the problem with this “rebelling” is that it
can take a toll on your body, mind, and the way you think.

Let’s look at a scenario:
A 13-year-old named Sarah is your typical teenage girl. She
has 2 younger brothers and a mother and father. Now Sarah
spends quite a lot of time with her phone. She has it in her
hand at all times. Sarah’s parents are quite strict and they
take her phone away at night in order for her to have a
stable sleep pattern. But at one point, Sarah gets so sick of
having her belongings taken away at night, she sneaks in
and takes her phone. At this point, Sarah feels brave
enough to use her phone. She stays maybe up till 3:00 am
in the morning scrolling through her phone. This now
becomes an addiction, her sleep pattern is now ruined and
she spends up to 17 hours a day on her phone.
This scenario would be in the worst case.
Taking care of a child is important, but parents have to
understand that if you become strict with a child, especially
at such a delicate age, it would end in the child keeping
secrets from you and deceiving you and it would end
bitterly. So freedom is the key.
But not too much of it.
Mete offers a different approach by suggesting that physical
activity could provide a way to break the addiction. Here are
his findings and recommendations:
Most of the people I interviewed were between the ages 12-14
years old. 85% of people were females and 15% were males (11
females and 2 males). When I asked how long they would
typically spend on a screen, my data revealed that most people

30.8% spend about 8 hours per day on a screen/device. The
least common result was 7.7%
1 person spent around 1 hour per day on a screen.
In comparison to the amount of sports people are doing per
week, my data revealed that the most common answer was
23.1% people spent 7 hours per week doing sports and one of
the lowest answers but highest amount of doing sports per
week was 7.7% as 1 person was doing over 11 hours per week.
Another one of the lowest responses was 7.7% as 1 person was
doing only 3 hours of sports per week. However, 3 hours of this
could be explained by doing P.E because in a week there are 2
P.E lessons and they take 2 hours each so the amount of time
they are doing sports willingly is 1 hour if they are only doing 3
hours of doing sports per week. When I asked how long people
would typically spend reading per week, the most common
answer was 38.5% people spent 5 hours reading per week and
the least common answer and lowest amount of reading was
7.7% person spent around 1 hour reading per week. A small
number of people (1person) spent more than 10 hours per week
doing sport.
When I asked at what age people first received their own
device, the most common answer was 11 years old (3 people)
Only 1 person was older, receiving their first device at age 13.
Another responder said they received their first device at the
age of 6.
When asked about the amount of time spent willingly going
without their device, the most common answer was more than
5 hours (38.5% 5 people). The least common answer was (7% 1

person) less than 5 hours. However, it’s possible that people
counted sleeping as part of this time spent without their
device.
Recommendations
From the data I collected, it is clear to see that people spend a
lot of time on their screens and not enough outside playing
sports or doing exercise. I recommend that people should
spend at least more than 5 hours a week playing sports or
doing some sort of exercise for example if it is swimming,
football, gym, squash or athletics. Playing sports increases
blood flow to the brain and helps the body have more
connection between nerves, helping concentration and helping
memory.
Headphones or headaches: are we
harming our hearing? - Jana E?
All of us like to watch Netflix and
Youtube as well as listen to music but
do we know how many teenagers do
this while doing their homework?
According to Insider, Netflix and
YouTube make up 70.7% of video

entertainment among teens. There are a lot of students
who aren’t aware of the risks of using headphones- after
one gets tired after finishing homework, they fall asleep
with their headphones on which could have serious
consequences such as hearing difficulties, earaches, ear
infections, and a lot more that I myself wasn’t even aware
of!
MedicalNewsToday says that being exposed to loud sounds
for a long duration can have effects on the auditory nerve
of the cochlea which is in your ear. They recommend a
sound level of 85 decibels and no louder than that.
In this essay, I’ll be exploring topics that range from
statistics of students who do the above while studying,
students who fall asleep with their headphones on,
consequences of using headphones a handful of times and
what we could do to prevent this.
I did a research study that consisted of surveys and online
interviews throughout the whole of MYP at SISQ. The
grades ranged from 6-10 as it could give me information on
whether this could occur to certain age groups. Some of the
questions from the survey include;
- Name + class
- Age
- Do you occasionally listen to music, Netflix or Youtube
while studying and/or doing homework?
- If you said yes, on an average scale from 1-10, how long
would you be doing homework and
using social media daily?
- Do you use headphones/earphones when you do so?
- Do you take a nap after doing your homework?

Based on my survey, I can figure out the following:
Out of 12 male
and female grade
8 students, 50%
responded to
using social
media while
doing
homework,
41.7% said that
they sometimes
use social media and 8.3 said that they don’t. By the
majority, we can see that most 8th graders do ‘multi-task’.
In the following question, we have a variety of responses.
41.7% said that it takes them 1-2 hours to do their
homework, 33.3% said that it takes them 2-3 hours, 16.7%
said that it takes them less than an hour and 8.3 (one
student) said that they weren’t aware of how long it takes
them to do homework.

