Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
As you may know, this semester I definitely slacked off. This was by far the hardest English related class, possibly most challenging class overall for me. I do not believe my work overall has demonstrated the Core Value 1. For starters, I did not implement any recursive stages. Even when you left notes on my paper, I extremely struggled to implement them back into my paper. Was it because I just cannot rite, no. I am beyond burnt out. It is hard for me to even open my laptop screen. That is not an excuse, but it is one of the reasons why I was unable to complete that. I do believe I implemented the conceptualization aspect of the core value 1. This is because I wrote about an idea I doubt no one has ever done. Although I know I did not execute it to the best of my ability, I do believe I had a very good topic.
Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
I believe this core value truly changed how I think. Like most people, I never thought counterintuitively. To be honest, I thought it was kind of pointless. However, in the beginning of the year I realized how important it is. This is because I enjoy the questioning aspect of everything. I am currently a physics major, and one thing that I always did was question everything I was told. This helps me truly understand something. By implementing this in other aspects of my life, I can learn and just see the world differently.
Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
I feel like I achieved Core Value 3. When writing my research paper, I do believe that I achieved this. This is because my research paper’s topic was extreme. I knew exactly what audience I was writing about, and I knew I was writing against almost every English teacher. I do believe my essay had a purpose, and if I truly did everything 100% I could have a really good meaningful essay.
Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
I do not believe I have met the expectations of academic writing. However, I do believe I have used locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations. I believe I achieved this in my research paper. Do I believe I did it effectively, definitely no. However, I did believe I successfully incorporated illustrations in my causal essay when talking about the Phillies. For the evaluating aspect, I believe I achieved that when writing my definition essay by linking one topic to another. The transitions were rough, but I believe I did have a good idea while writing it.
Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.
I do believe I did this in two of the three essays. In the definition essay, I believe I was very successful in achieving this. When writing the rebuttal essay, I do believe I meant to achieve this and in some places I failed. When writing against you, I did not any mean intentions. I am not sure if I came off as hostile, but I did not mean to. I truly do not have any mean feelings towards you. I have nothing but respect. In my cuasal essay, I believe I extremely failed this. By going against Google Scholar, I believe I did not go at it responsibly or fairly. I feel like I was going a bit too extreme, and some of my claims were not good enough for such an extreme topic.
Side Note:
I just wanted to thank you. You were nothing but patient with me. I barely did anything, but you were definitely one of my favorite teachers ever. I believe that you did of the most impact to me over any other teacher. Thank you for constantly pushing me. I appreciate everything you have done for me and my peers.
Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
Through this course, I learn that writing is truly a process that isn’t always a linear path that leads us to construct a well-written essay. Everyone’s writing process is different and eventually with endless revising we can improve our essays each time. I was able to demonstrate the use of a variety of social and interactive practices in my writing through the use of my white paper as this was an area where I was able to explore and discover ideas, my hypothesis’ and understanding of articles I read to later develop into my short argument essay such as my definition essay. In my definition essay, I was able to use the resources I found to assist me in evolving my essay. As I was searching for more articles for my research paper, the process took weeks since there were articles I had to discard later when I couldn’t find use to it. I had difficulties at first trying just to start my essay because I just didn’t how or where to start. However, with the help of my professor’s feedback directly through comments and through class time when my essay was used as an example to be dissected had became beneficial to me in understanding a different way to approach my essay to capture my readers’ interest and keep their interest.
Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
The work that demonstrates this core value would be my rebuttal argument essay. I had to look through articles that elaborate on the disadvantages of crossword puzzles which was difficult to find however I managed at the end. I was reading through these articles and was able to understand the author’s viewpoint and synthesize those ideas to develop my argument against the author. In my essay, I critique and question the authors’ side of their arguments by pointing out spots that were weak in their explanations. I was able to conclude that even though crossword puzzles are a great cognitive strategy to use to interrupt food cravings, they might not apply to everyone as everyone’s personality and thought process differs from one another.
Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
I think my PTSD claims would demonstrate I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing. The way this is display through my PTSD claims is that I read and analyze a section of an essay specifically section 22 and identify the types of claims that were being made in this section. I didn’t get to identify all the types of claims made in this section however after receiving feedback from my professor, I was clearly able to see what I miss or misunderstood about claims being made in the essay.
Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
I would say my definition essay demonstrates
Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.
Background: This study provides insight of why so many athletes turn to drug abuse during their careers. A specific type of drug that is discussed are PED’s (performance enhancement drugs), and how athletes do not just use them to gain an unfair advantage, but to help cope with the amount of pressure athletes can face.
How I used it: I used this article to discuss PED’s. Instead of showing that athletes just use PED’s to cheat, I used it to show that they can also use them as a coping mechanism. While they can be used to gain an upper hand on the enemy team, they can also be used to help fight the immense amount of pressure an athlete can face. I also used this article to show where the pressure can come from like coaches, teammates, fans and even family members.
Background: This article talks about proscribed drugs that athletes can be given and how athletes can become addicted to them. If an athlete does become addicted it normally happens after an injury. This article also briefly talks about how young athletes can also become addicted to prescribed drugs, along with professionals. This can help show that drug abuse can happen in athletes of a wide age range. It gives examples of athletes who dealt with addiction to prescribed drugs, also talks about how addiction can happen during, and after a athletes career.
How I used it: I used this article to talk about another from of drugs that athletes can use to cope in prescribed drugs. I mainly wanted to show that athletes won’t just turn to drugs that will make them better physically, but drugs that they believe will help them feel better mentally and emotionally. And bringing in prescribed drugs, drugs that doctors can give out, helped me show how easy it can be for an athlete to get their hands on.
Background: This article reviews the mental health and well-being of athletes. Some aspects that can cause disorders are things like injuries and retirement. This is interesting because injuries can be avoidable, to an extent, but every single athlete will retire at some point in their careers.
How I used it: I used this article to give more reasons on why athletes will turn to drugs. This time not to help the pressure they face, but to help cope with injuries and retirement. A main point I made using this article was to show that, while injuries may be avoidable for some athletes, retirement is not. So if an athlete doesn’t start using drugs because they didn’t get injured, they could very well start using when they retire. This also helped me show that there can be many big points in an athletes career where they might feel the need to turn to drugs.
Background: This article discusses depression among student athletes. The article uses statistics to show the rates of depression in student athletes compared to students who do not play a sport. It is found that since student athletes face higher amounts of pressure, it can also cause higher amounts of stress and are more likely to become depressed. This article also goes into how having performance issues can cause depression.
How I used it: I used this article to discuss mental health among student athletes. I mainly used this article to show that not just professional athletes can face mental health but also student athletes. I also used this to show that student and pro athletes both face pressure which can cause stress, anxiety and depression. I also was able to bring a new aspect that can cause mental health issues in having performance issues.
Background: This article goes over the many aspects of alcohol addiction in athletes. It gives statistics regarding alcohol abuse and athletes, why athletes turn to alcohol and how it can affect the way they play. It also gets into alcohol abuse among student athletes. For the student athletes, it gives solutions for parents and teachers to use to help their young athletes.
How I used it: I used this article to bring another substance that athletes can abuse in alcohol. Alcohol is a really substance to obtain so I made sure to bring light to it. I also discussed how student athletes can suffer from excessive alcohol drinking because of college stereotypes, and the need that athletes can feel to fit in.
Background- This article goes into a various amount of things. Some of these things are, why athletes suffer, what factors go into the suffering and why there is a stigma around the mental health of athletes.
How I used it: I used this article to discuss the stigma around athletes and why they are afraid to talk about their mental health. I discussed on why they have a fear of judgment and all the people they are afraid to disappoint like their family, coaches, fans and teammates.
Background- This article talks about the various strategies that can be used to make sure that stress and anxiety don’t get the best of us. It also argues that it is better to not stay calm before big moments.
How I used it: I used this article to show that athletes should stay calm, rather than stay anxious during big moments, as this article suggests that people should do. I wanted to show that anxiety and stress are very complicated things to deal with so there is no real right way that will work for everybody, as this article tries to suggest.
Background- This article is about anabolic steroids. It goes into the specific types, both medical terms and street names, how they can get used, like injections and gels. It also goes into how they can be abused and the many effects it can have on both the mind and the body.
How I used it: I used this article to categorize a certain type of steroids in anabolic steroids. These are the ones that athletes use. I used this article to talk about the various types of anabolics, and how many ways that they can be used. And discussing these things helped show that since there are many types to use and many ways to use them, it makes them easier to obtain and use.
Background: This is article is about seven athletes who have struggled with mental health. This article shows that even the top tier superstar athletes, like Serena Williams and Michael Phelps, can suffer from mental health issues.
