My name is Arnaz Amin, I am an eighth-grade student attending Brooklawn Middle School. I am writing this essay to inform people about how social media has and is still affecting my current generation. Several authors have written about this topic before, but to completely understand how social media affects today’s youth, you need an active social media member’s perspective on the subject. Social media has impacted many lives, and this is how it does.

Currently, the world’s population is 7.5 billion, 3.8 billion are internet users and 2.8 billion of them are social media users. 1.8 billion of the entire world population is made up by teenagers from the ages of 13-19 years old. Instagram alone has 500 million active monthly users. Instagram users have shared over 40 billion photos to date and share an average of 95 million photos and videos per day. Snapchat has 166 million daily users. Although adults do also use some social media, teenagers are the majority of users.

One of the most major impacts that social media has had on teenagers today is how we perform in school. It is one of the most distracting activities of everyday life. Recent experiments at UCLA have shown that nucleus accumbens (a part of the brain’s reward circuitry) was very active when teenagers saw that they had received a lot of likes on their photos that would influence to further use Instagram more often. This affects the loss of brain cells and further decreases better school performance. From my experience, I could be on social media for hours and hours at a time. The first year that I got social media was in 6th grade that was when I got my first smartphone. I did struggle to keep up with my school work and social media at the same time but as soon as I learned to refrain myself, school work became much easier and my grades improved greatly. Now, during the school year, I check social media less often because of homework and extracurricular activities after school. Even when I am doing my homework, it is still a struggle to refrain from checking all the notifications that are constantly being updated on my phone. When state testing time comes around, I am not allowed to have my phone with me after I come back from school because my parents want me to only focus on studying for the following day’s exam. As much as I dislike getting my phone taken away from me, I always come to understand that it has only helped me, especially with my school work.

Some other major impacts that social media has had on teenagers is peer pressure and cyber bullying. On any social media site, you can send a direct message to anyone that you want without even having to their phone number or having to follow them. This makes it so easy to cyber bully someone. Peer pressure has increased ever since social media has become popular. Teenagers look at pictures/videos of their peers doing illegal things such as drugs, drinking, etc. 55% of teens tried drugs for the first time because they felt pressured by their friends. 70% of teens who smoke say that they started smoking because their friends smoke or they felt peer pressure to try smoking. I myself have never been personally victimized by acts of peer pressure or cyber bullying through social media. Today these acts of bullying are taken very seriously and can lead to serious consequences. The school and police do get involved in some situations, but in order for things to be sorted out, the students have to speak up about the actual problem. That is, why our school encourage us to inform an adult about any bullying situations, and I am confident that it has helped.

The impact of social media on the current generation is becoming bigger and bigger every day. In my opinion, social media is just part of regular life now, everyone has it. Aside from all of the negative impact it has and continues to have, we really cannot live without it. We communicate through social media, we find out about important news through social media and so much more.

RANDOLPH — To replace recently retired faculty and to better accommodate the needs of students, County College of Morris (CCM) has hired 18 new full-time faculty members in the School of Professional Studies and Applied Science, School of Health Professions and Natural Sciences and School of Liberal Arts.

“We’re pleased to be adding additional high-caliber professionals to our faculty to replace those who have retired and to fill positions where they are needed,” said Dr. Anthony J. Iacono, president of CCM. “These new faculty members and the experience they bring will contribute significantly to our mission of providing a high-quality higher education for our students.”

The new faculty members are:
Dr. James Capozzi, of Montclair, assistant professor, English, is the author of several books including 89 Screenplays for Nightmare City, Universal Description of the Known World Without End and Country Album. His poetry has been published in more than 50 literary journals, and he is currently the associate editor of the Journal of New Jersey Poets and consulting editor of The Virginia Normal. He previously taught at Binghamton University, the University of Texas at Austin, Virginia State University and Bloomfield College. He earned his Ph.D. in English from Binghamton University, M.A. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and B.A. in Communication Studies from The College of New Jersey.
Laura Driver, of Millington, assistant professor, English, previously taught at Raritan Valley Community College. She earned her M.A. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and B.A. in English from Duke University.

Dr. Naomi Edwards, of Brooklyn, assistant professor, English, has presented lectures at numerous conferences across the United States on multi-ethnic American literature, Asian American literature and film, as well as women and gender studies. She previously taught at New York City College of Technology, New York University, Syracuse University and Stony Brook University. She earned her Ph.D. in English and M.A. in Women and Gender Studies from Stony Brook University and B.A. in English from the Loyola University in Chicago.

Elizabeth Fitzgerald, of Lake Hopatcong, associate professor, Nursing, has worked in the hospital environment as an emergency department educator, emergency nurse, post anesthesia care unit/open heart intensive care unit nurse, and emergency department/surgical trauma intensive care unit Nurse. She has taught at William Paterson University and Berkeley College. She is working on her Ph.D. in Nursing at Seton Hall University, earned her M.S. in Nursing Education from Ramapo College and B.S. in Nursing from The College of Saint Elizabeth.

