A snapshot in time: A look inside the Quinnipiac University Poll

By Owen Meech

JAN 27 – As midnight approaches at Quinnipiac University and Sunday night turns into Monday, students on the Mount Carmel Campus are making their way to bed and readying themselves for a new work week.

Just down the street, however, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute is wide awake, as interviewers use the last 15 minutes of their shift scrambling to get those last-minute national survey completions.

It’s a night just like any other at 60 West Woods Road in Hamden, Connecticut.

Callers sit in rows of wooden cubicles, armed with a computer, headset and manual dialer. The interviewers are a mixed bag of students and local residents, creating a steady hubbub that encompasses the two-story facility.

Tonight, interviewers are asking who American voters trust more “on issues that are important” to them: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or President Donald Trump.

Two days prior, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history had just come to a conclusion. Centered around a disagreement on border security between Republicans and Democrats, Trump sought $5.7 billion toward constructing a wall on the southern border. Democrats called the request “immoral” and a waste of taxpayer money.

The shutdown, which resulted in 380,000 federal workers being furloughed and an additional 420,000 workers being required to work without any known payment date, eventually ended when both chambers of the House approved a plan to reopen the government for a three-week period to negotiate a suitable appropriations bill.

When the survey results were released Jan. 29, the Quinnipiac Poll found that in the immediate aftermath, American voters trusted Pelosi more than Trump, 49 to 42 percent.

“The first round of many to come in the heavyweight bout goes the speaker’s way as Trump takes the hit for the shutdown and his party is suffering along with him,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a statement.

In the same survey, Donald Trump’s approval rating took a hit. At 38 percent, the commander in chief dropped down from 41 percent approval just two weeks earlier.

And with each survey that comes to a close, the Quinnipiac Poll provides us with a snapshot in time. In just a matter of days, the Poll is able to capture and present an intricate picture of the nation’s political landscape.

For Quinnipiac Poll Director Dr. Doug Schwartz, the key is staying on top of the news, asking the right questions, and relying on his team of a dozen polling analysts.

Quinnipiac University Poll Director Doug Schwartz (courtesy: poll.qu.edu)

“It’s a back and forth,” Schwartz said. “There’s a lot of rewrites of a survey. Oftentimes when we’re doing a national poll, there’s a lot of breaking national news every day, that we’ll constantly need to rewrite the survey to respond to the late breaking events.”

Responding to the latest breaking news is par for the course for Schwartz, the self-proclaimed political junkie who has been the Quinnipiac Poll Director since 1994, when he was just 27 years old.

“I love watching the news,” Schwartz said.“I can watch what’s happening and then I have this great opportunity to ask questions of voters and get their reaction.”

Crafting poll questions is no easy feat, though. Schwartz – who previously worked for CBS News as an analyst for the late “60 Minutes” correspondent, Ed Bradley – describes the process as painstakingly meticulous. Wording questions clearly, concisely and neutrally is crucial to maintaining the integrity of any survey.

“Maybe a question is too vague and we need to rewrite it to make it clearer. Maybe there are certain words in a question that might push a respondent in a certain direction,” Schwartz explained. “We’re trying to write neutral, fair, balanced questions.”

Coming up with questions was an easier task back when the Quinnipiac Poll only conducted surveys in Connecticut. After New York and New Jersey were added to the mix, national polls followed in 2001. Now, with polls conducted in 12 states, polling analysts for each state are called upon to help draft each and every survey.

“We have polling analysts in all of our states and nationally talk about what are the big issues, what are the questions we should be asking, and then we will draft a survey based on what we think are the most newsworthy issues at the time,” Schwartz said. “We will vet the survey, so there will be multiple pairs of eyes that look over the survey and give feedback, and then whatever concerns are raised, we will address them.”

Mary Snow, head polling analyst for New York and New Jersey (courtesy: poll.qu.edu)

One of those pairs of eyes belongs to Mary Snow, the Quinnipiac Poll’s head polling analyst for New York and New Jersey. Snow and her team are tasked with thoroughly analyzing the data and producing press releases.

“We always get Doug’s input,” Snow said. “We ask, ‘Doug, you’ve been doing this for 20 years, what do you see? What strikes you as most significant in these polls.’ Then we craft how we’re going to present it. What are the top issues for the media? What is most newsworthy?”

The veteran journalist and former CNN correspondent began working at the Poll this past July, and calls upon her previous career to help guide her in her newest position.

“As a polling analyst, you really draw upon what you do as a journalist by staying on top of all the issues that are making news,” Snow said. “You look for developments on issues that you may be polling about.”

For Snow, one of these recent issues was the Amazon deal that was rejected by New York City.

“The polling we did about the Amazon deal in New York played an important part in the conversation,” Snow said. “We asked several questions and we saw that people were really conflicted about parts of this deal, so it wasn’t a very black and white issue, there were a lot of nuances.”

And while she says that giving a voice to ordinary people is her favorite part of the job, Snow says it’s maintaining a relationship with the media that really runs the gamut.

“After [our press release] is sent to the media, you are on tap to do interviews,” Snow said. “You are there to answer whatever questions someone may have when reporting on this poll. You can get a call from a college radio station or you can get a call from the New York Times.”

Despite Snow’s dedication to availability and transparency, she warns that journalists still don’t always get the story right.

“I think we saw this in 2016,” Snow said, referring to the last presidential election. “Polls are not perfect and that’s why they have a margin of error. Sometimes the media can jump to winners and losers. Forecasting is not what we do. We give a snapshot in time.”

Snow believes journalists have stepped back since 2016, however, and called rampant, over-eager reporting, “a collective lesson.”

Schwartz echoed Snow’s sentiment, and claimed the mistrust of polling data could be attributed to widespread misreporting and a lack of understanding.

“With Florida, when we were polling, our final poll had Hillary Clinton ahead by 1 point, and our headline and lead said this is too close to call, this is within the margin of error. It could go either way,” said Schwartz. “But the perception was still, ‘Oh Hillary Clinton is ahead in Florida,’ and that’s how it got interpreted. The polls weren’t saying that. The polls were saying Florida could go either way. It ended up that Donald Trump won by 1 point, well within the poll’s margin of error.”

Quinnipiac University Poll sign at the Whitney Avenue location

With 2016 in the rearview mirror, Schwartz and his team now look forward to an electric race in 2020, particularly with so many Democrats throwing their hats in the ring for the chance to take on President Trump.

The stakes remain high for the Quinnipiac Poll, as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) recently declared it would be using the Quinnipiac Poll as one that will determine which candidates are eligible for the upcoming primary debates.

“A candidate has to get at least 1 percent in three polls; either a national poll, or one of the early voting states, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada,” Schwartz said. “If they do that, then they make the debates.”

Schwartz said the DNC’s decision was made along the same guidelines CNN and Fox News used to select which Republican candidates were eligible for the debates in 2016. Schwartz called the polls chosen, “gold standard” polls – ones that use live interviewers and call cell phones.

The Quinnipiac Poll began calling cell phones in 2012, in a move that Schwartz calls the biggest change in methodology since he began directing the poll over two decades ago. He credits the addition as an important way to ensure each survey gets adequate representation from younger voters.

During national polls, interviewers are divided in half between landlines and cell phones. With such a large magnitude of numbers to dial each shift, Schwartz said proper scheduling is of the utmost importance.

“Going into a survey, we have a plan,” Schwartz said. “We’ll say ‘we are trying to get 1,200 registered voters,’ and we know we are going to need this many interviewers working this many nights in order to achieve it.”

Jean Amazan, survey call center operations manager, agrees, and says scheduling and managing the staff is the most difficult part of the operation.

“It would be very easy for us to poll if we could get people in their seats when we need them to be,” Amazan said. “That’s the hardest part.”

The Poll is hindered, however, in that the interviewer position is a part time job, and many of the interviewers are Quinnipiac students. Non-students can’t work more than 19.5 hours a week, and students can’t work more than 15 hours a week.

“When the students are here, we set the number of expected cancellations higher because we know students are more likely to cancel than the non-students,” Amazan said. “The meat on the bone is really getting people in their seat dialing numbers and getting those completes.”

Despite the scheduling obstacles, the Quinnipiac Poll rarely fails to meet its goal.

“We try not to let it happen,” Dorothy Donarum, manager of interviewer operations said. “We’ll extend hours if we see that we’re getting a lot of cancellations. We’ll make it a ‘B week’ so everyone will work an extra shift.”

Donarum, who began working at the poll in 1999 as an interviewer, emphasized the importance of getting enough completes to make the data viable, which is dependent upon adequate scheduling.

“If you’re going to the press, you can’t go to the press saying ‘I polled 500 people,’” Amazan added. “If you say you’re going to poll 1,000 registered people you want to have 1,000 registered people – and if you don’t have people to get that data, you don’t have the result that you’re expecting.”

Carmen Carranza, assistant manager of interviewer operations, also started working as an interviewer, and noted that the amount of completes can vary on a daily basis.

“You notice a difference when you go into the room,” Carranza said. “It all depends on the state and the day of the week too, but on a Saturday morning it’s very busy, a lot of people are answering the phone, but the Saturday second shift you walk in there and hardly anybody is on a survey.”

With the significance of workplace attendance in mind, Carranza, Amazan and Donarum still believe that working around student schedules is a must.

Polling stations located at the Quinnipiac Poll Whitney Avenue location

“We realize that the students are here to go to school and there’s a lot of meetings and whatnot at night,” Donarum said.