In the following question, 41.7% said that they sometimes
use headphones when listening to music, 33.3% said that
they always use headphones, 16.7% said that they never use
headphones and 8.3 said that they don’t use headphones,
instead, they let it play without.
41.7% said that they sometimes take a nap after doing their
homework and the other 58.3% never. To the question that
relates to the one previously, 75% reported never having
their headphones on while taking a nap, 8.3% said that they
sometimes leave it on and the other 16.6% said that they
don’t take a nap, therefore they don’t have headphones on.
So, this will be considered as a negative correlation due to
the fact that only 12 students in the whole of grade 8
responded. This doesn’t make the results as accurate as
they could be because it doesn’t represent everyone in the
grade. If I had much more responses, my results may have
turned out the way I hoped they would.
Furthermore, I received 8 more responses from grade 7
boys. Overall, within 12-14-year-olds, I can see that 50% said

that they listen to music while doing homework, 44.4% said
that they sometimes do so and 5.6% said that they don’t at
all. For the next question, 33.3% said that it takes them 2-3
hours to complete their homework, 27.8% said that it takes
them 1-2 hours, 22.2% said that it takes them less than an
hour and the rest said that it depends on the homework
they receive. 38.9% said that they use headphones while
listening to music, 38.9% said that they sometimes use
headphones 11.1% said that they never use headphones, and
11.2% said that they blast music openly. For the second last
question, 55.6% said that they never take a nap after doing
homework, 38.9% said that they sometimes take a nap and
5.6% said that they always take a nap. Finally, 66.7% said
that they take off their headphones when taking a nap,
11.2% said that they leave on their headphones and the rest
said that they never take naps after doing homework.
Overall, I can see that only 2 people out of 18 leave their
headphones on while taking a nap. However, they
mentioned that they keep the content on low so they don’t
disturb their ears/nap. Although I don’t believe that

everyone answered honestly to the last question, it most
likely wouldn’t have affected my results by a lot. I do
however believe that my hypothesis was incorrect as I
predicted that over 50% of teenagers taking the survey
would have admitted to having their headphones on while
taking a nap.
Literature Study
Stomp Out Bullying is a reliable organization that presented
its findings on the number of kids that use social media
while doing homework. Their research is as shown:
Teenagers from the ages of 13-18 are seen to have used an
average of nine hours a day on social media. Half of the
teens taking the survey have answered that they sometimes
watch TV (51%) while doing homework, 50% use social
media, 60% text their friends and 76% listen to music. From
these statistics, we can conclude that most teens who took
this survey listen to music the most when doing homework.
As you can see,
almost 80% of
teenagers that
use social media
have reported
that their
attention span
when
completing
assignments has
decreased. As
social media
continues to

ecome more and more popular, we’ll notice that more
teenagers will have their attention span being taken away
carefully.
Moreover, “Common Sense Media” says that teens they
surveyed (51%) admitted to sometimes/often watching TV
while doing homework. 50% said that they sometimes/
often use social media, 60% said that they sometimes/often
text, 76% said that they sometimes/often listen to music as
they believe that it helps them focus. The percentages add
up to more than 100 and this is because they included a
multiple choice section in the survey which allowed the
same people to tick off what they do while doing
homework. Their research says that productivity could lead
to the brain suffering when having face-to-face
conversations. This multi-tasking also makes your
productivity suffer because your brain needs to handle
switching tasks quickly. They also say that listening to
popular music could lead to poor reading comprehension
skills and “the ability to do complex tasks.”
How I gathered my research and sample
I would need to ‘borrow’ any statistics that have been taken
from other websites/organizations to be able to compare
the results I receive and results that have already been
received by other people. This also helps with whether the
data I collected is reliable or not. I would need to use a
representative sample because it allows me to receive
information from a larger group of people which gives me
the advantage of having a more ‘accurate’ and ‘reliable’ set
of results. This also allows me to compare results from one
group to another. Furthermore, I chose 7th and 8th graders
because I wanted to choose an age group that consists of
newly-turned teenagers. They’re also near the age when

they begin to receive a lot of homework and therefore
prefer listening to something while doing so.
My recommendations
So, what now? Our next steps are to create an assembly and
make sure that we spread awareness on this topic as our
ears could be damaged if we continue on the same path.
We could also get the school nurse involved with this topic
so she could perform a few routine checks on the students
that admitted to sleeping with their headphones on or even
checks on every student because they may not be aware of
it or may have lied on the survey. We could then publish
statistics and get parents involved so they could monitor
their child’s use of electronics and headphones and make
sure they use them at the appropriate volume. Overall,
making an assembly or dedicating a lesson to using
headphones and how we could use them effectively with
the advice from the school nurse.
Note from the editor
As a teacher, this raises questions on whether we should
allow AirPod use in class. I also feel like a stricter
approach might be required for sharing AirPods.
Bibliography (link to survey)
- “Should I Be Concerned About My Teen’s Constant
Multitasking During...” Common
Sense Media, 2020, www.commonsensemedia.org/articles/
should-i-be-concerned-about-my-teens-constant-m
ultitasking-duringhomework#:~:text=Many%20teens%20multitask%20with%2
0media,s

ocial%20media%20while%20doing%20homework.
Accessed 1 June 2023.
- Shevenock, Sarah. “YouTube, Netflix and Gaming: A Look
at What Kids Are Doing with Their Increased Screen Time.”
Morning Consult Pro, Morning Consult, 20 Aug. 2020,
pro.morningconsult.com/articles/youtube-netflix-andgaming-a-look-at-what-kids-are-doi
ng-with-their-increasedscreen-time.
Accessed 1 June 2023.
- Bhowmik, Suchandrima. “Headphones and Hearing Loss:
What to Know.” Medicalnewstoday.com, Medical News
Today, 28 Sept. 2022, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/
do-headphones-cause-hearing-loss#summary. Accessed 1
June 2023.
- Cassata, Cathy. “How Headphones, Earbuds Can Slowly
Harm Your Hearing over Time.” Healthline, Healthline
Media, 14 June 2021, www.healthline.com/health-news/
how-headphones-earbuds-can-slowly-harm-your-hearin g-
over-time#Health-implications-of-hearing-loss. Accessed 1
June 2023.
- Corona, Alberto. “¿Pagas Mucho Por Netflix? Estas
Mejoras En Su Plan Más Barato Con Anuncios Te Interesan.”
Cinemanía, Cinemanía, 19 Apr. 2023, www.20minutos.es/
cinemania/series/netflix-mejora-su-plan-barato-conpublicidad-incorp
orando-reproduccion-full-hd-y-dosdispositivos-simultaneos-5120265/.
Accessed 1 June 2023.
- Smith, Kalorra. “Teens Feen for Media, Neglect
Schoolwork.” The Current, 2020, olhscurrent.org/12378/
opinion/teens-feen-for-media-neglect-schoolwork/.
Accessed 1 June 2023.