Dr. Michelle C. Iden, of Flanders, assistant professor, History, previously taught at Rowan College, Union County College, Drew University, Monmouth University, Stevens Institute of Technology and as a collegiate traveling professor throughout Europe for the University of Maryland. She earned her Ph.D. in Modern History and Literature from Drew, M.A. in American Studies from Columbia University and B.S. in History and American Studies from The George Washington University.

Dr. Melissa S. Kasmin, of Morristown, assistant professor, Education, previously taught at Rutgers and Montclair State universities. She also maintains a private practice offering clinical services and school consultation for children, adolescents and their families. She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy in Social Work from Rutgers University, M.A. in Social Work from the University of Michigan and B.S. in Psychology from Kenyon College.
Dr. Maureen Kazaba, of Randolph, assistant professor, Criminal Justice, a police officer for more than 30 years, retired at the rank of administrative lieutenant, second in command, from the Chatham Township Police Department. Her assignments ranged from patrol officer to crime scene investigator. She is currently an instructor at the Morris County Police Academy and previously taught at Fairleigh Dickinson and Centenary universities. She is a graduate of the Morris County Police Academy. Kazaba earned her Ph.D. in Psychology from Capella University, M.A. in Clinical Counseling from Fairleigh Dickinson University, M.A. in Education from Seton Hall University, B.A. in Criminal Justice from William Paterson University and AAS in Criminal Justice from CCM.

Dr. Jabou McCoy, of Maplewood, assistant professor, Sociology, previously taught at the University of California at Davis specializing in racial and ethnic relations. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of California at Davis and his B.S. in Telecommunications from St. John’s University.

Ben Ondimu, of Blakeslee, PA, assistant professor, Biology, has pursued research in microorganisms that cause harmful algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems. He previously taught at Essex County College, Brookdale Community College, Kean University and Montclair State University. He authored a chapter in “Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Sustainability” and has presented research at several symposia. He currently is working on his Ph.D. in Environmental Management from Montclair State University. He earned M.S. in Molecular Biology and B.S. in Zoology from Moi University in Kenya.

Dr. Geoff Peck, of Easton, PA, assistant professor, English, has had fiction and poetry published extensively in literary journals and is the winner of the prestigious Academy of American Poets Thomas McGrath Award. He previously taught at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of North Dakota. He earned his Ph.D. in English in Creative Writing from the University of North Dakota, MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and B.A. in English from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Dr. Brian Sahotsky, of Randolph, assistant professor, Art History, has participated in international archaeological field and research work in Italy, Turkey and France, and has presented lectures on historical architecture at major conferences in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Ann Arbor, New Orleans and Salerno, Italy. He earned his Ph.D. in Architecture and Urban Design from the University of California at Los Angeles, M.A. in Art History and Criticism from the University of Colorado and B.S. in Architectural Studies from the University of Wisconsin.

Samir Samour, of Midland Park, associate professor, Nursing, has worked in the hospital environment for 15 years as a full-time nursing instructor, as well as in the home-care setting. He has taught at Jersey College, Eastern International College and Midland Technical College. She earned her M.S. in Nursing from the University of South Carolina and B.S. in Nursing from the University of Jerusalem.

Dr. Gianmarco Savio, of Randolph, assistant professor, Sociology, has been published in The Sociological Review, Sociological Perspectives and Contemporary Justice Review. He previously taught at St. Lawrence and Stony Brook universities. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from Stony Brook and his B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology from Lewis & Clark.

Mark S. Schmidt, of Hamburg, assistant professor, English, previously taught at Emory University in Atlanta. He currently is a Ph.D. candidate at Emory University, where he earned his M.A. in English. He earned his B.A. in English and Political Science from Rutgers University.

Apurv Vinay Ved, of Montclair, assistant professor, Business, comes to the college with real-world experience in the field of finance. He has worked at several major companies including Citicorp Investments, Kidder Peabody Asset Management and SEB Investment Management America. He previously taught at Seton Hall, Montclair State and Rutgers universities. He earned his MBA in Finance from Pace University and B.A. in Commerce/Accounting from the University of Bombay.

Heather N. Wolfgang, of Boonton, assistant professor, Mathematics, previously taught at Johns Hopkins University and Northern Virginia Community College. While at Johns Hopkins, she won the prestigious William Kelso Morrill Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. She earned her M.A. in Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University and B.S. in Mathematics from LaSalle University.

Dr. Chung Y. Wong, of Morris Plains, assistant professor, Mathematics, has pursued research in matrix analysis and presented talks at the Joint Mathematics Meetings, as well as at Villanova and Drexel universities. He previously taught at The College of New Jersey and Drexel. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Mathematics at Drexel and B.A. in Mathematics from The College of New Jersey.

Valerie Woodruff, of Randolph, assistant professor, Nursing, is a clinical instructor – clinical care at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. She also has worked in the hospital setting as a cardiac clinical coordinator, cardiothoracic critical care nurse and medical-surgical telemetry nurse. She earned her M.S. in Nursing Education from The College of Saint Elizabeth and B.S. in Nursing from Seton Hall University.