“If you have something at school, just let us know and we’ll work with you,” Amazan added. “We try to talk to [students] and help them because you’re not going to be in college the rest of your life. You eventually graduate and join the workforce, and if you don’t show up to work, your boss is going to tell you ‘bye.’”

While scheduling complications will always be a hurdle for the Quinnipiac Poll, there is no lack of passion from the management team.

“It’s kind of exciting on a night where it’s the last night of our survey and we’re aiming to get 1,200 registered [voters] and we’re at 1,191, you know, and it’s like quarter of nine,” Donarum said. “Everyone gets very excited and I love to see that happen when we make our goal.”

Amazan concurred, highlighting how stressful the job can be when time is of the essence. Seeing the results come to fruition, however, makes all that stress worthwhile.

“Once you get to the end of survey and you make it happen and reach the goal, I think that’s the best part of the job,” Amazan said.

Going from a single state polling facility to a nationally recognized institution has been integral in making Quinnipiac University a household name. According to former Quinnipiac President John Lahey, the university shells out about $2 million annually to keep the operation running, and students and staff alike agree that it has been money well spent.

According to Scott McLean, Chairman for the school’s Department of Philosophy and Political Science, there is no shortage of benefits to being employed by the poll.

“If they’re willing to take the effort, [students] would be able to understand the work of pollsters and survey research,” McLean said. “It really depends on the students’ interests and desires. We’ve had students that went from being interviewers all the way to being full-time staff at the Poll.”

McLean said students who are interested in learning how to use polling data have additional opportunities to engage with public opinion polling in classes, such as ‘Political Psychology and Public Opinion’ which he teaches, and a course on statistics for social sciences in the math department.

Quinnipiac student Amanda Perelli (courtesy: Kody Murphy)

On top of all that, the Poll is a great way for students to hear from a variety of voices across the country with an extensive range of political beliefs. It’s also an opportunity for college students to earn a little extra cash. In fact, the interviewer position is one of the highest paying jobs around campus.

One of those students taking advantage of all the Quinnipiac Poll has to offer is Amanda Perelli, senior journalism major.

“It’s actually an interesting job,” Perelli said. “You are participating in collecting data that will be used nationally, and that’s a big deal. People all over the country look to and rely on the data you are working towards collecting.”

Perelli admits however, that the job can be tiring, especially when you’re dialing numbers for hours at a time with little to show for it.

“It surprised me how little people want to participate,” Perelli explained. “Out of 200 calls, we only get about three real responses.”

When over 100 employees are present, those three responses are necessary pieces of the larger picture. They add up to create that invaluable snapshot in time.

But besides the paycheck, Perelli says learning to speak clearly and confidently by interviewing respondents is immensely beneficial as a rising journalist.

“I’ve learned how to be confident in what I am saying and how to articulate my words so that others can understand me,” Perelli said. “This is a great skill to have in any career.”

Senior political science major Hannah Ellis agreed, but noted observing geographical political differences as one of the most interesting aspects of the job.

“It’s been really eye opening to see how people view certain political issues, especially as a political science major,” Ellis said. “I used to intern for a political messaging firm that took polling data and used it to form campaign messaging for politicians and it’s so interesting to see how these polls are collected.”

Understanding the inner workings of data collection is not the only skill students are taking away from working at the Poll, however. Junior political science and economics major Tyler Brierley often applies information he’s gathered at work to his classes.

“The surveys we conducted gave me insight into what was going on politically on the state and federal level,” Brierley said. “This helped when I was taking my Congress and the Presidency class as well as my American Political Movements class. We would always talk about current events and their politicalside effects.”

Current events and their political side effects is truly what the whole operation is about. The Quinnipiac Poll works tirelessly to provide a snapshot in time, from data collection to analysis and presentation, and everything in between.

Schwartz and his team show no plans of slowing down as we plug along towards 2020, and the Quinnipiac Poll will surely remain the place to go for the most accurate snapshots of our ever-changing political landscape.

Quinnipiac University Polling Institute at West Woods location

Central Connecticut communities raise awareness of pollution in Quinnipiac River

By Emma Robertson

A photographer. An eclectic group of artists. An organization composed almost entirely of volunteers. All different, but with a common goal: to educate Connecticut residents about the Quinnipiac River, the threats it faces and how it can be used for good.

David James, president of the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association (QRWA), believes it is now more important than ever to get local communities involved with the Quinnipiac River.

“We really think that it’s important for people to have a hands-on relationship with their physical environment,” he said. “In a highly technological age like we have, it’s all the more important to get people relating to their world.”

The Quinnipiac is a river with a long history of pollution. The battle against corporations and industries that have polluted it has seen progress and setbacks. But regardless, locals are coming together through art, education, and activism to inform the public about the importance of their local river.

The Quinnipiac River has been an integral part of Connecticut history for 20,000 years. According to the Quinnipiac River Fund, it begins in New Britain and travels 38 miles south, ending in the New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound. It travels through 14 towns, including Cheshire, Meriden, Wallingford and New Haven.

The Quinnipiac River, which begins in New Britain and ends in New Haven, is 38 miles long and travels through 14 municipalities.

As industrialization spread throughout the country in the mid-1800s, industries and businesses populated the banks of the Quinnipiac River because of advancements in hydro powered manufacturing. According to the Quinnipiac River Fund, “on the upper river, Meriden and Wallingford became (world-renowned) producers of (silver-plating) and (metalware), and their populations rapidly expanded.” As these populations increased, more industrial discharge and sewage were dumped into the river, causing the Quinnipiac to become severely polluted over the years.

In 1972, what had been previously known as the Water Pollution Control Act was amended and renamed the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under the amendment, the EPA gained the right “to implement pollution control programs” and “made it unlawful for any person to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions.” Under this new legislation, industries and companies were limited to the amount of pollutants they could release into bodies of water. Following the adoption of this amendment, rivers across the country, including the Quinnipiac, began to see improvements in water quality.

Even with the CWA, the Quinnipiac still sees its fair share of problems. There are two categories of pollution that affect it today: point source and nonpoint source pollution. Point source pollution was the target of the CWA. According to the Quinnipiac River Fund, “point source pollution can be traced directly back to a specific origin. Typical sources are the discharge pipes from factories and municipal sewage treatment facilities.” Although the CWA allows specific amounts of these chemicals to be released into the river, companies still manage to find loopholes.

The banks of the Quinnipiac River were a popular location for industries and businesses in the mid-1800s because of advancements in hydro powered manufacturing. As these businesses flocked to Connecticut, increased amounts of discharge were dumped into the river.

Matthew Higbee, research and communications officer for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, explained that in order to identify a chemical that pollutes the Quinnipiac, scientists have to specifically test for that chemical.

“The problem now is the chemical industry can come up with a new chemical and we don’t even know to test for it,” Higbee said.

Without knowledge of these new chemicals, it becomes incredibly difficult to identify them as pollutants in the river. In situations like this, point-source pollutants can be dangerous and unpredictable.

Nonpoint source pollution, on the other hand, usually takes the form of runoff. These pollutants and substances are carried by water across fields, lawns, parking lots and roads. Nonpoint source pollutants can include fertilizers, pesticides, road salt, animal droppings, litter, car fluids and dissolved metals. According to Higbee, these pollutants are the current major threat to the Quinnipiac due to the close proximity of the Merritt Parkway, numerous housing developments and the plentiful lawns and fields of Connecticut.

Quinnipiac Associate Professor of Biology Courtney McGinnis has been conducting research on the Quinnipiac River since 2015. While she acknowledges that industries do release chemicals into the river in the form of point-source pollution, her concerns focus more on nonpoint source pollution.

“(We need to) reduce nonpoint pollution sources,” McGinnis said. “While there are discharge permits to dump industrial waste into the river, we also need to improve the barriers to divert nonpoint pollution sources, like runoff.”

Because the exact source of nonpoint source pollution is usually unknown, it is nearly impossible to regulate. Therefore, nonpoint source pollution is one of the largest threats facing the Quinnipiac today.

Nonpoint source pollution can take the form of runoff. With the Merritt Parkway’s close proximity to the Quinnipiac, pollutants from the road can often be carried straight to the river.

These two forms of pollution have degraded water quality in the Quinnipiac and citizens are starting to see consequences. Although for years the pollution problem has seemed hopeless, locals are fighting back.

One of the most active and successful local organizations in the fight against pollution is QRWA. It has one clear goal in mind: to advance the conservation of the Quinnipiac River and its watershed. The group, which was created by a concerned group of citizens from Meriden, Southington and Wallingford, was officially registered as a non-profit organization by the state of Connecticut in 1979.

QRWA is made up almost entirely of volunteers. Although it does collaborate occasionally with scientists and politicians, according to James, the organization relies on volunteers.

“It’s a good thing, because part of our mission actually is to try and connect residents of this area with the resource which is the Quinnipiac River,” he said. “So it actually provides a vehicle for us to get people involved with the resource.”

The organization has three major programs through which it promotes improvement of the river. Twice a year, it holds an event called Source to Sound Cleanup. This cleanup can vary in size from year to year and depends on the amount of time that has gone into organization and the volunteer base. Some years, it includes as few as two municipalities and some years it may include as many as nine. The cleanup focuses on the towns of Cheshire, Meriden, Wallingford and occasionally North Haven.

QRWA’s environmental education programs are a way for younger generations to become familiar with the Quinnipiac River. QRWA works with local high schools and middle schools from Meriden, Wallingford and New Haven to categorize small aquatic life based on the species’ tolerance or intolerance of degraded water quality. At the QRWA headquarters in Meriden, students are able to use the organization’s classroom and science equipment to analyze the water samples.

