Author: livselman

Snapchat is detrimental to relationships. Here’s why.

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by Liv Selman
West Laurens High School

There’s no doubt that in 2024, we as a society live in two worlds – the one that’s physical, and the one that exists solely in our phones and computers, the world of social media. 

Among all the different social media apps available, there is none quite like Snapchat. According to a 2024 study, there are currently 107.61 million Snapchat users in the United States.  Snapchat makes it possible to communicate with many people at once with disappearing messages and snaps. Its casual and secretive nature has made it very attractive to teenagers and young adults. However, it is important to consider the effects that Snapchat can have on one’s personal relationships, especially romantic ones.

“Snapchat is a way for people to hide what they are doing with someone else from their friend or a partner,” said Averi Staus, an aspiring journalist.

Snapchat’s “snapscore” feature can create insecurity and awkwardness in relationships.  By checking someone’s snapscore, one can see if they had snapped anyone by paying attention to whether or not the number had increased. This becomes problematic when one partner is waiting for a snap back from the other, and notices that their partner’s snapscore has gone up. This leads the person to wonder, “Who were they snapping if not me?”

“It can make you very obsessive over someone,” Staus said of the snapscore feature.

Snapchat also provides another unique feature known as the “snapmap.” The snapmap allows users to have access to the location of their friends on Snapchat if they have it allowed in their settings.  

17-year-old Kathryn Bryan said this has caused problems. “For relationships, it makes people want to obsessively check locations to make sure cheating or lying is not going on.”

Snapchat ranks the eight people you interact with most as your “best friends list.”  Someone may be concerned by this if they notice that someone else is higher up on their partner’s best friend list than them. Although this does not necessarily mean anything, it could lead someone to believe their partner is cheating or cause mistrust in the relationship.

Snapchat, along with all social media platforms, can be problematic for a person’s mental health. Studies report that 59% of people say that social media has negatively affected their mental health. If someone is struggling with their own mental state, how can they be expected to maintain a healthy relationship? Snapchat hurts relationships, even indirectly, through causing anxiety and depression.

Finally, Snapchat opens the door for cheating. The app gives people the ability to hide messages and who they are talking to easily and without a trace. Although most users of Snapchat are not cheaters, the app enables the people who are to get away with it with ease. It can also cause unwarranted suspicion and tension.

“Snapchat can be really unhealthy for a relationship.” Staus said.     

“BookTok” is ruining the romance genre

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by Liv Selman
West Laurens High School

Growing up as a reader, getting book recommendations from my friends was a memorable and fun aspect of my childhood. My friends and I would read a series together and obsess over characters and get excited together over plot twists.  

With the creation of social media and its ability to connect people across the globe, engaging in book recommendations became a larger-than-life fad for a community of mostly women on TikTok. Thus, the term “BookTok” was born.

At first glance, BookTok seems like a wholesome concept. It has really made reading fun and accessible for all people on the internet. However, it has gained a bad reputation from the types of books that it praises and recommends, specifically in the romance genre.  

It is common to find videos of people suggesting poorly-written books only because they are sexually-explicit. Although it is not typically categorized as porn, according to researchers, reading things like this can have similar negative effects on the brain, such as impulsiveness, desensitization to reward, and anxiety and depression.  

The creators that promote these books also fail to realize that they may be unintentionally encouraging younger viewers of their content to pick up these books. This coincides with the cartoon-cover designs that many publishers have chosen for these books that make them appear unassuming and kid-friendly. While these covers may make romance books less embarrassing to read in public(as opposed to a classic cover image of a bare-chested man), they can be misleading to young children on TikTok who are looking to get into reading.

TikTok user @nicolereadsalot said in a video about this subject, “Do not let book covers fool you, some of them look so sweet and innocent, but are filthy.”

BookTok has given the romance genre a bad reputation. Throughout time, certain romance books have been regarded as classics, such as Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With The Wind” and Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights.”  These books are all astounding works of literature that deeply explore the lives of the two romantic leads and the progression of their relationships.  These works represent the epitome of what the genre of romance should represent– an exploration of what it means to be vulnerable and human.  