Background: This article is about the different types of prescribed drugs that athletes can use. This article discusses that athletes use different medications at a high rate than the general population, which just shows how easy it can be for an athlete to get these types of drugs.
The Key to Interrupting Food Cravings: Crossword Puzzles
Crossword puzzles are one of the best cognitive strategies to use to interrupt food cravings as a means to improve destructive eating habits for individuals with eating disorders. Our friend Anna is having an intense craving for a bag of delicious Doritos however she just ate a full meal not too long ago. In spite of all that, the desire for those crunchy Doritos still lingers in Anna’s mind. Anna is stuck on what to do in her situation to calm these desires down. She tries every activity to distract herself from reaching into the kitchen to grab the last bag of Doritos that cry out to her until she stumbles upon a crossword puzzle in her drawer. She takes out the crossword puzzle and lays on the couch starting the puzzle as an hour goes by, she had forgotten all about the bag of Doritos she had initially wanted. As unbelievable as it might sound an example of a similar circumstance would be the case study done by Dr. Van Dillen and Andrade who observe patients that were sensitive to food consumption and discover that when those individuals use cognitive resources they “were no longer attracted by high-calorie foods.” Individuals with an eating disorder can enhance their metacognition using cognitive strategies, particularly by doing crossword puzzles frequently to improve their destructive eating habits and intense food cravings
Reaching for a crossword puzzle instead of a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos is an example of using a metacognitive strategy to avoid binge eating. To put it simply, thinking is cognition, while thinking about thinking is metacognition. For instance, metacognition involves interpretation, applying already known skills to the puzzle, having the awareness that our memory could be fading, the ability to move on to the next word when we get stuck on a constraint word box and intentionally examining our own thought process. We can use metacognitive emotional regulation to change our eating behavior. Our emotions can drive our behavior such as compelling us towards binge eating however we can take advantage of metacognition by being aware of our emotional state and taking steps to compensate them. When we use our understanding of how emotional states determine our actions it can reduce the influence on our behavior.
Crossword puzzles can distract our brains with a positive simulation to interrupt food cravings. In the article, “Active Learning: creating interactive crossword puzzles” Serna and Azor mention that a crossword puzzle is a form of active learning that can increase the motivation of the individual to generate positive feelings for folks. So instead of reaching into the freezer for the tube of ice cream because Anne is feeling sad, she could have a better alternate solution which would be doing crossword puzzles that could boost her emotions to a more positive one. This can include the satisfaction of successfully being able to fill one of the constraint word boxes to then be able to continue doing the following word or the determination to figure out the right word that fits just perfectly into the boxes that are given to us. A patient from the study case, “Thinking about internal states, a qualitative investigation into metacognitions in women with eating disorders” brings up ways in how she copes whenever an intense craving starts to creep up on her and one of the few things that she found to be effective was crossword puzzles. One of the female patients said, “I’d say even though distracting myself is hard to do, I tend to find that a bit more effective in terms of forgetting about the negative thoughts even though it might be hard to actually start a crossword puzzle.” While the activity of starting the puzzle might be difficult to initiate, the results the crossword can provide for the individual will help assist that puzzler in generating a more positive mindset at that moment, altering Anne’s mood and choice in grabbing that chocolate ice cream tube in her fridge.
These crossword puzzles can reinforce the individual’s cognitive skill in self-regulation to assist in the reduction of the solver’s desire for unhealthy snacks. It’s already difficult enough that the feeling of intense desire for snacks lingers in our mind even after a finished meal however having the food item physically in front of a person creates more of a challenging situation for the individual. The article “Derailing the Streetcar Named Desire cognitive distractions reduce individual differences in Cravings and unhealthy snacking in Response to palatable food,” talks about the EI theory which explains that individuals with high sensitivity to food cues appear to have more thoughts about unhealthy food than others. What they discover was the group with the distraction component that were using cognitive resources and images had a decrease in high-calorie snack choices and craving. Individuals with eating disorders can practice self-regulation strategies using crossword puzzles to experience less intense food cravings. Michael Spira in his article, “Obesity: about dieting for behavior techniques” discusses that the main conflict we humans have is that we have a habit to eat even after we stop being hungry because we use many additional signals other than hunger to consume food. Just the sight of food in front of a person is enough to make the individual want to take a bite compare to when the food item is not in the person’s view. This can stem from the person’s household where it was taught that leaving food unfinished was looked upon as ungrateful. As Michael Spire further explains behavior techniques a person can use, he states that “one can control and modify eating behavior by eliminating or suppressing undesirable stimuli and strengthening desirable ones.” Before folks have a meal they should prepare the food they want to eat that will satisfy them a good amount, if they suddenly get the urge to have a certain snack that starts to bother them, they can pull a crossword puzzle and focus on that instead. They can center their attention on figuring out the next word in the puzzle with no food present in front of them. Rather than Anne having a view of her favorite snack in her sight, she replaces it with a crossword puzzle. This way the individual is practicing self-regulation by modifying what they eat and choosing to do an activity like a crossword puzzle as a way to put aside their intense food craving. Once individuals put this into practice regularly, over time it will become much easier to resist the urge to binge on the snack they so desire and keep themselves occupied with a crossword puzzle.
Crossword puzzles can be associated with a positive feeling that diverts puzzlers from binging on food when they also associate giving in on consuming that food item with negative consequences. As mentioned before emotional regulation can correspond with changes in eating behavior. Sofie Oosterwaal’s thesis paper “Desire to eat and its relationship with emotional regulation, what does rumination have to do with it?” brings up that the research from Evers, Stok, and de Ridder has affirmed although emotions can drive our eating behavior, the main factor that influences our eating behavior is ourselves and how we choose to regulate those emotions. The journal article, “The elaborated intrusion theory of desire: a 10-year retrospective and implications for addiction treatment,” indicates that the “attention of participants can also be redirected to negative consequences of consumption.” If we can influence how we choose to eat throughout the day by regulating our emotions, we can have activities like crossword puzzles be connected with a positive emotion like pleasure or ease and consuming the last bag of Ranch Doritos with a negative emotion that has consequences. With this being said, this can encourage the individual to choose the crossword puzzles rather than the bag of chips because it will make that person feel better about themselves and that they were able to resist the urge to devour those Doritos. Once this practice is put into a frequent routine, it can provide individuals struggling to maintain a healthy eating habits some hope that they will be able to overcome these intense binge cravings in a more effective way.
In a way, this also can reinforce the cognitive mechanism of self-negotiation for the person. When an individual has to decide how the results of each choice he or she will make will influence their course of life, they practice self-negotiation. In a similar way, individuals with eating disorders or folks who struggle to control how much they eat can strengthen their self-negotiation skills. As they are ruminating about the problem they have in front of them, they can think back to the positive results the crossword puzzles can have and the negative effect it can have on their selves if they choose to consume food despite not being hungry. When using crossword puzzles it also boosts the individual skill in reasoning, evaluating choices, and drawing conclusions.
Individuals can use crossword puzzles as a self-denial practice rather than giving in to their food cravings. Although self-denial may seem like a bad strategy habit, when use correctly it can quite effective. The journal article, “Personality Characteristics and coping pattern” goes to examine that self-denial is an emotional coping strategy where the individual goes on avoiding any negative aspects of their life. When a study was done to compare the results of each person coping strategy, they found that the majority of them involve behaviors were it related to reinterpretation where the individuals would selectively ignore negative things in their life. John A. Fleishman states that “selective ignoring is positively related to passive modes of coping, such as the substitution of rewards in work.” When the individual uses self-denial as a coping mechanism to help with binge cravings, they can use selective ignoring to choose to ignore the feelings they are experiencing about grabbing snacks. This can be easier for the individual when they are occupied with a crossword puzzle at hand. They can either have a physical booklet of a crossword puzzle or an app on their phone that has crossword puzzle games at hand, this way it could also be convenient for the individual if they aren’t at home. Since the individual will be focused on the game in front of them, the cravings will be less challenging when they use passive denial.
These word puzzles might not be everyone’s cup of tea. What I mean by this is that although crossword puzzles may be highly beneficial for most folks, for the other short percentage of people it might just not be for them. Some commentators may argue that these puzzles are time-consuming to the individual leading to one’s frustration when trying to complete the puzzle. Although it states in Predictors of crossword puzzle proficiency and Moderators of age–cognition relations that the failure to solve words items from a crossword puzzle could be due to the solver’s lack of knowledge necessary to identify its target or just the use of ineffective strategies to retrieve information from memory, one can argue that overtime these cognitive skills can be strengthened if crossword puzzle is used constantly through their day to day life.