Riffle Bio Assessment by Volunteers (RBV) is a QRWA program implemented by the state. In the RBV program, a small group of volunteers catalog macro and micro invertebrates in rivers across the state in order to judge water quality. However, two years ago, due to a lack of funds, the state stopped testing polluted bodies of water, like the Quinnipiac.

“Our hope is that they begin to save that data again because the Clean Water Act that was passed in the ‘70s and the state mandate that comes from that says that we’re supposed to be collecting data from all water bodies, not just from clean water bodies,” James said. “So we’re hoping that we can correct that and get that data flowing again.”

With more knowledge about the Quinnipiac’s water quality, organizations like QRWA are able to strengthen efforts to improve the river. And that improvement is critical if the Quinnipiac River is to be a usable resource for local residents in more urbanized areas of central Connecticut. James and QRWA understand how important the Quinnipiac can be for local communities.

“A lot of times people who live in urban areas have less ability to access cleaner areas and more rustic areas,” he said. “Just because they’re in an urban area doesn’t make them any less needful of natural resources or less deserving of having access to natural resources.”

Access to natural resources goes beyond a clean river. It extends as well to clean recreational areas surrounding the river. Another local group has attempted to tackle this problem in an entirely different way.

Pick-Up Artists is a group of artists who come together to rid local parks and recreational areas of trash and garbage. After cleaning up the garbage, the group settles down and creates art inspired by the environment. In October of 2018, the group gathered at Quinnipiac River Park in New Haven to tackle the litter that covered the area.

The organization is small, as it was formed in the fall of 2018, and was founded by environmental and political artist Zoe Matthiessen. Matthiessen vividly remembers the moment that drove her to action.

“I had been on a (bike) ride and I was sketching and on my ride home, right in front of me, like literally 2 or 3 feet in front of me, a seagull was hit by a car as it was picking through trash on the street,” she said. “I cried all the way home and I was like, ‘that’s it, I have to try to do something.’”

Matthiessen immediately began creating fliers and distributing them around New Haven. Shortly after her initial efforts, the New Haven Parks and Recreation Department began to help Matthiessen organize her idea and gather supplies.

The first two events, held at Edgewood Park and Quinnipiac River Park, were attended by 10-12 people. Matthiessen felt that the second event stood out over the first.

“I think the second cleanup was even more of a success, we got every little bit of trash out of there, I think we got about 12 bags full of trash,” she said.

Following pickups, members create art of varying subjects, from tree stumps to ducks, tugboats to lamp posts. However, Matthiessen hopes the cleanup events will help Pick-Up Artist members become more aware of how they are using plastic and garbage.

“You think about where the garbage is coming from and the short shelf life it has and how unimportant the function of it was, and it’s very frustrating because the lifespan of the garbage is quite long and the function that it serves is just so brief,” she said. “So I think that it makes you more aware of what you’re doing on a day-to-day.”

Matthiessen plans to schedule more events for the upcoming spring season. She stresses that the events are open to everyone, not just artists. And the end result is worth it.

“It is really satisfying to walk away from a place, seeing all the bags of trash lined up, thinking about how you’re leaving it compared with how it was when you first arrived,” Matthiessen said.

But Matthiessen has not been the only local trying to use art as a form of activism. New Haven photographer Ian Christmann uses photos as a way to illustrate how pollution has affected the Quinnipiac River. He received a grant to photograph the river over the course of two years, highlighting the beauty and abuses.

Although Christmann’s initial goal was to show towns along the river what the conditions looked like upstream and downstream from their corridors, he also made some unsettling discoveries. According to Christmann, he learned that in the ‘80s, the river was the second most carcinogenic river in the country and that to this day, companies continue to dump waste directly into the water. However, one discovery hit a little too close to home.

“One of the most upsetting sights I saw was the size of the discharge pipe pouring into the river behind Cytec Chemicals (now Allnex) in Wallingford, knowing that the water was flowing down into my neighborhood after that point,” he said.

After two years of shooting and exploring every inch of the Quinnipiac River and its watershed, Christmann was able to narrow his final project down to 150 photos that truly highlighted the various conditions of the river.

The final exhibit was displayed in the city hall or library of each town in the Quinnipiac River Watershed. After remaining in each of those locations for a month, the exhibit was moved to the state capital building for one last display. After the completion of the exhibit, the photos were donated to QRWA for educational and advocacy use.

Overall, Christmann was happy that he could fight the battle against pollution in a way he knew so well.

“It was great using my abilities as a photographer to highlight and engage people around the conditions of the Quinnipiac River, in order to amplify the beauty and abuses along the river,” he said.

As the Quinnipiac’s water quality improves, it has the potential to become a beautiful resource for recreational activities.

Overall, it’s important to remember why clean rivers benefit local communities. The Quinnipiac River has been a pivotal resource throughout Connecticut’s history. It can be a home to aquatic life, a resource for recreation, and subject of art. But as James claims, communities should rely on the Quinnipiac for their prosperity.

“I think we have a deep held belief that human health is tied directly to environmental health,” he said. “It’s not really possible to have a healthy community without healthy resources.”

Social media – good or bad for mental health?

Exploring a mixed effect fueled by filters and realities

By Kirby Paulson

Alissa Parker ‘s social media feed masked the horrific reality of her life as a college student mentally abused by an ex-boyfriend.

But she never discussed it because social media clouded her judgment.

“I never talked about it because in social media you look good, you don’t want to show that you’re having difficult problems,” said Parker, now a senior nursing major at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut.. “So instead of dealing with my problems, I posted all the time on social media how happy I was, look what I’m doing because I thought that was a good way to kind of cope with the situation for lack of a better term.”

Parker, then a sophomore, knew she had to confront reality and do so without delay. She turned to her resident assistant for help and got the support she needed. She is an RA herself now, works in Quinnipiac’s admissions department as a tour guide and is a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

Parker’s use of social media as a mask to hide her personal pain is just one example of how the apps that seem to dominate the lives of the young can work to harm them while seeming to offer endless connections to good times.

“Yeah, it may look like I have my life together on paper and on social media because I’m posting with my boyfriend and I’m posting with my sorority sisters and I look like I’m doing great, but there are times inside I feel for a lack of a better term again, dead,” she said.

She’s not alone.

Nick Calderaro is a senior finance major who works in Quinnipiac’s campus life office, runs an organization on campus, serves as a first-year seminar peer catalyst and is an orientation leader, among other things.

He too has seen social media used as a mask.

“So it’s just so artificial in the sense that you can put whatever you want out there and you know, just make things out to be what they’re not at all,” Calderaro said.

An informal survey of Quinnipiac students in class Facebook groups yielded some telling results about social media and its effect, with a lean towards it having a mix of both a positive and negative effect.

Participants were asked how many social media accounts they use and if they believe their usage has a positive effect, a negative effect, a mix of both or indifferent.

Social Media and Mental Health: Survey Results

Some 150 respondents participated in a Google Forms survey posted in Quinnipiac Facebook groups. One question posed was: do you believe that social media has had a positive effect, negative effect, a mix of both or indifferent on your mental health or personal judgment?

Some 117 students responded to a Google form posted on Facebook that asked questions about the number of accounts they had and whether or not social media generated positive or negative mental health effects, a mix of both or indifferent.

A startling 89 respondents reported that social media generated a mix of positive and negative impacts on their mental well-being.

The idea of social media presenting unrealistic expectations and perhaps seemingly perfect lifestyles is no secret and fires up the idea that it may have an adverse reaction on someone’s mental health.

Quinnipiac counselor Kenneth Wenning, who holds a doctorate in clinical social work, said social media creates an environment of unrealistic expectations among individuals who believe their top goal in life is to be happy.

“I think it does give some people an unrealistic sense of what life is all about because life is always a mixed bag,” Wenning said. “It’s good stuff and it’s tough stuff and it’s drudgery and it’s boredom, it’s not always you know, what’s going on.”

Kenneth Wenning PHD, LCSW

Quinnipiac Counseling Center, Counselor

He also referenced an example drawn from a recent conversation with a patient.

“So, I had a graduate student tell me the other day she was done with social media, she stopped all of it and she said to me ‘and I discovered, I still have a life’ but it’s like life is now being lived vicariously almost in a way,” he said. “When you look at what’s going on with these people, and these people and all of the monitoring and you know, thinking about everybody else’s life and I think that is a real problem.”

But social media is not the evil that some may think.

After the Super Bowl ended on Feb. 3, 2019, content featuring the “world_record_egg” aired on Hulu. The storied egg had been posted on an Instagram account that wanted to break the record for being the most liked post. Through a series of multiple posts, the egg cracked a little bit more each time. When it finally did crack on Super Bowl Sunday, it revealed a message about cracking due to the pressure of social media.

The World Record Egg, now the most-liked photo on Instagram, teamed up with @hulu to raise mental health awareness after #SuperBowlLIII. #EggGang #TalkingEgg #WeGotThis pic.twitter.com/bPBcoHs5JY

— Early Today (@NBC_EarlyToday) February 4, 2019

Mary Dunn, an assistant teaching professor of advertising and the instructor of the Strategies for Social Media course at Quinnipiac, said the campaign worked in unexpected ways.

“They didn’t truly think it was going to turn into what it was and it wasn’t until they had the audience like of ten million that they sat down and decided what they were going to use it for and I think it’s a happy story, a charming story, an inspiring story that they’ve decided to use it as a platform for social messages and campaigns like mental health awareness,” Dunn explained.