Social Media and Academics - Keziah S
and Marc Aurele Paul G
(This research was peer reviewed by Shreedhar K)
Keziah’s study focuses on females aged 13-15
and how their academic performance could be impacted by
spending time on social media. Marc Auréle Paul focuses on
both genders and highlights the effects on reading time.
Based on the research conducted, social media can have all
sorts of effects on youth, but this topic was of main interest
particularly due to the fact that frequent social media
disproportionately affected a teen girl’s mental health more
negatively than. that of a teen boy. This can be seen
through trends focusing on make-up, body type,
preferred skin colors, eliminating insecurities through
surgeries such as BBL. These trends that have surfaced on
social media apps have taken up the majority of the time
of some teenage girls and have negatively impacted their
daily lives.
When it comes to posting, boys may not have as much
attachment or pay any attention to what they’re posting
and it almost always is something funny and/or
entertaining. Girls on the other hand use social media to
connect with people online. They feel pressured that they
will be perceived a certain way online, especially when
they present themselves the way they wish to be seen and
will be judged for that. Since girls use social media in a
different way than boys, they are more likely to post about
their beliefs, personal feelings and problems. This is where
the negative aspect of social media comes into play. The

likes, comments, shares and views. The number of likes,
the judgemental comments, the people the post was shared
with and the number of views (Staff. “Managing the Effects
of Social Media on Teen Girls.”).
As commonly known, women attract more negative
feedback when expressing their opinions making them
more reticent.
Since these teenage girls would be so focused and
centred on social media and have their mental health
affected, where would the time for focusing on
academics and other activities be?
Chosen Sample
When it came to doing this literature study, I was stuck
between the ideas of what to
do and what seemed better rather than boring. Then I
looked at my own experiences in
life, specifically one that had impacted me greatly, social
media, procrastination
and my academics played a big part in my academic
performance and I would be
negatively affected by it and often, I’d be sucked into this
whirlwind of wants over
priorities and then later nearing deadlines and a huge
workload. And I thought to
myself, ‘What if I’m not the only one going through this,
social media is a global
phenomenon, so I’m not alone am I?’ and I decided that
the focus of my study would be
centered on social media and academics. I simplified my
target audience, from just

students aged 13-15 to female students in Grade 8 aged 13-15.
This has allowed me to
focus on a much smaller and easily interpreted population,
which has allowed me to
make inferences and judgments that are focused and
definite.
Data and Analysis
Students are familiar with numerous apps, a great number
of them being quite similar, which shows us that these
girls are highly invested in social media and that they know
how to use and operate these apps.
The most used app is Whatsapp, with a high
percentage of 11.3% and the least used Reddit with a
percentage of 4.8%.
For the second question, my query was which ones did
they use the most. Receiving the
response to this question could help me out a lot, as some
apps can be more influential and time consuming than
others and each has a different purpose hence different
impacts.

As for the responses, Instagram see be used most out of all
with a percentage of 33.3. And tied at second for most used
are Tiktok each with Youtube taking up the last spot at
16.7%. This shows us that Instagram, which is not
necessarily the most safest app, is the most common.
Available to users aged 13 and above, this app can contain
content that could be influential in a harmful way and
contain mature content, yet nothing is stopping these
students from engaging with this form of social media.
For this question, I
wanted to ask the
female students if
they were able to
resonate with the
things they viewed
online, as it could
provide me with an
explanation as to why they feel so invested and find social
media to be very ‘relatable’. There is this trend on tiktok,
snapchat, instagram and youtube where influencers post
about relatable topics. In the second image, you can see the
topics that are mentioned: family, friends, school, fashion,
lifestyle choices, humor etc.. The purpose of this is for the
audience to be able to say ‘Yeah, this is exactly what I go
through’ or ‘This is the definition of the way things are for

me’. This allows the audience to feel what others online will
feel and so I chose this question.
As seen in the image above, the results show that almost
50% of the students that answered my survey feel that they
can in fact relate to the stuff they see online. This could
mean that while they might find things relatable as they are
associated very closely with their current lifestyle, they also
find that comparing themselves to people online makes just
as much sense, which is not a healthy thing to do. This isn’t
healthy as comparing themselves may hurt them. They may
start to feel self-conscious of their looks, force themselves
to look a certain way according to what they see online,
change their attitude and mindset towards things, and
overall, influence them in a way that does more harm than
good.