The solver is given unnecessary anxiety. Games as an Innovative Teaching Strategy for Overactive Bladder And BPH, an article written by LeCroy Cheryl insist that one of the biggest disadvantages of crosswords puzzle is that these puzzles can “become threatening or too stressful” on the solver. It was mentioned that the possible space constraints and increase time spent on a single word can cause the solver to fill distress or anxiety. While all of these points can be acknowledged, it could also be said that a way around this can be that the solver can take a break from the crossword puzzle and come back to the puzzle later. However, if the individual is getting too worked up about not being to complete or figure out the next word then maybe this cognitive resource isn’t for them. If even after multiple attempts of using a crossword puzzle isn’t work for a person, the individual can try other games. Alternate solutions to this could be trying out other cognitive resources games like Tetris, Sudoku, or jigsaw puzzle to still be able to use as a distraction, positive stimuli, and practice other cognitive resources to help ease the stress of trying to not grab the chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen to binge on.
Depending on individual personality types can determine whether these folks can highly benefit from crossword puzzles or not. The journal article, “A personality classification system for eating disorders: A longitudinal study. Comprehensive Psychiatry,” divides the personality types that were associated with eating disorders into 5 types which were high-functioning, behaviorally dysregulated, emotionally dysregulated, avoidant insecure, and lastly obsessional sensitive. The ones that are the high-functioning type tend to have minimal personality pathology. Seeing that high-functional types have more positive outcomes than negative ones, these individuals may be able to adapt to new effective strategies more easily than the other personality types. These types tend to create a routine that helps them, so they lean more toward problem-focused coping. With problem-focused coping, it’s directed toward them actively changing their environment. What they can do is include a set time to use crossword puzzles to ease one’s distress by creating a relaxing environment. Most times high functioning types will overwork themselves without taking multiple breaks so doing a crossword puzzle it can hopefully reduce that stress that might cause them to binge, purge or restrict their eating. Crossword puzzles can work great for high-functioning types.
Behaviorally dysregulated types have impulsive and self-damaging behavior that usually displays binging and purging symptoms that are associated with ANBP known as Anorexia Nervosa Binging/Purging or BN also called Bulimia Nervosa. Seeing as how crossword puzzles can be used as a learning tool for individuals if adaptive coping mechanisms are listed in the crossword puzzles, these types will have to think of effective strategies to use under stress. This can help these types because when the urge to binge or purge occurs, they can remember the coping mechanisms they learn in the crossword puzzle using self-negotiation to choose which strategy can work best for them at the moment.
Emotional dysregulated types have histrionic tendencies, tend to be irrational at times, and have angry outbursts on account of their lack of control in anger. These groups of lively people have a habit of overreacting to minor events that constantly need reassurance from others while also displaying binging and purging symptoms related to ANBP and BN. Due to the dynamic mood change these types exhibit, crossword puzzles might not be the choice of cognitive game resource to use to help in improving their destructive eating habits. While crossword puzzle may alter their mood change to a more positive one, there is also a possibility that they could easily get frustrated with the game and leave it aside. Crossword puzzles might not always work for these types of individuals.
The avoidant insecure types tend to have low self-esteem that can range from devaluing their achievements or being overly dismayed by their own personal shortcomings. This makes them have an inability to relax or be hypersensitive to criticism. With all of this being said, they are more prone to have anorexic features related to ANR also known as anorexia nervosa restriction than binging or purging ones. Crosswords puzzle can be a possible method that could be used for these types however not for a long period of time as they might start to devalue themselves and leave the puzzle if they are not able to complete it quickly. This is due to their low self-esteem. Nevertheless, if they are able to have the satisfaction of completing the crossword puzzle, that can boost their self-esteem.
The obsessional sensitive types are perfectionists. Their perfectionism tends to interfere with their ability to see the “big picture” of a situation that they may overreact to any minor events that don’t go their way. These perfectionists may also exaggerate the difficulties of a situation leading them to be indecisive of choices that they will either postpone or avoid in fear of making a mistake. Just like avoidant insecure types, they display more anorexic characteristics, restricting the amount of food they eat. Crossword puzzles might not be the best strategy for these individuals as they might be too focused on the puzzle that it’s possible they forget to eat or forget their other tasks around them in order to have the satisfaction of completing the puzzle for themselves.
Despite the small group of people who easily get stressed from crossword puzzles, overall the majority of people who don’t get frustrated as easily can highly benefit from the puzzle, influencing their eating behavior in a positive way. Individuals who have crossword puzzles that work for them can improve their metacognition using cognitive strategies to develop better eating methods and interrupt food cravings. Crossword puzzles can interfere with our desire for unhealthy snacks with positive stimuli, strengthen the individual’s cognitive skill in self-regulation, self-negotiation, and self-denial to assist the reduction of the solver food craving and be associate with a positive feeling that diverts puzzlers from binging on food when they also associate giving in on consuming that food item with negative consequences. Games will always have some kind of effect on the individual. Although it is easy to claim that these crossword puzzles can lead to anxiety, frustration, and a lack of productivity for the solver when examine more closely the majority of individuals can find these puzzles to be motivating and assist in improving their cognitive skills to help with a person’s eating disorder. They can exercise healthy strategies and provide a positive mood for that individual as well. Crossword puzzles can be more of a help than one thinks.
Since the beginning of life, it has been human nature for individuals to feel discontent or dissatisfied because of somebody else’s belongings or success.One factor specifically that is a part of every human’s life but has recently been studied in the past decade is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. FOMO can be described as a form of anxiety that is caused when an individual feels as if they are missing out on something exciting, particularly “reflecting sensitivity to the social cues”. Many people feel the pressure to keep up with societal norms and if someone is feeling behind, the natural outcome always forms anxiety. However, although FOMO has been directly correlated to social media, there is a common misconception that it is its own phenomenon, but it is no different from a person feeling envy. I want to simply prove that FOMO is a natural, inevitable occurrence in everyone’s life and can be correlated with almost any scenario in life.
I want to research and prove how a false narrative is being created that it is a new concept caused particularly by social media. Although social media has become so popular and accessible to young teenagers, the idea of FOMO cannot be freshly defined and correlated to social media usage. Let’s take the app Instagram for example. Somebody could be scrolling through Instagram and see an ad of a multi million dollar vacation home and feel as if they are missing out on something they cannot have. However, society cannot blame this on Instagram. Twenty years ago, a person may pick up a magazine and see a similar ad and feel the same way. The purpose of advertisements is to provide a gaudy outlook to make someone feel envious towards the particular product. This feeling of missing out is a part of everyone’s human life and is something that can occur without you even identifying it. Some examples of how simple FOMO can occur is driving by a nice house that somebody may wish they could have, an individual missing a class or school day and worrying about what material they have missed, and many more.
I reviewed an article published by Jon Elhai that includes a tested hypothesis on depression symptoms in individuals with severe FOMO conditions that pertain directly to social media. This study taken of college students found that depression severity could not be connected to extreme FOMO conditions. It is too premature to make conclusions on a teenage mental health crisis because of the fear of missing out and social media. The studies that are conducted include too small amounts of individuals in these surveys to be applied to a world scale. The new phenomenon that is FOMO must be compared to broad occurrences in life. It is simple to hypothesize that a teenager may feel depressed when they see somebody post themselves on an island, but it is not reasonable to look at it as something different than someone feeling envious towards something not seen on social media. Another reason why social media FOMO is not the only contributor to anxiety is because studies conducted on adolescents have not taken sex into account. This study displays results with sex differences, where men ended up scoring higher on the depression scale while women scored higher on the FOMO severity scale.
Although social media has been the rage for the past decade, FOMO has been being studied heavily since the 2000’s being attributed to many normal life scenarios which is explained in Alexa Holte’s article The State Fear of Missing Out Inventory: Development and Validation. The article recognizes that there is a gap in the FOMO studies because it has only been studied as a dispositional trait. A study was conducted with 388 adults voluntarily responding to a survey where 34 similar situations to FOMO were given out. For example, one of the choices was “I cannot help but to think that I am absent from a rewarding experience.” However, there was also an option that was counterintuitive to the study: “It does not bother me if my friends are having fun without me.” The point of including this response choice is to illustrate that social media does not have to do with someone feeling anxiety because someone has something they do not, yet it is based on one’s own overall satisfaction of their own life. If someone is dissatisfied with their own life, it is easy to reason that they will feel envy from what others have more frequently.