MaryDunn copy.jpg — Mary Dunn

Quinnipiac School of Communications, Assistant Teaching Professor of Advertising

Dunn said social media can drive powerful narratives but not all social apps are on-board with that idea.

“So platforms like Twitter resisted this for a really long time,” Dunn said. “They wanted the character limit, they wanted to force people to be succinct in their messages but when you’re succinct in your messages and you limit yourself, it can lead to misunderstandings, to oversimplification and so Twitter had to expand as well, right, and so I think that’s part of why they’re still alive and now they’re actually doing well this year, go figure.”

She also talked about the method of “scrubbing your social,” which involves unfollowing accounts that might be harmful to an individual. Olamide Gbotosho is a sophomore and one of Dunn’s students. In high school, she dealt with depression and said social media had a big influence in that.

Gbotosho has “scrubbed her social” before and finds it effective. While she has unfollowed some accounts of famous individuals that have an “ideal of perfection,” she has also followed others that play a more positive role.

“Sometimes I follow some positive Instagram accounts, so I do have that also,” she said.

There’s also the opportunity for social media to be used as a community builder of sorts for those suffering from mental illness. John Naslund, who holds a doctorate in health policy and clinical research, is a Harvard Research Fellow and has been doing studies on the benefits of peer-to-peer networking and support on social media.

“So we know that this peer-to-peer support is happening naturally online, it’s happening in forums, it’s happening in all kinds of places, well how can we kind of tap into that, tap into these positive interactions to actually support the delivery of some kind of services or programs that can be really helpful,” Naslund said.

While this research has promise to possibly provide support, he made it clear that it should not be replacing the care from a professional.

“This isn’t something that would be a replacement for existing mental health care, it’s most definitely not, it’s not a replacement,” Naslund said. “But what we see across the United States and especially in other parts of the world, the vast majority of people who have mental illness don’t have access to adequate care or don’t have access to adequate services and don’t have access to adequate support most of the time and this is consistent across the entire country where people really, the vast majority of people with mental illness don’t have the support they need.”

Naslund said that despite its negative associations, social media could be used to support mental health.

“Where we really need to think about this going forward (is) just thinking of the future of how social media can potentially be used for promoting mental health is I think really making sure that people who live with mental illness or have mental health issues are informed about how they can use social media in a positive way,” he said.

While social media may be a potential support network moving forward, Gbotosho believes that the best source of comfort may be in the form of the people in your respective circle.

“If you’re looking for comfort, social media isn’t the best place to find it,” Gbotosho said. “Rather finding it through the people that you surround yourself with.

The future of social media as it pertains to mental health and society in general might be uncertain.

But Allissa Parker, Nick Calderaro and Olamide Gbotosho may be able to sleep soundly tonight, knowing that hope may be on the horizon and that they are not alone.

Defining culture: Revealing an American perspective

What unifies a nation known for its diversity?

By Rachael Durand

A group of millennial-aged college students sat in a dull blue-lit room surrounded by people they thought were strangers. Their professor had an accent: English with a Spanish twang. She asked the students to introduce themselves as if they were meeting her for the first time.

Students introduced themselves by describing their positions in extracurricular activities, hometowns, family backgrounds, favorite animals and what they liked to do for fun.

The responses turned strangers into neighbors, relatives and classmates; each finding a commonality between them. They were students, journalists, Italians, Americans, animal-lovers, travelers, males, females, humans.

It seemed easy for them to identify with a category to define themselves for an introduction. They defined who they were according to labels, titles and interests. But when asked to define American culture, it was blank stares and gaping mouths.

But it is precisely that attempt at defining their own culture that presents the biggest challenge. It is a challenge not just faced by university students. More than 10 people interviewed struggled to come up with a satisfactory definition of American culture.

Well what does America consist of demographically?

The United States of America. The states. The home of the brave. The red, white, and blue. Whatever you decide to call it, 327.5 million people call it home.

Data from the United States Census Bureau 2018 annual report.

According to the Census Bureau, most people in the United States are classified as white.

However culturally Americans consider the United States a diverse country.

Regardless of race and other demographics, Americans are mothers, fathers, workers, immigrants, activists and humans. But what brings together these individuals and how does this create a common culture?

Our culture is the way we connect, but how is American culture defined?

Let’s break it down piece by piece.

What is culture?

Culture is not clearly defined because it encompasses a wide variety of ideas. There are so many factors that contribute to the definition that the Merriam-Webster dictionary has more than six definitions for the word “culture.” If the authors of the dictionary can’t create one cohesive definition, then can we?

The main definition for culture is, “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group,” according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

Jason Burke, a 53-year-old Navy veteran and the Director of Veteran and Military Affairs at Quinnipiac University, was one of many who had trouble finding the right words to define culture.

What is an American?

“Depends… North American, Central American, South American?” asked Dr. Jorge Freiman, a 54-year-old Latino anesthesiologist and former captain in the United States Air Force living in Houston, Texas.

Freiman was born and raised in Argentina and moved to the United States in 1971 when he was six years old. He is a father, husband, doctor, veteran and Jewish-American.

Freiman is one of the many immigrants that make up what it supposedly means to be an American.

In the United States, there are roughly 44.5 million immigrants living stateside which equals to about 13.7 percent of all Americans, according to the Migration Policy Institute. One in seven United States residents is foreign-born, according to data provided by the American Community Survey.

But does this data support the notion that the United States is a “melting pot” of immigrants and cultures?

The phrase “melting pot” came into popular use in 1908 when a play titled The Melting Pot highlighted the life of a Russian-Jewish immigrant family. The family created an “American Symphony” as they looked to live in a society free from ethnic divisions and hatred in the United States. The play popularized the idea of melting as a metaphor for ethnic assimilation, with the coined phrase “melting pot” representing American culture.The play popularized the term “melting pot,” but in today’s climate, the “American Symphony” as described in the early 1900s is not harmonic but elusive.

“I would call it a melding pot, because melting implies a homogeneous mix versus melding, [which] is smooshed together, but of varying consistencies,” Freiman said.

How do we define ourselves? Are we a melting pot or a salad?

In 2019 it seems the term “melting pot” needs to be updated as it may not be an accurate representation of Americans or American culture.

Don Sawyer, the chief diversity officer at Quinnipiac University, found it difficult to prioritize how he would define himself in three sentences or less. His response highlighted the categories he identified with the most.

Sawyer is no stranger to the word diversity, and recognizes the importance of preserving individual identities in a “melting pot.”

Americans pride themselves on being diverse with labels, categories and identities. Ultimately it is our differences and prejudices that create inner tension and divisions.

“I don’t think there is just one American culture. I think our culture is a collection of various subcultures that can differ drastically,” said Alexis Ali, a 32-year-old working professional woman who is white. “The ‘American’ culture shared by Hawaiian surfers is different than the second generation among immigrant communities in Minneapolis.”

Those categories, or subcultures, have inherent biases based on individual backgrounds and historical contexts. You are white, he is black, she is Jewish, he is Puerto Rican, she is an immigrant, he is a Muslim.

Struggles within American culture?

American culture cannot be defined in one single definition because it is individualized. It is a culmination of socioeconomic factors that work for and against one another. It is groups, labels and boxes, but do they all mix?

“I don’t think [melting pot] is accurate because it’s not a complete melting pot, it’s like single pots,” said Roswitha (Rose) Ladue a 61-year-old German immigrant married to an American veteran who has been living and working in the United States for almost 40 years. “We have single pots– you’re either in this pot or in this pot. We don’t have a whole group that combines everybody, that takes everybody into account. When we talk about including people, it’s certain groups, not all groups.”

Although Ladue is an American by the definition of a green card, her integration into American culture could not be described as easy or comfortable. She knew that marrying an American soldier meant facing the assumptions regarding her German heritage.

“It was a clash in some ways because people did not greet me warmly. ‘Oh, you’re from Germany,’ they said. You were either a novelty, or they said, ‘Oh, what did you do when Hitler was in?’ Because they did not know my history,” Ladue said.

From some perspectives, you don’t have to be an immigrant to feel like an outsider. Historically speaking, dating back to the formation of the United States, there has been civil unrest, much of it related to racial and ethnic differences and biases.

Clifford Burnett, a 65-year-old black male from Springfield, Massachusetts, explains that American culture in today’s day and age is reflective of the struggles of the civil rights movement. Despite the progress made over the years, the political climate has rekindled the divisions that many thought were resolved.

“The current political environment has, in my opinion, pushed us back to the 40’s mentality,” Burnett said.

Burnett is not the only one who feels the shift in American culture over the past few years.

What unites Americans?

Despite the political climate, gender, class and racial divisions, historical backgrounds and prejudices, there is still a force that unites us as American people.

The greatest adversities and tragedies have proven to be catalysts for unity and change.

For Burke, this can be both positive and negative.

“I think sometimes when you get leadership that may be questionable, that really changes things and gets people actually talking or yelling at each other, then maybe eventually that talking changes things in the future,” he said. “So sometimes something less desirable happens but it turns out to be beneficial in the long run.”

Above all our titles, labels and boxes that create our individuality, the force that unites us is the title of being an American.

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What brings Americans together are shared values.

Being an American means having the same basic freedoms. What brings other cultures to America is the potential to enjoy these freedoms.

The idea of the American dream is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and it is the heartbeat of the American people.

What unites Americans is the power of individuality and the ability to be who you want to be with the freedom to express it.

Being an American means fighting for what you believe in even if you are the only one.

Being an American means creating unity through diversity.

So what is American culture?

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American culture cannot be summed up into a single definition because it is individualized.