This question explored the very popular idea that social
media affects academic performance- which is my whole
hypothesis for this study. As seen here almost 50% agree
that their academic performance has been affected and
around 20% say maybe- as in they are unsure of whether it
has affected them or not. Although we may take ‘affected
by social media’ in a negative way, it's not all that. In the
second image, it's shown that the students are not only
negatively affected by social media but also positively
affected by it. In some cases, social media has been a
beneficial tool in motivating students, encouraging

discipline and so on. Some are not affected at all by social
media.
In conclusion, the question asks if the students
procrastinate, and a large amount of the respondents say
that they do. Procrastination is one of the biggest problems
in academics as it causes unnecessary stress, feeling
overwhelmed and can reduce a child’s academic
performance even if they are a bright student. So, I decided
to dig deeper and asked if this procrastination was fuelled
by the need to be on social media or that calling
addictiveness that propels the student to pick up their
gadget and start scrolling. According to the research I have
gathered through my primary source of a survey, the ratio
of students who procrastinate because of social media to
students who procrastinate due to other reasons is 10:9.
Although the ratio almost meets at a 50-50 spread, it's good
to know that not all the females in Grade 8 procrastinate
due to social media, and rather other reasons like make up
or cooking.
Recommendations
• Families should should discuss and monitor screen
time
• Schools should raise attention in advisory
• Schools are part of the problem. Too much class time is
on screens. Why can’t we learn outdoors or do more
practicals or paper based tasks?
This was echoed by Marc Aurele Paul’s findings:

In conclusion, the researchers think that social media
can have a profound effect on female students, but they
aren’t necessarily negative. Social media can be used as an
advantageous tool and can promote academic success as
well as personal development. But the people in real life

and the people surrounding them should be more aware of
these students and nurture and care for them according to
their needs. This will promote better school life, happier
students and more unity as well as understanding between
everyone.
Bibliography
- “HowUsingSocialMediaAffectsTeenagers-
ChildMindInstitute.”ChildMind Institute, 13 Mar. 2023,
childmind.org/article/how-using-social-mediaaffects-teenagers/.
Accessed 7 June
2023.
- Atske,Sara.
“1.TeensandTheirExperiencesonSocialMedia.”
PewResearchCenter: Internet, Science & Tech, 28 Nov.
2018, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/11/28/teens-andtheir-experiences-on-social-media/
. Accessed 7 June 2023.
- “HowSocialMediaAffectsStudentProductivity|
St.CloudTechnical&Community College.” Sctcc.edu, 2016,
sctcc.edu/news/10-20-2020/how-social-media-affectsstudent-productivity.
Accessed 7
June 2023.
- Staff.“ManagingtheEffectsofSocialMediaonTeenGirls.”
NU-MAC,11Mar.2020,
counseling.northwestern.edu/blog/effects-social-mediateen-girls/.
Accessed 7 June
2023.
- “TipsforManagingTooMuchScreenTimeatSchool.”
Brainbalancecenters.com,2023,
www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/tips-managingmuch-screen-time-school#:~:text=Tips%

20for%20Managing%20Too%20Much%20Screen%20Time
%20at,supplement%20teaching%20without%2
0the%20use%20of%20electronics.%20. Accessed 7 June
2023.
- Shepherd,Victoria.
“Top5ReasonsWhyYouNeedaSocialMediaManager.”
Search Engine Journal, 21 Oct. 2021,
www.searchenginejournal.com/top-reasons-why-youneed-social-media-manager/273333/.
Apple vs Samsung - are we paying the
price? - Ioana V
(Peer reviewed by Madelyn)
I have always been aware of different brands, and the types
of people who use each brand, and have always assumed
that there was some social status with the type of
electronics you have - specifically the phone you have.
Amongst adults, this may not be as evident, although
amongst teenagers and the children - the new generation of
digital citizens - nothing is stopping them from developing
some disparity with the brands of their phones, which is
one of the most ‘wanted’ and utilised products within their
“society”. As if it was not bad enough for teenagers, not
owning their own phone, they have to deal carefully with
the phone they buy now too.
With this in mind, I took it further, and developed a
realisation that with this, there can also come some
damaging effects to the young minds, which care about

these minuscule things, for example, if Apple, one of the
biggest companies of electronics, asserts a dominance and
higher status, that children with androids are considered
below, then this can cause some bullying between them. It
can also cause lower self esteem and insecurity regarding
what phone that they have. I only wanted to see if
something like this is present within our society/school,
and see how much exposure to certain mindsets the
children in our school have based on this.
Personally, in my class, I do not experience anything like
this, although I know it is present within the world,
stronger in places and less in other places.
I have always silently noticed that the majority of the
population in Qatar, have the
latest iPhone, and very few,
have Android phones. Which
is why this research question
came to my mind, why did
everyone have Apple phones?
Was it just a coincidence? In
addition, we can see that
brands like Gucci, Channel
and Louis Vuitton, choose to
sell products which
customise the Apple gadgets and devices. This is not the
same case for Android devices.
I will start off with the fact that I have learned a lot within
the literature study, but there is something that I would like
to point out, before I begin to evaluate my results. This is

that my topic has not been researched before on an
academic level and definitely not in schools or
universities . But it is a hot topic of discussion on
parent chat rooms.
I decided to switch the web search from an academic
search to a sociological search and I began to look at
“mumsnet” and business articles where suddenly I found a
lot of information.
Overall, multiple sources state that Apple was using a
“blue bubble” strategy for increasing the sales by secluding
the Android users against the Apple, so people needed to
change to the Apple products in order to get the special
features that this company has. Many sources said that it is
a powerful strategy, and it affects the lifestyles of many
students and teenagers. There is the obvious dread of being
part of the green bubble, because you have android
phones,and every student wishes to be a part of the blue
bubble group, since that is what the majority of the people
were. And the
android users
were missing out
on many things. It
was a peerpressure
to be a
part of the blue
messages group.
There has also
been the decision
that only Apple would have blue bubbles, and if an Android
user was within a group chat of apple users in iMessages,