When correlating FOMO to social media use, people worry about adolescent’s health and performance because most things nowadays are found through a screen on apps like Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat, and Youtube. A common theme that this is correspondent with is with friends. Simply scrolling through an app like Snapchat and seeing your friends doing something without you instantly causes a feeling of FOMO. This person feels anxiety because others are having a fun experience while they sit isolated with their phone. It is proven that social media users experience this effect much more compared to those that do not. The fear of missing out on fun experiences with others also contributes to mood swings and other small factors that all contribute to mental health. Although this effect has been examined and existed for several decades, it has increased rapidly with the popularity of today’s internet. Instinctively, everyone wants to do everything they possibly can in order to have fun, but this also comes from the fact that that person wants to make it look like their life is great. If they were to miss anything, it could form anxiety which damages their happiness. In a poll conducted in a study by Benjamin Riordan, 198 students were surveyed the question “what does fomo mean to you?” and 75% of the people surveyed correlated it to social media. However, something to note about these polls is that the majority of people voluntarily responding to these polls are young adolescents, and adults and elderly are not being taken into account. In the recent 2 decades, FOMO, or the fear of missing out, has been raised to the public’s attention because of the possible correlation between FOMO, depression, and social media. If you were to tell me that you have experienced sadness because your friends are out posting on social media without you, you would be describing one of the many definitions and causes of FOMO. However, although social media has become a staple in most adolescent’s lives, this does not necessarily mean that FOMO only affects people that use social media. The concept of FOMO is a relatively new acronym, being introduced originally in 2004, and later on in 2010 it was reintroduced and researched more heavily because a narrative was made that it had direct links to social media. However, FOMO, the way it is defined, is a psychological effect on the brain and with that information we can conclude that it can be applied to any life scenario in any individual. A simple example of FOMO would be a person who could drive by a nice house and not particularly have the money for something of that elegance. That individual would instantly feel anxious and fear they are missing out on something they could have.
The fear of missing out is quite self explanatory, defined as one fearing that others are living better lives or possibly they could be missing great opportunities. The need to belong is arguably the leading motivator in a person’s life. When an individual feels as if they do not belong in a particular setting or environment, instant effects hit. FOMO is associated with harmful lingering effects such as poor sleep, anxiety, depression. It can be caused in any age group, but has closely been researched in the adolescent age category. In an article published by PubMed that takes a deep dive into the lingering effects that FOMO can cause, a study was conducted where 101 adolescents experienced fear that they would not be able to sleep, which caused them to have extremely low rates of sleep. Instinctively, everybody wants to do everything they possibly can, but comparing yourself to others only causes harm to yourself.
The main question that is asked when researching FOMO is why do we feel this way? Ultimately, it is not because of social media or others that cause an individual to feel this way, yet is an independent, self concept. This means that if an individual is constantly comparing themselves to others, they are more likely to experience FOMO. In a case study titled: Why Do People Experience the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)? Exposing the Link Between the Self and the FoMO Through Self-Construal, the independent, self-construal is when an individual “evaluates other people around them as part of their self.” This inevitably leads to the individual being concerned about what others are doing. This self-construal concept is extremely important because it is the person’s ability to identify and evaluate themselves.
FOMO is a relatively new concept studied among adolescents, but studies show the basic concept of the fear of missing out applies to all age groups and causes extreme anxiety in the work industry among adults. In an article published by Christopher Budnick titled: The Fear of Missing Out at Work, a narrowed definition of FOMO is taken and applied to individuals in the work industry. Workplace FOMO is defined as a “pervasive apprehension that, relative to other employees, one might miss valuable career opportunities when away or disconnected from work,” which leads to poor performance in work, self dissatisfaction, and the ultimate well being in an individual. They describe relational exclusion as a concept that occurs when an employee feels as if they are missing out on networking opportunities, which could lead to poor professional relationships. In professional businesses, networking with others and building relationships is the most important key to success. These professional relationships that are sustained help someone to get good advice or even a new position somewhere. When an individual misses work whether it be being away on vacation or not feeling well, a survey take
of 324 United States employees stated they felt many different types of ways when they missed out. Some of these examples they stated are “I worry I will miss out on networking opportunities that my coworkers will have”, “I fear that my coworkers might make business contracts that I won’t make”, and “I worry that I might miss important work related updates.” This helps to prove that there are several different lingering effects of FOMO and can cause extreme negative influences on the brain like less motivation, performance, and well being.
Although I am not trying to prove that social media is the leading factor of FOMO, it is still important to note the effects and research that has been heavily done in the recent decade. FOMO is mostly associated with teenagers and college students, as that is the primary age of social media users. Young individuals who are excessive social media users receive consequential effects on the brain. Since social media has become so popular, it allows people to realize or think about just how much they are missing out on. Apps like Snapchat and Instagram harm people’s self confidence because these apps are essentially a way to post the best moments of your life, rather than your worst. Social media apps cause a false narrative to the life that is being lived. These joy filled posts make somebody feel as if they are missing out on a rewarding experience or uninvolved in an event. In a poll conducted by the Association for Consumer Research, out of 198 participants, 75% of those correlated the fear of missing out with social events or their friends. Human belonging is the driving force for motivation and well being, and social media has caused individuals to be so easily harmed by viewing a false created life on social media.
Background: A research study evaluates women’s eating disorders through interviews with regards to helping the development of Metacognitive therapy for eating disorders. It focuses on the women interactions when they are being interview and their metacognitive beliefs along with the coping mechanism used by each individual.
How I Used It: The way I used this resource was by elaborating one of the coping methods the interviewers use that was effective for her in reducing food craving. It was use as an example and I quote the interview as well. A good chunk was helping towards defining what metacognition was contributing to my short arguments and research paper.
Background: This study discuss the positive correlation of crossword puzzles have on students with learning and how it benefits their attitude and mood. An experiment was conduct to analyze crosswords on students when used as a learning tool.
How I Used It: This contribute in providing information of crossword puzzles and its benefit in altering the mood of a person to a more positive one.
Background: This journal article discuss how cognitive distractions can reduce individual differences in craving and unhealthy snacks. They demonstrate this by two studies that were conducted in this research study where they tested the cognitive basis of sensitivity to hedonic foods.
How I Used It: This study was able to provide evidences of the effect cognitive distractions can have on the person’s food craving especially ones that are sensitive to food. It also supply with some factors that drive their desire of food craving. The resources contribute a lot to research paper.
Background: This is study is based on eating disorders and the kinds of personality types that are associate with them. About 200 people participate to being interview collecting data on baseline functioning and longitudinal outcome. There were found to be 5 types of personality types associate with eating disorders.
Background: This research article, four studies were conducted with approximately 200 adults from ages 18 to 80 to examine the contributions of different factors that lead to the succession of crossword puzzles. Second goal was examine individuals of the relations between age and measure of both crystallized and fluid cognition with crossword puzzles.
Background: This news article discusses the habits of overeating and bad eating habits in general and how to overcome those habits with behavioral techniques.
Background: This article from Indiana University of Northwest talks through the uses of crosswords puzzles as information systems for students and elaborate on the many skills crossword puzzles can provide for the individual.
Background: The study had investigate the behavioral patterns of individuals in stress and way they cope with stressful situations. It focuses mainly on the relationship of coping and general elements like self denial or self esteem have on the person.
Background: This study compares the emotional regulation strategies between patients with anorexia and bulimia whether they use maladaptive or adaptive ones.
Background: A study was done to elaborate intrusive thoughts on craving and did two experiments for this study. In the first experiment when doing an activity like modeling clay, which help reduce the craving for chocolate for those individuals. In the second experiment compare the effects of craving of a more simple verbal task to clay modeling to see which was more effective.
Background: The study goes into depth about cravings and how it’s involved with intrusive thoughts and elaboration. It discusses mindful ways in which the individual can reduce their intrusive thoughts and lower their desires.
Background: This research study goes further into analyzing the effects of stress on a measure of inhibitory control, this contributing to the loss of control individual with binge eating disorders can have. The participants were assigned to a control group with either no stress or stress situation that involve the control group to use crossword puzzles to help them relax. Results demonstrate that there was an increase of an anxiousness in the group with the stress situation and no crossword puzzle while in the control group that had crossword puzzles had a decrease of the high level anxiety.
Background: This article provides advantages and disadvantages of games for students, patients and staff while also encouraging the use of adult learning principles. The researchers also discuss how games can be fun, creative but also aid i developing new skills like reinforcement.