The titles, categories, and boxes checked are the culminating factors that define our individual cultures. The diversity in America is how we identify ourselves within American culture.

What makes American culture unique is that we all identify as Americans despite our differences and perceptions of what it means to be an American.

“I believe that American culture can not be summed up in just one definition as it depends on each individual’s perception on what it means to be American,” said Adam Beyer, a 27-year-old finance and operations associate from South Hadley, Massachusetts. “Individualism is an important part of being American that we are free to choose what to believe in and how to think.”

American culture is a working definition that calls upon all of us to create our interpretation.

So, how would you define American culture?

Stranger danger?: Reforming Connecticut’s sex offender registry

There’s a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and in many ways it’s true. Parents and guardians rely heavily on teachers, coaches and other caretakers to pick up the slack and provide a protective environment for their kids outside of the home.

Families depend on people like Laura Ramos and Christopher Merchant. Monday through Friday parents counted on Ramos, a young mother herself, to safeguard their students as a special education teacher at Central High School in Bridgeport. On the weekends, Merchant was trusted to instruct and encourage dozens of young athletes as the vice president of Plainfield’s Little League baseball team. It’s people like Ramos and Merchant, young professionals who have dedicated their careers to children, that bring parents peace of mind, give young people a role model and allow a community to thrive.

We can trust them, right?

In January, Ramos was sentenced to 10 years after pleading no-contest on two counts of second-degree sexual assault. Days later, Merchant was arrested after he allegedly used the internet to solicit sex from a 14-year-old boy. Child pornography was later found on his iPhone.

In addition to serving time, Ramos is also required to register as a sex offender. Should Merchant be found guilty, he’ll do the same. But even as the Connecticut sex offender registry list grows longer, the assaults persist. Is the registry the solution to sexual violence or just an outdated system?

As controversy around the registry mounts and calls for its reform are made, the question remains: Is the registry today doing what it’s intended to do?

Many would argue yes. Proponents of the registry assert that communities, and victims especially, deserve access to this kind of information in order to protect themselves, and that perpetrators surrendered their right the privacy the moment they committed their crime. Others disagree, arguing that the severe restrictions that come with being on the registry inhibit reintegration, rendering it counterproductive.

The idea of a sexual registry as a legally mandated database dates back to the late 80s. In 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered in his small town of St. Joseph, Minn. Five years later, 7-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor in New Jersey. These two heinous cases of violence against children are credited with sparking a national outrage that led to the passage of extensive legislation with the express purpose of penalizing individuals convicted of sex crimes.

The Jacob Wetterling Act of 1993 required any person convicted of a state offense against a minor to make their address known to law enforcement for 10 years after their release. Megan’s Law, enacted just one year later, required that convicts not only make their personal information available to law enforcement, but that the community be notified as well.

“We respect people’s rights, but there is no right greater than a parent’s right to raise a child in safety.” said then-President Clinton during a 1996 radio address. “That’s why the law should follow those who prey on America’s children wherever they go, state to state, town to town.”

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This legislation was groundbreaking, as well as remarkably liberal in terms of expanding governmental power. The federal government was now able to deprive convicted sexual predators of their right to privacy, among other uniquely American prerogatives. The registry’s broad scope and invasive nature are at the center of why it’s controversial today, but 20 years ago public opinion was overwhelmingly favorable.

In 1998, The Washington Post profiled the Doyles, a young family in suburban Philadelphia. Each state was to decide for itself the manner and fashion in which to publicize a convict’s information. Pennsylvania opted for an especially radical approach: sending Virginia Doyle’s 6-year-old home from school with a “sex offender release notice” in his backpack.

A long, careful discussion about Megan Kanka followed between the Doyles and their children that afternoon. “I feel more comfortable, knowing they’ll be aware,” Doyle said.

“So much has changed since I was a child,” a New Jersey mother told the Washington Post. “You never locked doors; now you lock every door. Maybe this is just something else we have to learn to live with.”

Widespread support for the registry was anticipated by lawmakers. During this period the media inundated audiences with startlingly high figures for recidivism. A fear of “stranger danger” was drilled into the minds of children across the nation. Parents were told to rest assured – the government was diligently compiling the names of all of these perverted individuals onto a neat list.

In the decades since the laws were first enacted, much of what was considered fact at the time has been debunked. Recidivism rates have been revealed to be generally lower for sexual offenses than other crimes, and we know now that strangers are often the least of our worries.

“I was a kid who grew up through this in the 80s when ‘stranger danger’ started, I heard the stories and watched the news.” Beth Hamilton, associate director at the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said. “It’s much easier to move through the world worrying about a stranger, instead of every single person you come in contact with.”

But that’s just not reality, Hamilton argues. Among its many objectives, the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, or simply the Alliance, seeks to change the common perception of who a sex offender is, especially among kids.

“We go into classrooms and say ‘close your eyes and imagine that a sex offender just walked through the door’ and when we name the traits of this person, [kids say] ‘white, overweight, drives a white van’ and then we have conversations about why that mythology is so harmful,” Hamilton explained.

The registry has not evolved alongside our understanding of sex crimes and their perpetrators. The Connecticut registry, with its nearly 5,500 offenders, has remained largely stagnant in structure and function since its last major reform 1998. Across the state, many people are calling for a total overhaul.

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“The sex offender registry came about because of a heightened sense of stranger danger,” attorney Christine Rapillo, chief public defender for Connecticut, said. “All it does is identify everybody. [It] doesn’t determine how actually dangerous anybody is, it just puts every one of statutorily designated crimes on a list.”

Rapillo is a vocal critic of the registry as it exists today. She argues that not only does it lull people into a false sense of security, but it’s actually counter-productive. The harsh sanctions imposed on registered sex offenders often leave them unemployed or homeless, impeding their reintegration.

For many advocacy groups, reintegration is a primary concern, considered to be a key factor in preventing future instances of violence.

“We really understand the impacts that sexual violence has on individuals…but we also have to think sensibly about the larger, system-based responses that we have,” Hamilton said. “We fully support offenders having what they need to be reintegrated into society and successful. Ultimately what we know for offenders to be successful and not recidivate is access to support systems, jobs, safe and stable housing, education.”

Amanda Devan, a police sergeant with the Naugatuck police department, has dedicated much of her career to victim advocacy and the investigation of sex crimes. In addition to serving in law enforcement, Devan is also on the board of the victim advocacy nonprofit Jane Doe No More. She argues that the registry is not only theoretically flawed, but simply nonviable. She calls Connecticut’s registry underfunded and ineffective. With only a handful of state officers assigned to the unit tasked with managing thousands of offenders, she argues, it’s impossible to ensure compliance.

“There’s no way to track people. There’s no checks and balances to ensure these people are living where they’re supposed to,” Devan said. “Go ask Bridgeport how many people are noncompliant, go ask how many in New Haven, how many in Waterbury, in Hartford and New London. The police departments don’t have the resources to do it and the state police are far understaffed to keep up with it.”

However, there are some that see value in a public, readily accessible registry and harsh penalties for convicts. Donna Palomba, founder of Jane Doe No More and herself a survivor of sexual violence, argues that these things are critical to avoiding revictimization.

“I do think that it’s so important to keep the community safe from the core offenders of sexual violence,” Palomba said.“We know that they repeat, and so it’s important that we do everything we can.”

Sandra Wilson, a criminal justice program manager at Post University and board member at Jane Doe No More, shares Palomba’s sentiment.

“Just because you’re on the registry that doesn’t equate to you being a pedophile or a violent person…[People who partake in sex in public or peeing in public] end up on the list too,” Wilson said. “So I do think that reform may be necessary, but not abolition. Ultimately [it’s] not perfect, but I do believe we have a moral obligation to keep our public safe.”

Few contest the notion that it’s time for the registry to be reexamined. It’s how this re-examination takes place and what any resulting reforms might entail, that’s been hotly debated in recent years.

In 2015, the Connecticut sentencing commission began to reexamine the state’s treatment of sex offenders, questioning the “system of assessment, management, treatment, and sentencing.” The commission proposed the development of a risk-based registry, which would be divided in two parts. The first would be a public registry divulging the names of those determined to be a risk to public safety. The second list, which would be available to law enforcement only, would include everyone else.

The commission developed their proposal into a bill in 2017, but it failed to pass. Regardless, the commission continues its push for the registry’s complete overhaul.

“I think it’s very solid policy,” said Rapillo, who serves on the commission’s board. “It doesn’t at this point take people off the registry, but it does give people the opportunity to reintegrate back into society by making it less public, and I think that’s an excellent first step.”

Nina Vazquez, Lucy Nolan, April Embelton and Beth Hamilton of the Alliance

Although the legislation being proposed by the commission has the full endorsement of the Alliance, the organization wants to be clear that it only supports registry reform that is rooted in “victim-based decisions.”

“I think the changes in the registry are good. But we don’t want to go back in time, we only want the changes to go forward….we don’t want people already on the registry asking to be taken off or moved to the law enforcement only registry, we don’t want to let victims down,” Lucy Nolan, director of policy and public relations with the Alliance, said. “All of the legislation we work on is always about the victim.”

Although the Alliance and Jane Doe No More are alike in their dedication to serving victims, Palomba still favors a more conservative approach than the one the commission and its proponents are advocating.

“There is a difference between a perpetrator who violates another person versus peeing in public or things that don’t involve another person,” Palomba said. “But that’s a slippery slope, and I do think that registry serves a big purpose. We just need to do everything that we can to ensure the safety of our community and also to not re-victimize.”

For others, like Amanda Devan, the idea of implementing a risk-based registry is appalling.