However, when people on TikTok announce to the world that the romance book they just finished is “very spicy,” it doesn’t paint the romance genre or readers in general in a good light.

The problematic content of BookTok is not limited to literary porn.  Even worse, there is a sub-committee who promote books that romanticize abuse, which they have categorized as “dark romance.”  These books have plots based around female characters being stalked, assaulted, or kidnapped by their love interest.  Obviously, this can be very damaging to real life survivors of these things because it minimizes their experiences and turns them into entertainment.  

So, what can be done to combat the perversion of the romance genre on TikTok?   We cannot control what people choose to post or read, but we can control what books we choose to pick up and which creators we listen to.  One of the most powerful aspects of reading is that it is all about one’s own personal experience– we read what we believe is quality and what we are interested in.  That is the beauty of being a reader– it is all up to you. 

From an Author to a Journalist

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Journalist Averi Caldwell’s childhood dream was to become a novelist. Interestingly, that led her to a career in journalism.

“In the eighth grade, I read this fantasy novel, and the author instantly became my favorite of all time,” Caldwell said of her favorite childhood author Rainbow Rowell. “And I stalked her, of course– I found out she was a journalist, and then she was an author.  And I was like, ‘What is this journalism world?’  So I learned that I like writing and I just kind of wanted to follow in her footsteps.”  

Growing up in Griffin, Georgia, Caldwell developed her love for reading and her interest in journalism.  When it came time for her to go off to college, she chose to attend UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“The community of journalists here genuinely want to help each other out and just be a network,” she said.

Caldwell graduated from UGA with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, with minors in English and Spanish.  She has held positions at UGA’s online newspaper Columns, as well as The Red & Black, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and InfUSion Magazine.  As she began to work as a journalist, she realized that she was able to make a difference, especially using her knowledge of Spanish.

“I was the only one in the office at the time that spoke Spanish and I kept bringing up that we have people in the community who speak Spanish,”she said.

Caldwell  acts as an advocate for Spanish-speaking citizens as a journalist, but she also empathizes with all people.

“It might be naive, but I don’t think people are bad,” she said. “I think all people are good and circumstances in life push people to be mean or make bad decisions.  So, I just think that living with that mindset and working with that mindset and knowing that even if someone’s a little snippy on social media, or if they don’t like a question I’ve asked, they’re just a person maybe having a bad day.”

This mindset has helped Caldwell build a successful journalism career, overcoming her natural introverted character. 

“I just like talking to people,” she said  “I am a little shy, but in one-on-one conversations I love interviewing people.  So, I think maybe that drew me to journalism and makes me a better journalist.”

Liv Selman

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Me(on the right), with my Sunday school teacher, Mrs. Kathy.

Hi! I’m Liv. I’m 16 years old, and I come from a little town called Dublin in the-middle-of-nowhere Georgia. I go to West Laurens High School, and I am a junior officer for SkillsUSA, and an At-Large representative for the Dublin City Youth Council. I first discovered my love for writing when I was 11, during quarantine. My mom had always encouraged me to read, which eventually inspired me to write a book of my own. Although the final product of the countless hours I spent in front of my mom’s laptop was no astounding work of literature, it did spark my passion for writing.

I hope to attend the University of Georgia and major in journalism so that I can go on to write for magazines or even be an author. Although I have not yet decided exactly what career I intend to pursue, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life writing. I believe that the University of Georgia would be an exceptional place to begin.

Aside from writing, I love to read. I read books of all genres, but my favorites are YA fantasy and romance. This year, I have read 20 books so far, and am working towards my goal of reading 50 books in 2024. The authors I tend to enjoy most are Emily Henry, Suzanne Collins and V.E. Schwab. I am also a pianist and have been playing for eight years. When I was young, I used to dread my piano lessons and beg my mom to let me quit, but now I am thankful that she made me push through. Playing the piano has become my favorite hobby and my proudest accomplishment. My preferred type of music to play is the classical style, such as Beethoven and Mozart, but I also love to arrange my own piano covers of pop music on my own time.