School shootings are becoming more and more common every year. This happens so much that our schools have drills for the students to do in case a shooting takes place, but by then it’s too late for anyone. The reality is that the students are hoping that the shooter doesn’t come to their room. But if the schools had trained officers with guns to defend the students during times like this I believe that we would cut school shooting down close to zero. Too many kids and teens have died due to these school shooting events, and the worst part is the shooter doesn’t even need a reason to do what they do. So imagine you are in a school with no protection and a shooting occurs. And you can hear the shooter getting closer and closer, outside your classroom students are getting shot. Kids and teachers hope they are not next on the shooter’s list. This is the brutal reality of what a student’s final moments can look like when a school shooting occurs. But don’t just take it from me here are some survivors of school shootings describing that moment.(Miah Cerrillo: 11-year-old school shooting survivor called 911, smeared blood on herself, played dead | CNN)|Florida school shooting: A survivor’s story – BBC News|(10 Survivors Of School Gun Violence Share How It Still Reverberates Through Their Lives | HuffPost Life). After I read these news reports I am convinced that schools need to have trained armed police guards in their schools. Even when police do arrive on the scene of a school shooting they don’t just rush into the building with guns and hope to find the shooter, and it makes sense because they have to come up with a strategy to stop the shooter. But while the police are planning how to get inside safely, unarmed teachers and students are trapped in the school waiting for someone to save them and praying that the shooter doesn’t get to them first.
As a former high schooler, we have drills if someone comes into the school, but the drill is heavily flawed. If you train the students on where to go if a shooting takes place you are possibly teaching the shooter how to find everyone. Plus most of the time they will just close the door and try to pretend that they are not in the classroom at that time, which is also a flawed concept. Because the attacker already knows that students are in school during that time of day, not to mention if it’s a student themselves who is the attacker. For example, the Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz, who was a former student at Parkland knew the landscape of the school and where students and teachers would likely be. Schools need to get rid of this drill because it doesn’t help anyone and all it does is leave people waiting to get slaughtered. So how will police make schools a safe place for students and teachers?
Trained police officers will always be available and in action, if something occurs. This will already give a shooter something to think about if he plans on shooting a school. And we can give them dogs trained to detect illegal things that students may carry in their bags. Metal detectors will also need to be in place to detect guns, knives, and any other harmful products. Remember this new system is not a guaranteed foolproof system, there will always be new problems but hopefully, this will stop school shootings. This will also help the new generation not fear the police as much and the same thing for the police. Police officers in schools will also play an important role in maintaining order and discipline on the school campus. In instances where students violate school policies, rules, or regulations, police officers are tasked to enforce the law. That is, when students engage in criminal activities, police officers are called upon to handle the situation. Therefore, when students know that police officers are present, they are aware that there are consequences for their actions, and they are more likely to comply with school policies and regulations. Because the world is a dangerous place and even though parents want to keep their children from danger, it may come pounding on their doorstep. And as Americans, we can’t keep schools unprotected, at any moment a crazy gunman can walk in and take out everybody, not just kids. It is our job as a community and as a country to protect our youth, and their bright ideas for the future.
In case of a school shooting, the presence of police officers armed with guns could allow for a quick response and immediate action to neutralize the threat. This would limit the number of casualties and save lives. Deterrent to potential attackers: The presence of armed police officers in schools could also act as a deterrent to potential attackers, who may be deterred from committing a crime in a place where they know they will face armed resistance. Proper training and evaluation: Police officers are thoroughly trained in the use of firearms and undergo regular evaluations to ensure they are fit for the job. This will minimize the risk of the weapon being misused and ensures that only those who are qualified to handle firearms are allowed to carry them. Police officers are responsible for the safety of the community, and their role in schools is no different. They are trained to protect and serve, and carrying a gun is part of that responsibility. The police in school topic has been an ongoing debate for several years now, and it continues to draw mixed reactions and opinions from various people. One school of thought argues that having police officers in schools increases the safety and security of students and teachers while another suggests that such a move leads to increased incidents of violence and discrimination. (Facts About Armed Guards in Schools Statistics – Safe and Sound Security (getsafeandsound.com). In this article, they talk about the percentage of high schools that have armed police officers in their schools. “From 2013 to 2014, 43% of all public schools had one or more security staff present in their buildings. This number increased to 56.5% in the period from 2015 to 2016. As for armed guards present in school, or security staff routinely carrying a firearm, statistics show 28.0% of all schools had armed security guards from 2009 to 2010. “
This article says “110 people have been killed and 162 injured by gunfire in 57 school shootings, according to a school shooting tracker NBC News is making public. As of March 29, 2023, it has been two days since the last school shooting.” (What research shows about police in schools – Chalkbeat). This article talks about what different states’ stances are on police in schools. States like Dever said they didn’t want police in their schools, while New York and Chicago say they need police to give the students safety and order. And I can understand why Dever thinks like that but school shootings are a part of this generation’s problem, and they are getting more and more frequent. And any parent would rather their kid be in school and come home, rather than their kid goes to school and never comes back because there is a school shooter in the building and no one to save them.
If the police were allowed in schools, this is how it could work. We would have a metal detector to see if there are any dangerous items in the kid’s bag and have a police officer with a guard dog at every entrance. The dog is there to sniff and detect if the kids have any weapons or illegal drugs on them. Also, if the shooter happens to fire the gun before the officer can grab theirs the dog will be able to take down the shooter. And if the shooter thinks to just wait and come in when the doors are closed, they will be sadly mistaken. The doors will be automatically locked, and you will have to show your school identification before they let you in. After that, the officer and their dog will search for you before you go into the school. And most people will say that you are treating the kids like prisoners, but to that, I say how many more kids will have to die in a setting where they are supposed to feel safe? After 9/11, security in all airports doubled so why hasn’t that happened for high schools or for schools in general? After 9/11 there have been 0 plane hijacks, and you know why? The answer to that is that they have strict rules for kids and adults to make sure they board the plane safely and to make sure they have nothing harmful that can cause other passengers to die.
Officers in schools logically make sense because just in the last year 2022 alone there have been 27 school shootings, and there has only been one plane hijacking that has taken place on American soil. Schools will continue to fail their students by not making the rules they need to secure the children’s and the teacher’s safety. And the fact is that schools don’t want kids to feel like their environment is unsafe, to be frank, they already are. In my school, we had everything that I mentioned today. We had search dogs in our schools and metal detectors at the front. And have never had a school shooting in the entire history of the school. But another school that didn’t have all that stuff their school was shot in and two students were injured. (Heritage High School: Boy taken into custody after Virginia school shooting that left 2 wounded, police say | CNN). But if schools had trained law enforcement in the building at all times this might have never happened. Mind you the police will have to create a new branch for these officers that will specialize in how to deal with children. They will have classes that will teach them deescalation and negotiation in fights between students without any physical touching on either student or whoever is in the argument. They will also learn how to disarm people without using lethal force, and basically teaching them lethal force is the last thing they need to do. But most importantly they need skills on how to talk with kids and they need to instinctively know when to be a friend and when to be serious. This in the long run will help kids see cops more as a big brother than a evil racist villain. Some will argue that the presence of police officers in schools creates a hostile and intimidating environment for students. However, this argument fails to consider the positive relationships that can be built between police officers and students. This will teach students later in life to be less likely to be hostile to law enforcement, and more likely to know and be comfortable with the protocol done by law enforcement if they were to be stopped by law enforcement. It is important to recognize that police officers in schools often must undergo specialized training to work with young people effectively. This training will specialize in de-escalation, officers will work with trained negotiators that will teach them how to use their words to solve most problems. And will also have classes by trained martial artists that will show officers how to disarm a student with a weapon without using excessive force and causing unnecessary harm.
This will help ensure that police officers in schools are able to create a positive and supportive environment for students. While there are certainly valid concerns about the presence of police officers in schools, the benefits of having a law enforcement presence in schools far outweigh the potential drawbacks. For example ((4) Police Officer Slams S.C. High School Student to the Ground – YouTube). This video shows a student that was having an issue with their teacher, the teacher had called the police on her but she still wouldn’t follow the officer’s instructions. The officer then uses brute force and overpowers the student out of her chair and arrests her in class.
And this is the exact reason why these officers will have different training. Officers that protect high schools, will have the training that will emulate situations like this. In addition to that as a part of the training we will have the students vote on officers they want or officers, they don’t want in the school. In the fall, for officers to fully complete their training, the students have to feel comfortable around the officer and if the students say that the officer didn’t pass then they will not be eligible to work there. This is a good method because it will show students that their vote matters.(Poll: Why 80 Million Americans Didn’t Vote In Year Of Record Turnout : NPR). In this article, it says that 80 million eligible voters did not vote last year and their reasons for not voting were not being registered to vote 29%, not being interested in politics 23%, not liking the candidates 20%, feeling their vote wouldn’t have made a difference 16%, and undecided on whom to vote for 10%. So when the students graduate high school and are able to vote, hopefully, their experience with voting for police to protect them will encourage them to go and vote in the real world and lower the number of non-voters in the next election.
(Keeping Schools Safe: Case Studies and Insights – Google Books). This article talks about how security wouldn’t work in school, but their argument is terrible for the simple reason that their version of security is just having cameras in the school. And my policy is that police will physically be there to keep the kids safe from gunmen and other harmful things. Another way that we will keep schools safe is by using metal detectors this will prevent students from sneaking in weapons and other objects they can use to harm students.