“That’s a completely ludicrous idea, a sex offense is a sex offense,” she said. “If you’re on the registry you had to have done something that was enough of a crime to put you there. Ask a victim what a medium risk sex offender is… If I was a victim I would say absolutely not because what makes what happened to me any less affecting than what happened to somebody else?”

Many look back on the government’s behavior during the mid-nineties as rash, short-sighted and even reactionary. The sex offender registry was conceived and adopted with such fervor that its potential limitations and effects were largely overlooked. As a result, we’re left with the task of settling the registry’s inherent flaws, like the inept letter system.

In spite of debate and differing perspectives, there is one point on which all advocates agree; the vital role of education in both serving victims today and preventing sexual violence tomorrow.

These crimes continues to be heavily stigmatized, and some suggest that erasing the sense of shame commonly felt by victims is the first step in addressing the issue.

“Education is required. We need to talk about the fact that over 70 percent of victims know their rapist, whether it be acquaintance rape, date rape or child sexual abuse,” Palomba said. “Most importantly we need to dispel the myth that the perpetrator is the creepy guy in the alley…but I think that comes with education not so much related to the registry.”

Hamilton of the Alliance agrees, saying that the importance of early, continuous education cannot be emphasized enough.

“We believe education should start basically from birth and never end,” Hamilton said. “We focus less on stranger danger and a lot more on consent, healthy boundaries, bodily autonomy. My 2-year-old right now can tell you ‘my body, my choice.’ Those are the kind of prevention models we want to have for our kids. We don’t just want to say ‘don’t take the candy from the man in the van’ because it’s so unlikely that’s going to be their experience.”

“If we actually want to move towards keeping our children safe and having no new perpetrators of sexual violence, that’s what you focus on.”

The Goldfish Effect (and the art of distraction): how social media is shrinking our attention spans

By Hannah Cotter

Wake up. Check phone. Stand up. Check phone. Eat breakfast. Check phone.

No, this isn’t a weird remix to Kendrick Lamar’s “Swimming Pools (Drank).” This is what a normal morning looks like for me, according to the Screen Time feature on my iPhone.

The latest iPhone update for iOS 12 gives you access to Apple’s Screen Time suite, designed to give you a better idea of how much time you’re spending on your phone and giving you the option to limit time spent on certain apps.

The feature lurks quietly in the background while you’re scrolling through your Instagram feed or checking your emails on Outlook, silently adding minutes to your end of the week report.

“Your screen time was up 15% last week,” it tells me, and I automatically feel… shame?

I’ve become painfully aware of my social media addiction, but with a 24/7 media barrage of politics, pop culture and sports, it’s hard to look away. All I need to know, it seems, is in the palm of my hand.

Checking our phones has become second nature, like scratching an itch or touching our hair.

According to the Pew Research Center, 44% of teenagers in the United States say they check their phones as soon as they wake up. 18% of them say they feel obligated to respond to messages or notifications immediately.

The charts below depict the percentage of U.S. teens who say they…

People are quick to blame millennials for social media dependency, but that same study suggests 60% of parents also feel compelled to respond to messages right away.

Check out the parents who say they…

In a sense, our digital relationships are starting to take priority over our real life ones.

Though social media has many great assets: making communication easier, galvanizing human capital and spreading news and information in a quick and effective way, our dependence on it is starting to affect our lives off the screen.

How many times have you sat in a meeting or in a class where nearly everyone is consumed by what’s on their laptops or smartphones instead of what’s going on in front of them?

According to a 2015 study by Microsoft Corp., people generally lose concentration after eight seconds due to an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain.

“Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli,” the report reads. “They’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of media.”

Multi-screening is more common than you might think: look around next time you’re watching television with someone. Odds are, they’re juggling whatever you’re watching with whatever’s on their smartphone.

Audrey Rowe, a senior at Quinnipiac University, says she and her roommates oftentimes balance social media with whatever’s on their television.

“A lot of times when I’m watching shows, I’ll find myself on my phone,” Rowe said. “My roommates will do that, too. We’ll be watching something, like sitting on the couch, and we’re on our phones. What’s on the TV is just background noise and I’m looking through Instagram or Snapchat stories.”

Why?

“I don’t know,” she continued. “It’s so stupid. I want to watch the show, but I’m on my phone because it’s right there. You’re on it so much that it feels natural to be on it even when you’re watching something else. I want to be in touch with what’s going on, I guess.”

I spoke with Adam Alter, a social psychologist and professor at New York University and the author of “Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping us Hooked.” In his book, Alter explores the affects of social media addiction and how we can combat it.

We discussed Twitter and how a lot of people can’t physically get themselves to read more than a headline or a short tweet anymore, thanks to our 280-character attention spans.

“I think it’s easier than every to develop a short attention span,” he said. “Because so few experiences demand more than bite-sized chunks of attention. They’re designed that way because their creators know they’re competing with lots of other experiences that are just as likely to capture our time and attention.”

Social media helps brands go further, faster, cheaper and deeper than any other technology. In the social media landscape, brands are able to hook consumers with ads on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Because everyone is already on it, it’s easy for businesses to plant ads in celebrity posts or partner with brands because people are seeing the posts anyway. It’s become one of our generation’s most effective business tools.

For Will Pustari, a video producer, social media is strictly business.

Working at Barstool Sports, a sports and pop culture blog with a heavy presence on Twitter, social media became a major part of his job.

“It’s the only factor in all of the work I’ve done there,” he said. “Keeping up and especially capitalizing on every trend is extremely important. Because anyone can join the social media platform, many topics become oversaturated and diluted, making it all the more difficult to stay on top of what the masses are into at that point in time.”

Because he was always scouring the ‘Net for work-related news, his personal accounts got put on the back burner.

“I was constantly on the prowl for new content and staying on top of trends,” he explained. “So my own social media profiles became inactive for some time, but it didn’t bother me so much since it helped my work life significantly.”

How do we find a balance between social media in our work lives and our personal lives? Can we find a balance between our screen time and our real experiences?

Alter says the key is to relearn how to focus.

“The only way [to relearn to focus] is to be mindful about the issue—to train yourself to avoid a quick fix and to read longform articles and books; to close your browser as you undertake longer tasks; and to take time away from tech and screens to immerse yourself in deeper work and thought.”

Check out my podcast, The Goldfish Effect, to hear more stories about social media distraction.

Social media posts could come back to haunt you

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They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what are your pictures saying about you?

Today’s generation lives revolve around social media. People posts about our friends, family, pets, adventures, food, the list is endless. However, are these social media posts causing more harm than they are good when it comes to future career opportunities?

The way this generation presents themselves online says a lot about the type of people they are. It shows who they hang out with, how they spend our time, what their likes and dislikes are, and even what others say about them. With access to so much information about a person just by a simple Google search, it’s important to be aware of what you’re posting, because some companies take social media accounts into consideration when looking to hire someone for a job or internship.

Kristina Rosa, a producer for the show LA Daily on SiriusXM, says looking at social media accounts are important to her because it shows a person’s ability to be creative with a limited amount of characters.

“I look to see if the person is active daily or at least a few times a week, how the interaction is with articles or direct tweets, if the person only complains, or gives insightful feedback on articles or about a tweet,” Rosa said.

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Twitter is one social medium that could be used to either help or hurt a potential job candidate depending on how they use it. Lila Carney, the Director for Advising and Student Development in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, believes Twitter can be very effective if used wisely.

“Twitter has a lot of potential for students in career development. It’s a great resource for looking for jobs,” Carney said. “You can tweet at a company and a lot of times somebody will tweet back at you. If a company is highly competitive, showing that you follow them on Twitter, that you liked their articles, that maybe you’ve written your own stuff and that you’ve tweeted that at a company, I think goes a long way. There’s a lot of ways that students can help themselves stand out to employers on social media that goes beyond sending in a cover letter and resume.”

Carney also believes there are more beneficial ways to positively represent yourself on social media.

“Using LinkedIn effectively is probably the best social media for students in terms of just kind of putting out there what their professional social media presence will be,” Carney said. “Whether that’s sharing articles, reacting to things, commenting on other people’s posts, following people that they’re interested in, connecting with people that they’re interested in networking with. I think LinkedIn is a great social media for students.”

According to research done by CareerBuilder, most employers aren’t trying to find anything negative on social media to prevent you from getting the job. Sixty percent are actually just looking to find that the candidate has the qualifications they’re looking for.

In an anonymous survey of over 20 Quinnipiac University students, 43.5 percent said they prefer Twitter over any other form of social media. Instagram tied with Twitter also bringing in 43.5 percent of students.

But when asked Do you consider what future employers will think when you’re posting on social media? 4.3 percent said no, they don’t even think of it.

When looking on social media, employers are looking for a few different things. According to USNews.com, they’re looking for information that supports that candidates qualifications for the job, the professionalism of the persons online persona, and what others are posting about them.

Sam Morales, a sophomore at Quinnipiac University said she doesn’t consider what she posts because she knows it’s nothing bad. However, she’s always aware of how others are portraying her.

“Other people can post pictures of you and it can be seen on your account,” Morales said. “I’ve been tagged in pictures with my friends who are over 21 that had drinks in them but I just make sure I untag myself so it’s not associated with me through my account.”

What others are posting about you could also be something to consider. You may have a clean social media reputation, but it doesn’t mean your friends do. It’s important to be cautious of what you’re being tagged in, because that’s also something employers can see.

Rosa believes that posting the wrong content on social media can definitely negatively affect the way you look towards an employer.