then the other apple users would see green instead of blue,
only when the android user texted. This is how the peerpressure
started to have the blue bubble too. Apple wanted
to keep their branding, and only let Apple products have
the blue bubble. The Android user also has a loss of
abilities, and doesn’t experience certain settings Apple
users do. That you can only get Apple settings, if you have
an Apple product, and for those with Android, were
supposedly “missing out”.
They discovered how popular Apple is, and that 87% of
teens own iPhones. It was also seen through an interview
that young people and teens dreaded exclusion from peers
by having the green text. That many experience deafening
social exclusion and pressure, and being singled out when
having the Green Bubble. Through many surveys and
interviews, multiple students bought Apple, and wanted to
be a part of it, and not have the Android, green.
(TheWallStreetJournal)
The Toronto Star also helped back up my findings, and I
found out that Since the most popular gadgets nowadays
are within the child society, and can also be associated with
adults, since the technology that everyone uses is very
expensive, and back to school shopping, it is becoming
difficult to stay on a fixed budget
Additionally there is peer pressure going on, to buy the
latest and the best tech, but it also is something of the
costly side. “Parents are pinching pennies on tech. Just 6
percent of parents plan to spend most of their back-toschool
dollars on tablets and other tech toys.” Through
surveys, there is also a discovery that “Along with pressure
from other parents, 82 per cent of Canadians surveyed
believe a child’s peers influence their purchasing
decisions.” And “Back-to-school shopping is getting more

expensive as kids – and parents – want the latest and
greatest”. This just goes to show how people around them
are creating a superiority within the tech, since there is a
certain type that everyone wants, and is being influenced
into getting. (TorontoStar) Whereas insider backed it up by
starting with my assumption of the Gen Z generation,
where everything, or nearly everything is conducted
online. So then I say that, without surprise, when asked, 34
percent are iPhone users and only 10 percent are Samsung
users, we can just see the separation.
Additionally, when asking in person, through a large
quantity of Gen Zs, and almost all of them, over 70% said
they would never switch to Android. This age group makes
up a third of all iPhone users in the USA. Through a small
interview of two Android users, they said that it is difficult
to have this type of technology. And for someone who has
always owned Android, she received criticism and
questions from her school peers, displaying how Apple has
created a superiority, that having this type of product is
considered a ‘luxury’ worldwide.
Overall, internationally 87% of teens own apple products,
and for those who don’t, they have a more difficult life. It is
common in Middle School that Android users were seen as
“poor people, or losers”, where Apple users are the best.
iPhone is the best choice to ever make. (Insider) Lastly,
another source which said the same kind of things, was
Sun. I discovered that the tech giant of Apple is benefitting
from the bullying, since it is an international strategy to
guide the younger people from Android to Apple. Sneaky.
The strategy being only special features are included on IOS
devices that Android misses out on. That you would be
bullied and be considered an Alien if you have this specific
product, a constant pressure to switch.

“Many teenagers and college-aged young people also feel
that Apple's iMessage service has become a way for iPhone
users to show that they not only own an iPhone but are a
part of an exclusive messaging platform.” Apple is more
exclusive and important. At one point, Apple was and still
is concerned about the bullying, they did consider
switching and giving Android the blue text bubble too,
although it was denied, since Apple would financially
benefit. (Sun)
With this, you can definitely see how this separation
between the companies is all based on the features that
only Apple experiences, and this minuscule decision, was
creating separation and lowering-self esteem within
teengagers. This may be a problem, due to the fact that
everyone would like to conform to the trends and the
similar, and this can cause bullying, and it can be
impossible for certain children to avoid, due to financial
problems, or not being able to access a device like so.
Data Collection
I will conduct this study by sending out a survey. Within
this short time period, there is not a lot of time in order to
conduct multiple interviews, and questionnaires, since you
need to take time to carry them out, and not only that, but
it takes time to finalise questions, to construct the
questionnaire and also analyse the results. Obviously the
survey was the most efficient and ethical option, faster to
set up, easier to analyse, can spread the word and get
results from a larger audience, and does not waste as much
time. Bonus, it is still as effective as the rest, it still does
collect results, and can ask the same questions. I took this
method of collecting the data from actual people, and have

already created the survey and sent it to the teacher for
finalisation, approval and sending it to the G6, G7 and G8.
Furthermore, why G6, 7 & 8? Well, they are the most
important group that I considered would fit into the topic.
This is because they are at the age that they have just gotten
a phone, and where they take these things into
consideration, since they look up at the older examples of
people, and they see the different brands, and make the
connections of what is the trend. These are the children
who have not developed their common sense yet, and
would consider that the type of device that they use is
crucial to fit in.
All in a similar age range, it would provide a large
amount of responses covered. I would also say that they
could possibly be a good starting point for a research study
like this. I would move onto interviewing, and possibly
including the adults into this, if the research study would
develop into something of this sort. Although the reason is
that I do not start with the adults, and opt for the children.
This is because they are the most into this generation, and
have the most exposure to everything, while the adults
have already developed into a world with no phones, and
only have just received them at an older age, therefore I
would say that they don’t really care what brand they use. I
would also make this reliable since I would ask them ‘why’
do they consider themselves responding to the multiquestion
answer like this. The ‘why’ makes them reflect
and can make them provide a more reliable answer, I also
state that their information will be anonymous to our eyes,
and so they may have that confidence. What I can conclude
is that I am not sure myself that the answers which are
given are reliable, since one would always like a good