As a way to educate students who have a negative view of law enforcement, there will be a class that students will attend to educate them on how to deal with certain situations. For example on how to deal with an aggressive cop and educating students on their rights as citizens and minors. This will keep students from getting taken advantage of by corrupt police and not being intimidated by the badge. And we know this is important by looking at the Central Park Five case. This case is about a lady who was raped in Central Park at night, and five African American boys who were in the park that night would be accused and pressured, by corrupt police into making up a false story about how they raped the lady. They would go on to spend their adolescence in jail with grown men where they would go on to be taken advantage of by the prisoners and the system. They would later have to admit that they did the crime to be released, well all except one his name was Korey Wise. He never admitted to the crime because he never did it, the man who actually did it years later came out admitting his crime, and Kory was released. (Central Park Five: Crime, Coverage & Settlement (history.com). All of this is to show how important it is to be educated in the system, and also one of the many reasons “citizens” mainly the African American community don’t trust the police. Hopefully having police in school will show students that not all police are bad and that they can trust them, but also be aware that there are corrupt police and we need to know how to safely deal with them. The debate around police officers in schools has been raging for years, with some individuals arguing that their presence is unnecessary and even harmful. However, the fact remains that police officers play an essential role in ensuring increased safety around schools. These professionals are trained to respond quickly to any situation, making them an invaluable asset during emergencies.
One of the primary arguments for having police officers in schools is their ability to respond quickly to threats. In the event of a school shooting or other dangerous situation, time is of the essence. Having a police officer on-site can significantly reduce response time and increase the chances of minimizing harm. This means students and staff members can feel safer knowing they have someone who can step in immediately if needed. Moreover, having police officers stationed at schools provides an added level of security that deters potential perpetrators from committing violent acts on campus. In conclusion, Police officers in schools will help keep students safe, build positive relationships between law enforcement and young people, and work with administrators and teachers. Officers in schools are not there to be a warden or somebody that is just there to be security. They are there to make a difference teach young people the importance of having good officers in the community and most importantly keep everyone in school safe.
In conclusion, having police in schools overall is more positive than negative. The officers are there to protect and serve the students and the faculty in the schools, there will be classes that will educate students on the law and things to do if you get stopped or pulled over. It will show kids that cops are not all bad and can help the black community to not be so scared of police. And finally, it will help prevent school shootings and will help keep kids safe.
Seatbelts are widely considered a great thing for society that save many lives every year, and I wouldn’t argue that they definitely do save a lot of people when used correctly. That being said, while some people believe that they are safe and can save lives in the event of an accident, others argue that they can cause serious injuries and even death in certain cases. When thought is put into it in an abstract way, one will come to understand that seatbelts often times lower peoples inhibitions and makes them less prepared for collision. For this reason, it is not a completely absurd idea to suggest that seatbelts really no not do all that much to prevent risk, and risk often results in danger. Additionally, seatbelts cause people to drive more erratically and pose more of a danger to themselves and others. This whole argument really boils down to how somebody would define the word “risk”, as some people have different definitions than others. For that reason, for the sake of this argument I believe it is important that we understand and potentially reconsider what risk means for most people.
Risk is generally defined as a chance or possibility of danger, loss, or injury. Typically, risk is bad. Risk is something that somebody want to avoid as much as they possibly can when driving; which is exactly why seatbelts are dangerous. Once one feels safe, they lose their regard for their own safety, and therefore, are at a larger risk for danger. A drivers job is obviously to get from point A to point B with as little risk of danger as possible to themself and their passengers. In doing so, the driver wouldn’t want anything that would make them lose their sense of protection or to lower their ability to react. Humans are intrinsically protective of themselves when they are vulnerable. Taking this vulnerability away causes many people to become less focused, more easily distracted, and most importantly, more at risk. At the end of the day, risk is something that most people go out of their way to avoid, but the truth is that there are a lot of hidden risks in this world. Nobody would assume at first glance that wearing a seatbelt may pose more of a risk to somebody than driving without one, but the correct answer is not always the first one that appears. That being said, while risk is not always avoidable, I would prefer to always have the best chance instinctually to make the decisions or the maneuvers to keep myself and my passengers safe. When we break down what risk is, by its definition, we see that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles a greater deal of risk than not having one because they give drivers a false sense of security.
A study was recently conducted in Kuwait testing what exactly it was that resulted in collisions on the road, it was found that a vast majority of the accidents were a result of human error, which can be attributed to losing ones sense of safety and becoming distracted. “The relationship between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident also determined. Data were collected from 80 respondents. Plus, observational technique was conducted at two roads chosen in Pahang and Terengganu. The questionnaire results concluded that there had association between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident.” (Adibah) This study shows us that human nature will always triumph over human invention. At the end of the day, that is what this argument boils down to. Those that are more willing to place their faith in their intrinsic human instincts than a man made machine will agree that wearing a seatbelt can present somebody with a greater risk than not wearing one.
In one instance, a 49-year old man with no underlying medical illness was killed when he got into an accident and his seatbelt compressed against his neck. The ironic thing about it is that if that man lived, he would probably be so very grateful that he wore that seatbelt. Who wouldn’t be initially? At first glance, it is the seatbelt that saved them. At a closer glance, however, one can see that wearing the seatbelt caused them a much greater deal of risk than if they were without one. This is not even just seen in collisions of lower power/damage, as the man who was killed by his seatbelt when he would have otherwise been perfectly fine without one, was driving 110 kilometers per hour. Getting in a crash at 110 kilometers per hour was not enough to kill him, but the unpredictability and uncertain risk of his seatbelt certainly was. The one true way to truly mitigate day-by-day risk would be to begin driving without a seatbelt. In my opinion, if we limit our risk, we increase our safety, and as I have explained, not wearing a seatbelt is the ultimate way to limit risk while driving. Following that process, the safest way for somebody to get from point A to point B would be without a seatbelt, rather than with one.
Another thing to note is how much somebodies risk of dying or getting injured in a crash decreases when the speed decreases. When do people drive faster, with a seatbelt, or without one? Assuming most people drive slower without their seatbelts on, this fact alone probably saves thousands of people a year. Without the fear of the potential repercussions that may arise from getting into a collision without a seatbelt on, the likelihood of getting into one significantly increases. At the end of the day, we just have to decide that it is more worth it to lower our risk of getting into an accident at all than increasing our risk by preparing for the accident. In wearing a seatbelt, it is almost as if somebody is welcoming a collision. People do something that will make getting in an accident more common, but they do it in order to mitigate the damages of said accidents. That is one of the most counter-intuitive things imaginable, even more so than neglecting to wear a seatbelt for the purpose of increasing safety.
Seatbelts Kill
The effectiveness of seatbelts is not nearly as cut and dry as one might first be led to believe. There are lots of different factors to be taken into account when judging whether they actually save people or not. First of all, seatbelts really aren’t saving all that many people per year anyway. At least, not nearly as many as the figure would lead the public to believe. Many of the people who were “saved by seatbelts” would have been perfectly fine had they not worn one. Another thing to keep in mind is that seatbelts have only been shown to be effective when they are worn correctly. Not only this, but when they are worn incorrectly, it actually makes it more likely for a person to get injured in an accident. Additionally, wearing a seatbelt provides drivers with a false sense of security, which in turn causes them to lower their senses and inhibitions, making them more likely to end up in a collision. Considering all of these elements, I think it is safe to say that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles to become more vulnerable to an accident.
Contrary to what many might believe, statistics are not necessarily on the side of the seatbelt. According to the NHTSA, of the 37,133 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, 47% of them were not wearing their seatbelts (Medium). This means that more than half of them WERE wearing the seatbelts that were supposed to save their lives. This leads us to one question. If seatbelts are not making people safer, how come the amount of motor vehicle deaths has declined recently? We can reasonably infer that the reason this number has gone down is due to better technological advancements, more safety regulations and other outside factors.
Ultimately, people want seatbelts to work. They want to feel safer in their cars. However, staying with this naive mindset is giving people a false sense of security while driving. A lot of people think that they are invincible while driving. This is because they are so used to wearing seatbelts and not having to worry about having their life and other peoples lives in their hands.
Since a method is needed to lock the seatbelt when installing child restraint systems (CRS), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) commissioned tool, inc. to develop prototype devices that could reduce the risk of seatbelt entanglement resulting from the lockability requirement.”(sae.org) This statistic just makes it seem like all of this isn’t even worth it. If these seatbelts are only going to cause a mass number of people to get injuries that they otherwise wouldn’t, they are not worth having in cars, and are actually making the roads a lot more dangerous.