“It can hurt if they are applying for a tech internship or job if their social media doesn’t show anything about that. Also it can hurt if they only post about partying or only post about relationships but they are not applying for a job that fits that,” Rosa said.

“I think that employers know that this generation is known for posting things that could be inappropriate and companies don’t want the liability of taking on someone that may be posting things that are terrible or embarrassing to the company,” Carney added. She believes that if you’re posting something, make sure it’s something you wouldn’t mind your grandma seeing.

With the negative connotation that’s around social media these days, some people think this generation is addicted to it, it’s a distraction, or people can’t live without it. Now, this may be true for some, but social media can also be very beneficial when it comes to branding and promoting one’s self.

Paul Caracciolo, a graduate student at Quinnipiac University, sees social media in a different light now that he’s taking graduate classes in public relations and social media.

“It’s a distraction and addiction to look at your phone as much as people do. I for one have a big Twitter addiction,” Caracciolo said. “But, to me Twitter is more branding than it is social media because of how brands interact with people and how people brand themselves.”

In addition to Caracciolo, Mikey Zukswert graduated from the Quinnipiac University School of Communications in 2018. He also agrees that social media sites like Twitter and Instagram can be used to promote what one has to offer.

“I definitely use social media, Instagram specifically, to showcase my work and what I can create. Being in the film industry, this is really important,” Zukswert said. “Because Instagram’s purpose is to share videos and photos, I like to use it to do exactly that. I’m able to show who I am as a creator and what skills I have to offer and Instagram is a public platform to do so.”

Based on student’s responses, they’re frequently posting on social media. It’s the times we live in nowadays, many say it’s hard to remember life before Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the many other sites that are offered to us.

When Rosa gives advice to her interns, she suggests “to stick with a theme for social media and figure out your passion. If it’s about dogs and helping animals, post about that, but if you really want a job about entertainment then post about topics that are pop culture related.”

Sticking with what you’re passionate about can show your dedication and knowledge of your career goals.

In terms of if that’s a good or bad thing, “I personally think there is so much more beneficial stuff out there in terms of careers or resources for me and students when it comes to social media,” Carney said. “I think it far outweighs the bad stuff.”

College athletes attempt to balance their mental health

By Shane Dennehy

From the outside, a college athlete’s life seems like it would be all glitz and glamour but their lifestyle can be stressful.

“Athletics and specifically college athletics has always been my escape for me,” Mason Johnson, a former member of the Quinnipiac University women’s rugby team said. “Rugby was a place to get away from the rest of life’s problems. Focusing on my goals gave me confidence and taught me how to deal with my stress in a healthy manner.”

Johnson realized his freshman year that he was transgender and during the preseason of his sophomore year he told his team. Although this created relief for him it also caused problems with his anxiety and depression. Johnson had to give up his last two years of rugby in order to become the person that he wanted to be.

Mason Johnson-former quinnipiac rugby player.png

“It’s heartbreaking to be put in a position of choosing between who we are and what we love doing,” Johnson said.

College athletes have to manage practices, games and class if they want to succeed but they also have to balance their mental health as well. Many athletes do not pay attention to this part of their college experience but other athletes are unable to avoid it.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association most recently conducted research in 2015 that found that college campuses were seeing an increase in the number of students that were experiencing mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

Past research done by psychologists showed the athletes were less likely to experience problems with mental health as compared to everyday people. More recent research, like research done by Matthew Bird who holds a doctoral degree in sports psychology, said that athletes are just as likely to experience mental health issues as people in the general population despite their outsider status relative to everyone else.

“It was originally thought that athletes were less likely to experience mental health issues when compared to the everyday person,” said Bird. “We are now starting to see that (athletes) are equally, if not more likely, to experience them.”

Although college students typically have to balance their social life and school work, college athletes are doing both of those along with having to perform at a high level which only adds to their stress.

“With student-athletes, they have all the additional worries of a college student,” said Bird. “Then they have to deal with their athletic commitments too.”

Part of being a college student is about finding out who you are as a person and what you want to do with the rest of your life. College students will often mess up in some capacity but everyday college students do not have to deal with the public consequences that come with messing up as college athletes do.

Imani McGee-Stafford, who played college basketball at the University of Texas and currently plays for the Atlanta Dream of the Women’s National Basketball Association, said she believes that college athletes are constantly in the spotlight.

“Being a student-athlete is hard because you are shaping the person you want to be but most (college students) do not have their failures broadcasted,” said McGee-Stafford in an interview.

Many everyday people do not feel comfortable talking about their struggles with mental health and college athletes are often the same. People impose this stigma around that often scares them from sharing their problems with the people around them.

“Stigma surrounding mental health issues and mental health help-seeking have been seen as a problem among athletes for a long time,” said Bird. “However, I think that as more athletes talk about their issues this is starting to be reduced.”

According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan in 2014, only 10 percent of college athletes sought help from health services. In 2014 the NCAA released a study that said 69 percent of the male athletes surveyed knew where to go if they had mental health concerns, while 81 percent of female athletes knew where to go.

McGee-Stafford is one of those athletes is choosing to share their story about the role that mental health has played in their life.

“I’ve chosen to live an open life about my mental health,” McGee-Stafford said. “(If I did not share) nobody would know and I would be ok.”

McGee-Stafford is not alone. Kevin Love, a forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association, detailed his struggles with mental illness in an August 2018 interview with ESPN. Another NBA player, DeMar DeRozan, likewise has recently disclosed his battle with depression and anxiety in an article by USA Today. Darius Miles a former NBA player recently shared his story about mental health in The Player’s Tribune.

McGee-Stafford parents got divorced when she was three years old and she ended up living with her Dad because her mother was playing basketball professionally. She said she was sexually assaulted by her stepbrother when she was 8 years old. The assault persisted for years afterward, she said. McGee-Stafford later found out that she was assaulted when she was just an infant which led her to attempt suicide when she was 10 years old. She attempted suicide on three different occasions by the time she turned 15.

McGee-Stafford eventually started playing basketball like her mother Pamela McGee, who is a WNBA Hall of Famer and a member of the United States 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winning team. McGee-Stafford’s stepbrother JaVale McGee currently plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

McGee-Stafford’s inevitable success on the court led her to the University of Texas where she excelled on the court.

According to a study conducted by Bird, athletes are more likely to receive help for their mental health when referred to by a family member as compared to being referred by a teammate or a coach.

Johnson said she believes that the culture forged by a coach can encourage athletes to disclose mental illness, thus leading to treatment.

“I think it depends on the college, the coach and the individual players on the team,” Johnson said. “I was blessed to be a part of a team where I felt comfortable being vulnerable. I was able to talk to my teammates and coaches without fear of judgment.”

In the 2015 study released by the NCAA 73 percent of the athletes surveyed said that they feel that their coaches care about their player’s mental health. 40 percent of those athletes also said that they were satisfied with the help that they got from their team or college personnel.

Screenshot of the NCAA website and some of the resources offered to NCAA athletes.

The NCAA offers a number of programs for student-athletes to find resources to treat mental illness. Although the NCAA is getting better, athletes still believe that it could get better.

“I think colleges and the NCAA could always do more,” Johnson said. “There are a lot of athletes out there under immense pressure who could benefit from help.”

The NCAA does not offer a clear path to these resources, Johnson said.

“I was able to find therapists and do the things that I needed to to get help,” Johnson said. “But it wasn’t a clear-cut path. The process would have been a lot easier had there been clear steps to follow or if I knew which staff member to reach out to.”

Some athletes choose to be open and share their struggles with mental health openly while others choose to only talk to a few people but Johnson has advice for college athletes.

“My advice to college athletes is to voice your struggles,” Johnson. “Tell a teammate, a coach or a therapist. There are resources out there to help. Don’t struggle on your own because being a student-athlete is difficult enough already.”

People around the world continue to experience problems with their mental health every day and athletes are no different. College athletes are constantly balancing school, their sports and social lives as well as mental health. The NCAA is continuing to search for a way to better its help for its athletes. McGee-Stafford had simple advice for athletes who do struggle with mental illness.

“It’s okay to not be okay.”

The real effects of student loans

An incredible number of students at American colleges and universities take on student loans to complete their education. This is no different at Quinnipiac University, where 66 percent of undergraduate students have taken out loans.

The state of Connecticut has the highest average student loan debt in the U.S. at $38,510.

Unfortunately for the class of 2017 at Quinnipiac, they surpass that state average at $48,894.

According to Mark French, Director of Student Financial Aid at the Connecticut Office of Higher Education, this increase in student loans comes, in part, because of Connecticut’s fiscal problems. Over his 30 years working in financial aid and student loans, he says the state’s economic problems and the continuing increase in school tuition have forced students and families to turn to taking out more loans.

“Our financial aid budget has declined by almost 50 percent,” said French. “We were at about $60 million or so when I started and we’re down to about $32 million now in state grant aid that’s available. What do students do to make up that difference where years past on average twice as much of the award they’re getting today? Well, if schools can’t step up and provide the grant money, they’re turning to loans certainly.”

Christina Vittas, a junior advertising and integrated communications major at Quinnipiac fears how the stress of having tens of thousands of dollars owed will take a toll on her.

“My own personal loans scare me immensely,” said Vittas. “I know that I’m going to have the pressure of having to pay them back over my head for a very long time and I am worried what that stress will do to me over time.”

For many students, when they sign the dotted line for their loan, they aren’t thinking about paying them back just yet. Vittas, however, can’t stop thinking about the pressure these loans bring.