impression seen on their perspective, which can affect their
personal answers.
MY DATA FINDINGS (Survey)
There were a diverse amount of results, and I ended up
collecting 34 respondents, both in the Grades of 8 and
Grade 6, with mixed genders. Grade 7 was not able to be
reached in the time given, and the accessibility of that class,
although the number 34 was enough for me to have a
diverse amount of responses and respondents. Luckily for
me, the majority, or all of the
respondents provided an answer which was relating to
the question given, and not something random and silly.
The rest of the answers were one-worded responses
which are not enough for me to use, so when analysing that
question I will not take that answer in consideration since I
can interpret that the individual completing it was too lazy
or did not put their interest to fill it in. I will also say that
these respondents did not answer with full reliability, the
majority of the respondents denied that they don’t feel any
status of superiority by using one brand or the other. The
fact that multiple people, and almost all answered no, can
show that there was not much of a truth going into that
answer, but they want to seem like they don’t choose the
wrong answer. This was generally a yes or a no response, so
there should have been a 50 / 50 response quantity, but
what happened was that No was answered by 73.5% of the
population, and Yes was with a few 14.7%. There was the
option for maybe, but I only included it to make it seem
more comfortable for the people answering. (Maybe 11.8%)
This was the results for the Question; Personally, do you
think you are better if you have Apple?

Furthermore, I am still questioning the reliability of these
responses, since the people answering would always want a
nice way for you, and they would feel the pressure to
answer the way that seems convenient to the person
recording. I would like to mention that there were certain
individuals, or more like 2, who did provide the answer
that I was looking for, which goes to show that there are
generally people who think the way that I am looking for,
who have that mentality that was researched about, it
shows that people do actually think that, but are trying to
cover it up, and look like the fair human they are. Based on
these few responses, which can not define the whole school
since there are more than a thousand students in the
school, and that can not compare to 34, it shows that our
school may be different compared to the other schools or
the high schools that were suggested from America or other
places from the literature study.
Moreover, one of the biggest patterns that can make up
multiple conclusions when focused on was that almost
everyone that answered the survey, roughly 70% or more,
preferred the general brand, or that they chose within the
options of Android and Apple. Apple was taking the lead.
For the questions which had the option for either choosing
Apple or Android, the highest picked option out of the two,
was Apple. Could this conclude something? The literary
study mentioned that Apple was the most popular
technology chosen within America, based upon the
Messaging app, and the features Apple excludes themselves
from, and even so, here in the school, Apple was the most
preferred branding of technology.
While looking at the results, I focused on one question,
which was one of those using the tailored approach,
tricking the individual into answering a certain way. This is

ethical, and a way to collect answers which can be more
truthful. I would like to focus on the question of “Do you
think Android is cheaper than Apple?”. I found the answers
to this question perfect, and they told me exactly what I
was looking for. Firstly, there were 28 people who picked
the answer “Yes”, a percentage of 82.4%, whereas there
was a few percentage of people who picked no, to be exact,
17.6%, which was 6 people. Instantly I can infer that the
majority of the population picked yes, and from this simple
yes or no question, I can conclude many things. I can
conclude that, yes, one brand does have a higher status
among the population than others, and this brand would
be Apple.
I can interpret this, because of the reason that people
answered yes to Apple being more expensive. This tells me
that they think it is better, more expensive and that you
seem more ‘rich’ or better if you have a more expensive
brand, and that Android to them is cheap. The fact
that people answered yes to a question so broad, broad
meaning that I did not specify which Android brand or
electronic type, but they instantly assumed, “yes it is more
expensive”. Which Android would clearly disagree. This is
because there are multiple Android phones, mainly the
flagship phones. For example the recently released phones
of Samsung and Apple, the iPhone 14 has a base cost of
$799 USD, whereas the Samsung S23 has a starting price of
$799 USD, the same price. There are also Android folding
phones, which have an unimaginable price of more than
$1000 USD. It is difficult to explain, although you can judge
that people think Apple is more expensive due to its large
scale status of popularity between people, and this is why
anything other than Apple to them, is cheap.

In addition, when looking at the free response answers,
which generally asked “why?” to many of the questions
before it, like “Why Apple? Does it matter if you have a
certain brand?” The majority of the results to this did point
me in some directions, they responded that Apple is more
preferable since they are more used to it, and Apple has
more features which are convenient and familiar to them.
Apple is what they have known, and that Apple has safety
features. That Apple has better quality features, like the
camera, the processor chip and that it is easier to share
within the family and with other Apple users. Multiple
answers all praising the features of Apple, and the things
that it provides for them, which Android can provide for
them too. When asking if they have more Apple or Android
products, 85.3% answered Apple.
When going into the more personal questions, I asked a
very straightforward question: Do you think you are better
if you own Apple? I thought, “It's too personal, and prone
to judgements, surely no one would pick yes?” In fact,
there was a minimal percentage of people who answered
Yes and Maybe. 14.7% for Yes and 11.8% for Maybe. It shows
that some people were honest, and it slowly points me into
the answer of the research question, that like the literature
study states, Apple is becoming more of a luxury status,
and that few people agreed that they think they are better
by owning one, proves my point a little.
Overall, this survey proved useful in discovering if certain
brands of electronic devices create social classes and
exclusion. That people consider themselves better or a
nonentity if they have a certain brand. This survey may not
have been so reliable, but I consider that nothing is, and
this is the closest you can get, and so with multiple

answers, all diverse, we can conclude that the
preponderance of the population side with Apple, and its
features for multiple reasons.
There is of course so much more to infer and interpret
from the answers in the survey, although seeing the data
visually further on will make it easy enough to understand
and you can make conclusions themselves .
Here are the pie charts of data from the survey,
withholding some of the answers due to confidentiality.