While many people think that they are great drivers, the truth is that most are not. This false sense of superiority on the road is already a problem as it is, causing people to take unnecessary risks and try to do things that they can not pull off. Now imagine how much worse that is made because somebody is wearing their seatbelt and doesn’t even care enough to look at the road because they incorrectly believe that wearing a seatbelt makes them invulnerable and a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr. All of that extra risk is not worth what seatbelts provide for society, and anybody who thinks it is has to straighten out their priorities.
Also, not only do people feel safer and therefore are less safe when driving with a seatbelt on, but they also cause people to drive faster, which results in more deadly accidents. I do not believe that seatbelts giving bad drivers unwarranted confidence and the idea that they can afford to go faster than they actually can is making the road a safer place in any capacity. Another opinion that is important in this topic is that of those who are victims of wreckless drivers who became less able to operate their car properly because they wore their seatbelt.
A new phenomenon is something that is known as “seatbelt syndrome”. Essentially, after getting into an accident while wearing a seatbelt, certain victims report having lingering injuries such as intra-abdominal injuries and vertebral fractures. This has been known to cause chronic pain in its victims for the rest of their lives. Many sufferers of seatbelt syndrome never recover, and their quality of life diminishes heavily.
Seatbelts cause drivers to lower their inhibitions and become more susceptible to damage sustained during a wreck or collision. Many people refuse to accept this truth because they can not wrap their minds around the fact that something that is supposed to be protecting us is actually harming us, and it is being promoted by the government. If people opened their eyes up to this sort of thing more often, they would see that it is not all the uncommon. The government promotes things that are against the best interest of the people all the time, take, for instance, the fact that tobacco and nicotine is a billion dollar industry that kills people, but makes money, so its not a big deal to the government.
To conclude, the definitive reason that people should not wear a seatbelt while driving is that it does the one thing that we do not want to happen while we drive. It makes the road more dangerous. If people realized that a lot more often than they realize, this world is not as soft and protective as they have been led to believe. It is the lack of people that are willing to challenge common belief that allows the narrative of helpful seatbelts to prevail.
Misleading Statistics
My claim is understandably a very hard pill to swallow. The average person would be totally against the notion that seatbelts can do any harm at all. I am asking people to look outside the box and seek the truth that the average person would not. People have been indoctrinated to believe that these things can do no harm. “How many people do seatbelts save a year?” One might ask. While, yes, I must admit, the number of lives saved every year by seatbelts does not help my case by any means, but to assume that this number dismantles my argument would be to misunderstand my claim. I do not deny that seatbelts save many lives per year. I’m sure that they do. My claim asserts that if people don’t wear seatbelts, they are significantly less likely to be in an accident at all. Obviously, if somebody gets in an accident, they would be better off wearing a seatbelt than being without one, but perhaps if they hadn’t worn a seatbelt at all, there would be no accident to worry about.
While the numbers and statistics against my claim are certainly a worthy opponent, I believe that if somebody were to look at my argument through a different lens, the statistics seem to become a moot point. In other words, it doesn’t matter to me how many lives seatbelts save; what matters is how many people would have been unscathed and uninterrupted from driving on the road had they not worn their seatbelts. I believe that a lot of these numbers are actually facetious, anyway. One source brought up something very interesting to. They claim that people that have been involved in accidents have been lying about wearing their seatbelts in order to avoid getting in trouble, thus creating inaccurate statistics involving seatbelts. “Some authors have expressed concern that estimates of seat belt effects may be biased.1–4 In particular, some car occupants who survived a crash may falsely claim to police that they were belted in order to avoid a fine. If police sometimes believe these false claims, this would lead to exaggerated estimates of seat belt benefits if data from police crash reports were used.” This definitely raises an interesting point. How realistic even are these numbers? These inaccurate statistics are ultimately giving people even more of a false sense of security than they already possess, making driving even more difficult.
In many cases, wearing a seatbelt while driving is simply not worth the risk of getting into an accident. Especially in the cases of children or young people who may not have any help from seatbelts in the case of an accident, there is no point in wearing a seatbelt. One source really hit home with an excerpt about how seatbelts can very quickly become significantly more dangerous than they are safe if they are not used or manufactured correctly. “Defective seat belts can case catastrophic, often fatal, injuries. These life-changing injuries can change an occupant’s life forever. The most common injuries from seat belt failure are injuries to the heat and neck, chest injuries, and injuries to the arms or legs; these injuries can lead to permanent disabilities. If a seat belt fails in a head on collision, an occupant can be thrown into the windshield. If a belt fails during a rollover, an occupant can be ejected from the vehicle and sustain spinal cord or neck injuries which can result in quadriplegia, paraplegia, paralysis or death.” I think that everybody who chooses to wear a seatbelt while they drive should read this before they buckled up, because I think it can really open up a lot of eyes.
The sooner that people begin to challenge the widely accepted notion that seatbelts are protective and safe at all times, the safer the roads will become. The truth is, wearing a seatbelt is oftentimes the catalyst for many horrific accidents that otherwise would not have occurred. This is a society that is full of people who want to feel safe. The ironic thing is that it is this infatuation with safety that is ultimately leading to them being placed further into harms way. It is easily one of the most counterintuitive things that I can imagine. If people want to feel safe, what they should do is read and educate themselves and form their own opinions that may differ from everybody else. Ultimately, people are afraid to challenge concepts when the alternative seems so absurd and incomprehensible to them, even if the initial concept does not make a whole lot of sense. Why would somebody want to lower their god-given inhibition while driving on the road, which is something that requires full concentration and coordination.
We know that we can’t put it past the government to exaggerate some statistics in order to push an agenda. To blindly follow and not question those numbers that seemingly so easily dismantle my thesis is to neglect the most important thing that one must do in order to understand my claim. We must be able to think outside the box and understand how something can seem so obvious and yet be so untrue. That includes being able to look past misleading statistics.
What should people value more? Becoming less likely to end up in a collision at all by not wearing a seatbelt, or preparing for this hypothetical collision, thus making it more likely to occur, in order to mitigate to the hypothetical damage from said hypothetical collision. Any logical or sound person would prioritize preventing the accident from occurring at all. I believe that a fascination with numbers and safety has skewed the average persons mindset when it comes to personal freedoms. If somebody feels safer without a seatbelt, I don’t think this concept should be seen as so preposterous. I think that challenging the status quo is something that is important to flourish in the coming years, and the more people that are willing to challenge what everybody believes, the more likely that change will come.
Source 1: Khouzam, R. (April 2014) Next-Generation Airbags and the Possibility of Negative Outcomes Due to Thoracic Injury Retrieved February 10th 2023
Background: This article talks about how seatbelts are noted to cause complications and brings up the fact that when used in conjunction with airbags can become more dangerous.
How I intend to use it: Highlight the fact that many people do not realize that when used at the same time as other safety precaution features and one of them is used incorrectly bad things happen.
Source 2: Najari, F (2015 Autumn) An Immediate Death by Seatbelt Compression Retrieved February 10th 2023
Background: This article details an instance of a man with no underlying medical conditions who died very suddenly when a three-point seatbelt was compressed on his neck in an accident.
How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article by highlighting that it may be a lot easier than people expect to end up dead from a seatbelt injury.
Source 3: Syarah Adibah, J and Mohd Najib, Y (October 2nd 2021.) Contributing Factors Towards Human Errors on Road Transport Safety Among Commercial Vehicle Drivers Retrieved February 10th 2023
Background: This article highlights the recent increase in accidents that are involved with human error and how this increase makes seatbelts more dangerous.
How I intend to use it: I will use this article to emphasize that a lot of car accidents are the result of human error.
Source 4: Raphael, E; Pizali, R; Le, H; et al (January 2007) Physical Evidence Associated with Seatbelt Entanglement During a Collision Retrieved February 10th 2023
Background: This source mainly talks about how seatbelts can sometimes fail to protect their users and are at times counter-intuitive.
How I plan to use it : I plan on using this article to further enforce to the reader the underlying danger of a seatbelt,
Source 5: Klinich, K., Ebert, S., Malik, L., Manary, M. et al., Seatbelt Entanglement: Field Analysis, Countermeasure Development, and Subject Evaluation of Devices Intended to Reduce Risk, (January 2019) Retrieved February 10th 2023.
Background: This source delves further into the phenomenon of seatbelts becoming tangled and trapping the occupant.
How I intend on using it: I will use this source to emphasize the danger that seatbelts can become if worn improperly and somebody gets into a bad enough crash.