“To me it’s not about starting to think about paying back student loans, it’s how can I stop thinking about having to pay them back,” said Vittas. “Before I was even accepted to Quinnipiac my father estimated how much potential debt I could be getting myself in, and that made me so emotional.”

Vittas is aware of her debt after graduating, but the majority of students aren’t looking at the big picture. Associate vice president and university director of financial aid, Dominic Yoia, has seen this first-hand more times than he can count.

“How could anybody in their right mind at age 17 know that, ‘I’m going to borrow 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 thousand worth of loans and is this a good thing or a bad thing?’ because they’ve never done it before,” said Yoia. “I will tell you by the end they realize when we’re presenting all that information it all starts to sink in because payments are 6 months down the road, not 4 years and 6 months down the road when they first started doing this.”

Upon graduating, students will start having to pay back their loans. New graduates begin to struggle when they have to start paying back these loans on the salary of their entry-level job. Stephanie Cunha, who graduated from Quinnipiac in 2004 as a journalism major, had this exact experience.

Cunha is first generation born American to two Portuguese parents. She credits her drive and determination to go to college for her career and adult successes, even though her parents never counted on her going to college. Cunha worked hard from the time she was a teenager and took out student loans, along with receiving a scholarship, in order to attend Quinnipiac.

“I come from a pretty hard working background where I was working since I was 14 for pretty much everything that I ever needed, so clothes, computer for school, car insurance, you name it,” said Cunha. “It’s kind of been my reality from a financial standpoint that I always have to work my ass off, right? So when it came time for college I knew that I wanted to go to school because it was my own investment in myself.”

Cunha ended up graduating from Quinnipiac with $75,000 worth of student loans. Working her first job in broadcast journalism, Cunha struggled to make these payments.

“When you go into broadcast journalism and your first jobs are paying you $11 and $12 an hour and you take out that much in loans it definitely impacts you. I definitely lived at home for a lot longer than I wanted to,” said Cunha. “In a time period where you’re an independent person, fiercely independent, but you’re still going home to the same bed that you grew up in as a little kid, it did take a lot of an emotional toll.”

In order to have more stability and upward mobility in her job and be able to be more financially comfortable, Cunha made a career change.

“I took myself soul searching after my fifteenth quarter life crisis and just started to question, where was I going, was I in an industry that was expanding or was I in an industry that was contracting, and I realized that there wasn’t as much of a growing potential as I wanted in broadcast journalism, so I took the leap over to [public relations],” said Cunha.

Cunha admits the debt put both a financial and emotional strain on her, but after paying back those loans in 12 years, she now looks back at it as a necessary evil for her education, career, and future.

“It’s a necessary evil because you have to pay for [college] to get you the opportunities later on in life, so I just had to work on getting a balanced perspective on it, Cunha said. “It could feel pretty cumbersome at times, but I did have to work a lot harder in my 20s to have a balanced perspective.”

Many students worry how their debt can affect their future. Students have worries ranging from not being able to buy a house, to having to work a job they aren’t passionate about.

“I mostly fear that I will have to work multiple jobs and not be able to live my life to its full potential, or sacrifice my own happiness in order to not pour all of my income into paying back my student loans,” said Vittas. “At the end of the day I know I will be able to pay my loans back, but I worry that it will be much later than expected and I won’t be able to experience all that life has to offer at this young point in my life due to the pressure to pay off my loans.”

Students aren’t wrong in thinking their debt can hold them back. Andrew Guyton, a financial advisor and principal at The Guyton Group, has had clients who have had to put off certain milestones in life, like buying a house, getting married, and starting a family, because they are stuck in the debt of their student loan.

“You have to pay them back, otherwise you have all sorts of issues with your credit and things down the road,” Guyton said. “So look if your student loan balance is so high that you’re eating ramen noodles and beef jerky, and renting a 4-bedroom place that has 6 people living in it just so you can keep up with your student loan costs, then you’ve got an issue there.”

Cunha, like many other American students, broke the rule of thumb that is followed by experts in financial aid.

“The general rule of thumb we tell students is that if you take all of your student loan debt and add it up it should not exceed your first year’s salary fresh out of college,” said Yoia. “So if you happen to be a business major and you’re going to start at an accounting firm, let’s say you earn $55,000, you’ve got $35-$40,000 worth of loans, it sounds like a lot but, really, relative to the amount of income you have, it’s not.”

Fabio LoNero also hadn’t thought about paying back his student loans until he graduated from Quinnipiac in 2006.

“I knew that I’d hopefully get a job upon graduation where I’d be able to make the payments,” said LoNero. “The thought and planning really came into play upon graduation and after the deferment period was over. I also didn’t have the means to start paying down the loan while I was still in school.”

LoNero, a journalism major and currently an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac and a marketing and promotions producer, writer and editor at WTNH-TV in New Haven, graduated with $40,000 in debt from student loans that he is still paying off today.

“There was and still is a bit of stress because of the loans after graduating,” said LoNero. “You’re always wondering, especially fresh out of school, whether you’ll be able to make the monthly payments. Some of my interest rates were a little high as well, adding to the stress. The loans are still a source of stress for me as I’m still paying for them and will be for the foreseeable future. It’s a good chunk of change, almost like a small rent or mortgage payment that I could be putting to use elsewhere, such as saving or putting money aside to buy a house.”

After graduating LoNero had some personal setbacks that led to him paying back his loans slower than he would have liked. He advises that those in college now expect the unexpected and have back up plans if life gets in the way of paying back loans.

“It’s always nice to assume you’ll be able to pay more, or pay off the loan in a few years, but always be realistic and have that Plan B or C available so you have different scenarios as to what you’ll be able to do,” said LoNero. “Expect the unexpected. Life happens, and you can’t stop it. Job losses, emergencies, etc. And student loans are something you must pay back, no matter what, so you’ll have to take it all in stride. It can be a struggle, but I found it worth it to help get me through college, start and progress in my career.”

LoNero suspected he would be able to pay back his loans quickly, but many students today don’t make that same assumption.

And as college tuitions continue to rise, the loans students are applying for continues to increase. College tuitions have been skyrocketing and there is no ceiling in sight.

“When I first got here, quite honestly, the tuition and fees were much different,” Yoia said. “The tuition and fees to come here were $24,690. That was the tuition and fees, room and board in 1999. Fast forward now to 2018 its $62,500.”

As years passed, Yoia thought people would refuse to pay the steep price tag and turn to state schools for their education, but there hasn’t been a decrease in enrollment at Quinnipiac. Actually, there has been an increase.

“The numbers, the enrollment, the freshman class size has still been growing,” said Yoia.

At this point, Yoia says, he is unsure where the limit is for college and university tuition.

To combat costs, experts suggest other ways to save money and cut loan expenses.

“Working a little bit while you’re in school is helpful just to take the sting out of it a little bit,” Guyton said. “Making sure that when you pick your major and you’re taking out all this debt that it’s something that can sustain the debt on the tail end.”

“You can become an RA and get a room and board stipend, you can serve in student government, you can serve in several leadership positions on our campus that come with stipends as well as other colleges have similar opportunities, so let’s not just look to loans to cover your costs,” said Yoia. “I’ve got an outside scholarship book out front. See if you qualify for any of that. Here are some websites to go to. Here are things you can be doing. You can be working.”

Many students, like Vittas have done just that.

“I am currently an RA on campus so that significantly lowered the amount of loan money I was borrowing,” said Vittas. “Also by applying for as many scholarships as possible I could decrease the amount of debt I have.”

French said there is no easy fix to student loan problems, but he believes in a three-pronged solution that focuses on the student’s family, the government and the schools. Families need to better save and prepare for their child’s college expenses to to avoid having to borrow money down the road.

“Families need to do a much better job researching, understanding how much it’s going to cost for college, and knowing how much they need to save for college because every dollar a family can put aside while a child is young is potentially a dollar less they’ll have to borrow when that child’s in college, so families really don’t save the way they should,” he said. “They tend to look at other priorities in their lives and spend their money that way.”

Finally, French said, the government must allocate more money for student grants and financial aid. Schools need to slow, or cap, their tuition increases.

“It’s, for the most part, a political process. If legislatures at the federal and state level don’t hear from the students and families that the aid that’s provided is not sufficient, the legislatures definitely won’t do anything,” said French. “They need to hear constantly from families and students. Same with the schools. Although it’s not a political process per se, it still is that students and families need to be more vocal, I think, with their schools about controlling cost, controlling tuition increases and putting pressure there.”

No matter how big the student debt, though, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Cunha summed up her emotions upon paying off her student loans.

“The best day of your life is probably gonna be marriage, when a kid is born, and when you pay off your own student loans,” she said.

Podcast: The view on how immigration is handled in the U.S.

By Randy Del Valle

America is divided by many issues from income inequality to gun control but one issue more than some others strikes at the core of the nation’s history and beliefs: should illegal immigrants be deported? Deportation has affected families, most notably parents and their children from being separated.

Numbers gathered and provided from the federal Department of Homeland Security showed that the U.S., government actually deported fewer immigrants in 2017 under president Donald J. Trump than it did under former president Barack Obama in 2016.

Although, the figures showed a decline in deportation, under the Trump administration in 2017 there were more arrests of those with no criminal histories.

Kica Matos, director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the Center for Community Change talked about the issue in an article back in April 2018 saying that, “It appears that ICE in the Trump Administration is focused on anyone they can find easily and not people who represent any sort of risk. And the number of deportations looks like it’s only set to grow.”

Hear from people who are close to the situation, currently dealing with the issue, the reason why people don’t want illegal immigrants in the country and if the deportation of illegal immigrants is going to get better or worse in the future.