RECOMMENDATIONS
In conclusion to this essay, I have found out that the
majority of the population prefer Apple, although it may
not seem like it, since the majority of the population have
said that it is not due to status that this brand provides, but
for the features that it has, and that they have eulogised the
Apple brand by what it provides for them in their lives.
Although we are not aware of bullying, I recommend that
staff and parents remain vigilant. It should be noted that
the use of devices as part of education could put
children at risk of feeling inferior if they are not able
to access the same learning devices.

- Sohn, Jiyoung. “Apple’s IPhones Winning over Gen Z—
and the World’s Premium Market.” WSJ, The Wall Street
Journal, 27 Feb. 2023, www.wsj.com/articles/applesiphones-are-winning-over-gen-zand-the-worlds-premiu
m-
market-7611bd38. Accessed 11 June 2023.
- Jaupi, Jona. “Google Warns Kids Are Being BULLIED
over a Popular IPhone Feature...” The US Sun, The US Sun,
10 Jan. 2022, www.the-sun.com/tech/4432751/google-kidsiphone-android/hu.
Accessed 11 June 2023.
- Hart, Jordan. “Gen Z Android Users Teased by Peers
Who Own IPhones.” Business Insider, Insider, 22 Feb. 2023,
www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-android-users-teasedpeers-iphones-2023-2.
Accessed 11 June 2023.
- Flavelle, Dana. “Back-To-School Getting More
Expensive, Survey of Parents Finds.” Thestar.com, Toronto
Star, 12 Aug. 2014, www.thestar.com/business/
personal_finance/2014/08/12/backtoschool_getting_more_
expensive_survey_of_parents_finds.html. Accessed 11 June
2023.
- Higgins, Tim. “Why Apple’s IMessage Is Winning: Teens
Dread the Green Text Bubble.” WSJ, The Wall Street
Journal, 8 Jan. 2022, www.wsj.com/articles/why-applesimessage-is-winning-teens-dread-the-green-text-bu
bble-11641618009. Accessed 11 June 2023.
Girl Gamers: answer to social media? -
Shreedhar K.
(Peer reviewed by Natalie K)
In today’s modern age, we spend roughly 7 hours on
average on screen time, a reason for this is as gaming has

emerged as a fun and popular pastime activity for people of
all ages. However, a common misconception is that females
almost don’t game at all and the amount of time they spend
gaming online is almost non-existent. To test this theory, I
have conducted research both by looking at trustable
secondary research and conducting first hand research on
my own. I undertook a study which focused on gathering
data on which gender spends more time on online gaming
per day. By collecting data first hand, I wanted to see if the
world’s average for both genders roughly matched my
findings. I have carefully analyzed the data that I have
collected and looked at patterns and odd figures to point
them out and evaluate my data.
The form that I sent out to gather my findings consisted
of six questions: What is your name/class/gender, what is
your favorite game, how long do you game for per day, and
do you
prefer
gaming or
social
media?. I
was able to
collect 33
responses
in total, 9
grade 8
students
stated that they did not play video games at all. There were
11 responses from 8A, 6 from 8B and 16 from 8C. 54.5% of
respondents were female, 45.5% of the 33 respondents
were male.

Technically speaking, this would give females a higher
chance at having more times spent on video games if all the
females played an equal amount of time as the males do
25 of the 33 respondents stated that they enjoyed playing
video games, whilst 8 stated that they didn’t enjoy playing
video games. There was a respondent that also stated that
they lacked time to play video games but still enjoyed
playing them.
The average time spent by a student who plays video
games during the school week is 2.4 hours. The amount of
time that females spend playing video games is exactly 2
hours, whilst males have an average time of 2.58 hours. The
highest amount of time recorded was a male who achieved
6 hours daily, whilst the lowest was 2 minutes. However
this was voided from the data as it was too insignificant that
it was most likely someone making a joke or having fun, so
it was voided and raised to the second lowest value which
was achieved by a male who achieved 25 mins. The
majority of the males had an average of just an hour per
day. Out of the 18 females who responded, 13 stated that
they enjoyed video games. 12 out of the 15 males stated that
they enjoyed playing video games. Exactly 3 people of each
gender stated that they disliked playing video games,
making the grand sum of all the people who don’t like
video games in my response sheet from grade 8, 6 people.
The last question of my form proved to be the most
interesting, as it asked people if they preferred social media
or video games. As the majority of the respondents were
female, I expected social media to have the majority of
votes by a long shot, this is as a stereotype within the SISQ

community about females spending all their time on social
media was wide-spread,
However, when the results came in I was in for a shock:
Social Media had indeed won, but only by a single person.
This completely caught me off guard, as I had never
expected that the outcome would be such a close gap
between the two. This piece of information triangulates
with other surveys, such as one of my peers, Natalie
Kvapilova, who had found similar results.
I then looked deeper into my research, but I soon
realized that looking through each person’s answers to my
form was a bit tedious and could look very bad if the
respondents found out that I was looking at everything they
had written down in ties to their name. To fix this, I put all
the responses on a google sheet and blacked out the names.
In this way, it was much easier to find key data points with
google sheets. By manipulating the google sheets built-in
calculator, I was able to find out that the sum of the time
that people play video games per day, which totalled up to

