The “Selfie Syndrome”
“The ability to pick up your phone, use your own personal finger, smile with all your teeth, click the camera button and then look at yourself on your phone, so pretty, without having your check bones hurt, gives your heart such a rush!” – Anonymous
Selfie syndrome is becoming an epidemic in the 21st century. It’s like the black plague in England in the 14th century, only it’s side effects don’t include death, only malignant narcissism.
The constant urge to take a selfie is an addiction that allows people to become important to themselves. They look at their outfit, hair, natural beauty and bright smile without ever looking into a mirror, just a magical screen with an image of what they believe is a beautiful person on it. A selfie gives a person confidence and self-worth because no one else is taking a picture of them. It’s all about the selfie (aka ‘me’), one hundred percent of time.
People with selfie syndrome tend to be more in-tune with their inner insecure identity than people in group pictures taken by another person because in a selfie it’s just them and their zero present friends. The connection is between just their self; no others are involved.
The beauty behind the selfie is the person – and it’s often a horribly misguided sense of beauty. That’s what makes the selfie syndrome so contagious and corrosive. Whether the selfie people are having a natural day or full on runway make-up day, the selfie always finds a way to establish that specific person’s beauty, if only to themselves. Trying to stand still and hold your smile long enough to get a good look at yourself must be plain exhausting, so why do that when you can whip out your phone, take a quick pic and stare straight at yourself for days? Primarily because no one else wants too. And even if you don’t think you look good in that selfie, you can always zoom in and easily see that minor flaw, such as a huge pimple and fix it accordingly!
Each selfie gives a certain amount false confidence to a person, which is another reason why selfies are so addictive to the insecure. Taking a selfie allows a person to see their beauty beyond the mirror in the way they want to see their beauty absent reality or consequence. Sometimes, when a person is down on themselves because they are having a bad day, they can cure their bad day with a selfie, which in turn might make a new syndrome appear in their life, but at least they know they think they are beautiful and they are able to stand with their head held high showing off how good they look in their fantasy land.
Some people may believe that selfies produce egotistical live views, but what doesn’t? Just having a phone is proof you have money and are able to make calls unlike starving kids in Africa. And adds a level to an already nonsensical illusion of self-worth
Selfie syndrome is a true disease but a good disease to be diagnosed with because the gains of self-worth, confidence, the added bonus of checking yourself out whenever you want outweighs the bad. Like people thinking you’re self-centered or egotistical and the reason you took a selfie is because no one wanted your picture but you. People with selfie syndrome can say goodbye to the haters and hello to their cute selfies on their screen savers that no one else cares about.
Sleepitis
Most students in high school go through the phase of Sleepitis- an illness where you care less but eat more, focus less and sleep more. With this tragedy going around you'll be seeing more sweats around school and girls with no makeup as if they literally just got out of bed.
The cause was formally thought to be from seniors but a recent discovery has found the source in juniors. That's right, second semester juniors hit rock bottom and are ready to graduate as if they themselves were seniors. And as these juniors get to senior year the first day is the usually dress up day, for some even the second, but by the time next week their slumped. Pants hanging down from of laziness, wearing the same jacket from the past week, and girls with their hair in buns... not just any kind of bun, the type of bun that is on the verge of trying to run off her hair.
Although sometimes confused with senioritis, sleepitis is more lazy and can be diagnosed in not only seniors but also underclassmen. The only cure to save our high school students is for them to graduate!
Junior student at Martin High School, Izzy Toogood, was a straight A- student all through high school. She took honor classes and AP classes to boost her GPA. She was so ahead of her class with all the credits she needed so by junior year her schedule was a PE class after an arts class after a student ad class after a free period class. The only class she really needed to focus on was government; which she made a straight A in.
You would've never known sleepitis hit this poor Izzy Toogood till she walked into class in the baggiest sweatshirt that covered her shorts and sandals. Everyone knew Izzy always held a professional look so you must understand how shocking this was for them. At lunch she would leave early and go to McDonald's... everyday; Izzy was a healthy student who brought a salad everyday for lunch. Her best friend noticed her sleeping in government so she asked "what's up with you lately?" "You know college applications," replied Izzy in an obviously lying tone.
A few weeks later, report cards came out and little Izzy Toogood had C's in every single class. But did Izzy care? Of Course not, she skipped class to sleep in her car and procrastinated her work till the absolute last second. So senior year when graduation was nearly months away, Izzy was applying for colleges; but little does she know that bad grades keep the colleges away. No universities she was interested in were showing interest back. At this point in time Izzy was just ready to get out of school. Her parents tried to warn her about the effects of Sleepitis but instead of trying to avoid it, Izzy fell right into the mouth of the monster!
Lesson learn kids, never fall into Sleepitis. It only leads you into a fast food job after high school, hair that will never re-gain itself, and a pouch of fat almost everywhere when you move. But together, we will find a way to stop the spread of this illness. It's affecting thousands of teens in the world today. So when you're out late on a school night, think about how you're going to wake up late, rush out the house with nothing done with your hair, you're sleeping in class, and you're never, ever, never going to graduate!
College Expectations
What does it take to get into college? You know, the usual blood, sweat, tears, and mental breakdowns every time you think about tuition. You probably just had a little panic attack after the mention of college didn’t you? Don’t worry, we here at Teen-Telegram want you to succeed, which is why we interviewed Garvard’s head of admissions, Bob Davos. We asked Davos the most commonly asked questions and here are his responses.
How high does a student’s GPA need to be in order to be accepted and why?
Davos: At Garvard we typically tend to not accept students with any GPA under 4.1. Our criteria is a 4.1 because we believe that 4.0 is too basic and we want our students to go above and beyond average. Too many kids have a 4.0 and if we accept that GPA then we’d actually have to read about them, and get to know them, which nobody has time for.
Do you care more about grades or extracurricular activities?
Davos: Yes.
Would you please elaborate for us?
Davos: Both are equally important to us here at Garvard. In fact, a dream student should be in about six nonacademic extracurricular activities. We say six because we want or students to be well rounded individuals and if they had five or less they’d probably be shallow and unknowledgeable. We also prefer students with at least two jobs, so we know they can handle having three jobs trying to afford our tuition.
Lastly, how is a student expected to pay tuition? Does Garvard believe in meeting the financial needs of students who are accepted?
Davos: Well…we expect students to meet a 100% of their tuition. It’s not like they have to do it by themselves, we have student loans, they have parents. Our tuition is only $70,000 a year; I personally feel that is totally doable especially with three jobs and $40,000 in student loans.
All that colleges expect is for you to be perfect. They’re not asking for an arm and a leg, just your entire life in debt and a perfect GPA.