oughly 28, with 14 being from males and 10 being from
females.
In comparison to the research that I conducted before I
sent out my form, I think that some of the basic statements
such as the statement of “the growth of females that play
video games have sharply increased in recent years is valid,
as a significant amount of females play video games, in fact
in this survey, there are more females who enjoy playing
video games rather than males, however this may be due to
the fact that there were more females who participated in
this survey in comparison to males. The statistics that I had
received when conducting my own research from sources
such as [Forbes] and [Business Today], their statistics in
how many females play video games is quite accurate, even
though the websites used a sample of adult females,
whereas I used girls, the pattern is almost the same for both
age groups. This shows us two things; the first one being
that video games have now started targeting the female
gender quite a lot, and that playing video games is
becoming a normal culture for both young and older
females.
As an evaluation of the findings of this research
project, females having a larger percentage of those who
play video games is a positive factor as it helps females with
their prosocial behavior, encourages the development of
games to reach a larger audience and community. However,
this test also raises the question if too much video games
are bad for you, which, indeed they are as they may irritate
your eyes and may cause eye diseases such as asthenopia
or even miopia. Now, we are faced with a dilemma; how do
we encourage gaming for its advantages, however reduce
or eliminate the issue of not just females, but also males
from spending too much time on video games? A

suggestion that I have is to have all gaming accounts to have
a set timer of 1-3 hours per day, and maybe a little more on
weekends, as well as encouraging the use of educational
video games within school.
In conclusion, it is quite clear that the gender
representation in gaming is undergoing a huge change. This
essay has proven that long-held perceptions such as that
gaming is a male-dominated industry/hobby is an invalid
statement, as it shows that there are almost as many female
gamers as there are male gamers. The analysis of the
statistical information in primary and secondary research
clearly shows that women have taken up a significant
percent of all gamers and will continue to grow as a result
of advertisements and other factors. Females have also
enabled the gaming industry to expand out and target
different groups of people in advertisements and have
influenced game development. However, boundaries must
be set to keep children in a safe zone for both their mental
and physical health.
O
Yokoi, Tomoko. “Female Gamers Are on the Rise. Can the
Gaming Industry Catch Up?” Forbes,
www.forbes.com/sites/tomokoyokoi/2021/03/04/femalegamers-are-on-the-rise-can-the-g
aming-industry-catch-up/?sh=226a24d8f9fe. Accessed 11
June 2023.
Zaidi, Tarib. “56% of India’s Gamers Are from Non-
Metros; Women Spend More Time than
Men on Online Games.” Business Today, 6 Apr. 2023,
www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/56-of-indiasgamers-are-from-non-metros-
women-spend-more-timethan-men-on-online-games-376391-2023-04-06.

It’s Not As Bad As You Think - Ethan
(Peer reviewed by Marc Auréle Paul)
Introduction:
I am carrying out this research project because I feel that
social media can be beneficial. I believe that most students
aged 13-14 will say that social media is beneficial and can
help in many ways. This research will prove or disprove
whether grade 8 students believe that social media is
beneficial.
My Findings:
From my questionnaire, I got 20 responses. 35% were
male and 65% were female. 45% were 13 years old and 55%
were 14 years old. 55% said that they spend less than 4
hours on social media a day, 25% said that they spend
between 5-6 hours, 10% said they spend between 7-8 hours
per day, and 10% said they spend between 9-10 hours per
day on social media. 10% of people said that they spend 1
hour a week playing sports, 10% said they spend 2 hours
playing sports a week, 10% said they spend 3 hours a week
playing sports, 25% said that they spend 4 hours a week
playing sports, 10% said they spend 5 hours a week on
sports, and 35% said that they spend more than 5 hours a
week playing sports. 5% said that they spend 30 mins or
less reading every week. 40% said that they spend 1-2 hours
a week reading. 30% said that they spend 3-4 hours a week
reading. 15% said they spend 5-6 hours a week reading, and
10% said they spend more than 7 hours a week reading.
60% of the respondents agreed that Social media
sometimes damages their mental health. 35% agreed that
social media is damaging to their mental health, and 5%
said that Social media is not damaging to their mental

health. When asked “Is social media beneficial?”, 60% said
that social media can sometimes be beneficial and 40% said
that social media is always helpful. While 0% said that
social media was not beneficial.
Correlations:
Some of the correlations that I found were that the
majority of the people that spend less than 4 hours per day
on social media, spend more than 5 hours a week playing
sports, while the majority of the people said they spend
more than 9 hours a week on social media said they spend
5 or more hours per week doing physical activities. This is a
correlation because it shows that the majority of people
spend more the 5 hours a week on sports even though they
might spend more time on social media. From my results, I
found that the majority of the respondents that spend more
than 5 hours a week playing sports were actually male and
the majority of the people that spent more than 6 hours per

day on social media were male. From my results, I found
out that the females that spent less time on social media
(per day) actually spent more time reading books (per
week).
This pie chart shows the average amount of time that
teenagers spend on social media per day. Comparing this to
my results, I have found out that the majority of the
teenagers that they interviewed spent 8 or more hours per
day on social media while the majority of teenagers that I
interviewed said that they spend 4 or fewer hours per day.
According to teachers, students should be reading for 1
hour a day outside of school. While students should be
reading 1 hour per day, the majority of my respondents said
that they spend 1-4 hours a week reading.
Recommendations:
I recommend that the majority of the students should
spend more time reading
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the majority of the respondents believed
that Social Media was damaging to mental health but they
also said that Social media was beneficial. I found that
social media did not affect how much time students spend
playing sports and reading per week.

Sonam wrote, “Have you ever
wondered how the impact of the
lockdown affected our future
generations and our school as a
whole? These questions pose great
importance as they can help us learn
about ourselves as well as others. ”
We hope that our research has sparked
a deeper conversation from those
more qualified than ourselves.