Source 6: Cummings, P (December 2002) Association of seat belt use with death: a comparison of estimates based on data from police and estimates based on data from trained crash investigators Retrieved March 1st 2023
Background- This source brings up the instances of people that have been in an accident lying about wearing their belt, resulting in a false sense of security and bloated inaccurate numbers based on how safe they are.
How I intend to use it: I intend to use this article to diminish any worthy opponents to my arguments chances of using the statistics, which are very much against my argument, by making them seem misleading and untrue.
Source 7: Ardis, W (January 2023) Defective Seatbelts Retrieved March 1st 2023
Background- This source mainly talks about how seatbelts can quickly become significantly more dangerous than they are safe when they fail.
How I intend to use it: Drive home the point of how useless seatbelts are if not worn correctly
Source 8: Byard, R (October 5th 2004) Child Booster Seats and Lethal Seatbelt Injuries Retrieved on April 3rd 2023
Background: This article recounts an instance of a perfectly healthy 7 year old boy involved in an accident who was wearing his seatbelt and ended up dying from cardiac arrest.
How I intend to use it: I plan on using this as a shock factor effect in order to startle people into realizing how dangerous seatbelts can be.
Source 9: Bunai, Y; et al (September 2000) Fetal Death From Abruptio Placentae Associated With Incorrect Use of a Seatbelt Retrieved April 5th 2023
Background: This is yet another case of a life being taken away from the result of improper seatbelt use.
How I plan to use it: Again, I plan to use this to really put it in the readers mind how dangerous seatbelts can be
Visual Rhetoric Rewrite
0:00-0:03- The short begins with what appears to be three friends hanging out together at a bar that is illuminated with red lights. The man in the middle, presumably the subject of the ad, is holding a dark drink that appears to be near finished. The two others talk, without their friend.
0:04- 0:06-Hard cut to a man wearing a flannel at what appears to be some sort of barbecue. It seems like it is the 4th of July. The man has a red solo cup in his hand, and on the left hand side of the screen is his friend working the grill. The man suddenly looks down into his red solo cup right as he is about to take a sip.
0:07-0:09- Hard cut to a man wearing jeans sitting in the back of a truck in what appears to be a parking lot. He has a blue solo cup in his hand. In the background, multiple varieties of alcoholic drinks can be seen, including liquor and beer. There is a bowl of chips in a bowl on a table to the mans left. Based on context clues, I would have to assume the man is tailgating for a football game and getting drunk with his friends.
0:10- The first man reaches into his pockets for his car keys
0:11-0:13- The second man reaches into his pocket and grabs his keys.
0:14- The third man catches his keys midair, as if he had thrown them to himself. He seems excited to drive.
0:15-0:17- The first man looks at his keys, then looks upwards, indicating that he is contemplating something.
0:18-0:20- The second man is staring longingly and cracks a slight smile. He also seems to be contemplating making a decision in his mind.
0:20-0:21- The first man is seen putting his key back into his pocket, which is immediately followed by the third guy putting his keys back into a side pocket of his backpack.
0:21-0:22- The third man tosses his keys away, presumably to a friend or somebody that is going to be driving him.
0:23-0:30- The video cuts to a clip of the third man in the passenger seat of a truck putting his seatbelt on as his designated driver takes off.
I believe that the theme of this PSA is a very simple and easy to follow one. Do not get behind the wheel of a multi-ton vehicle when you are under the influence of alcohol. The reason that this advert is compelling is not because it has a deep intricate meaning. The meaning is easy to see. The video, to me, is compelling because of how they choose to go about walking us through the decision making process of making the choice that could be saving yours and others lives. I believe that me freezing the video on every frame allowed me to really understand the nuances of the video more, as there is no way I could have came to the conclusion that I came to in a mere 30 seconds.
Self-Reflective Statement
Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
This is probably the core value that I believe I grew in the most this semester. Searching around the web for sources and data has always been one of the things I looked forward to the least when putting together a writing piece. That being said, as I began working on the white paper, I found that for every source that I found, a bigger piece of the puzzle that was my hypothesis was uncovered. I knew that very article I found had the potential to make my argument that much stronger. Ultimately, the assignment that I feared the most, the white paper, ended up being one of the easier to complete and more helpful of all the assignments that I completed. I believe that this assignment helped me to grow as a student efficiently.
Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
I think I put a lot of work this semester into becoming better at analyzing the context of a story and coming to the correct conclusion that the creator of said story expected me to arrive at. My best instance of utilizing this skill was in the Visual Rhetoric assignment. I think that this assignment taught me that I really need to absorb every single piece of information out of what I am given, regardless of how meaningless it may seem. That assignment had me pausing once a second and scanning that frame for sometimes as long as many minutes. I think it also taught me a lot of patience, and I learned that often times you won’t see the authors true intent until you really look closely.
Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
I think that this is the core value that I struggled with the most throughout the semester. This is because I often times have trouble figuring out who exactly the author is trying to communicate with. I think that the assignment where I displayed this the bets was the Purposeful Summary. This is because I feel like that in order to understand each story that I was writing about, I really had to analyze the text and decide who exactly the authors were writing for and what point they were trying to convey. In explaining the counter-intuitivity of these article I came to further understand what the author was trying to say, and became a better reader, and in turn, a better writer, in the process.
Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
I think that I really grew in this area over the last couple of months of our semester together. Specifically, I believe that I became better at using alternative sources and turn them into something that is good for my argument. I showcased this skill best in my Rebuttal Rewrite, where I took some statistics that could have buried my argument if used in a certain context, and turned them into things that could actually help build my argument up. This skill is necessary in writing because it allows you to not only defend your own statement but to build it up further. I think that I didn’t really start to understand how important being able to do this was until I was tasked with writing my Rebuttal argument.
Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.
I believe that I certainly came a very long way in this regard, starting almost instantly. Before this class, I didn’t really take citation seriously. Crediting my sources was not important until it was due. This class changed that, because I realized almost instantly that a failure to at least record my sources as I build my argument would result in me not achieving a grade that I was satisfied with. I think that my Annotated Bibliography is the best testament to this. I was always looked at the citations at the end of every assignment to be the mundane ending to the task, but I realized that sources need to be compiled as they are accessed, and staying on top of your sources will actually help you a great deal in processing certain information.
Definition
Are Seatbelts Safe?
Introduction
Seatbelts have been a subject of controversy for many years. While some people believe that they are safe and can save lives in the event of an accident, others argue that they can cause serious injuries and even death. When you think of it in an abstract way, and understand that seatbelts often times lower peoples inhibitions and makes them less prepared for collision, it is not a completely absurd idea to suggest that seatbelts really no not do all that much to prevent risk, and risk often results in danger. Not to mention, seatbelts cause people to drive more erratically and pose more of a danger to themselves and others. This whole argument really boils down to how you define the word “risk”, as some people have different definitions than others. For that reason, I will spend this argument paper doing my best to do just that.
Definition
Oxford English Dictionary defines risk as “chance or possibility of danger, loss, or injury etc.” In general, risk is bad. Risk is something that you want to avoid as much as you possibly can when driving; which is exactly why seatbelts are dangerous. Once you feel safe, you lose your regard for your own safety, and therefore, are at a larger risk for danger. If you are driving, obviously your job is to get from point A to point B with as little risk of danger as possible to yourself and your passengers. In doing so, you wouldn’t want anything that would make you lose your sense of protection or to lower your ability to react. Humans are intrinsically protective of themselves when they are vulnerable. Taking this vulnerability away causes many people to become less focused, more easily distracted, and most importantly, more at risk. At the end of the day, risk is something that most people go out of their way to avoid, but the truth is that there are a lot of hidden risks in this world. Nobody would assume at first glance that wearing your seatbelt may pose more of a risk to somebody than driving without one, but the correct answer is not always the first one that appears. That being said, while risk is not always avoidable, I would prefer to always have the best chance instinctually to make the decisions or the maneuvers to keep myself and my passengers safe. When we break down what risk is, by its definition, we see that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles a greater deal of risk than not having one because they give drivers a false sense of security.
Body
A study was recently conducted in Kuwait testing what exactly it was that resulted in collisions on the road, it was found that a vast majority of the accidents were a result of human error, which can be attributed to losing ones sense of safety and becoming distracted. “The relationship between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident also determined. Data were collected from 80 respondents. Plus, observational technique was conducted at two roads chosen in Pahang and Terengganu. The questionnaire results concluded that there had association between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident.” (Adibah) This study shows us that human nature will always triumph over human invention. At the end of the day, that is what this argument boils down to. Those that are more willing to place their faith in their intrinsic human instincts than a man made machine will agree that wearing a seatbelt can present somebody with a greater risk than not wearing one.
Body
In one instance, a 49-year old man with no underlying medical illness was killed when he got into an accident and his seatbelt compressed against his neck. The ironic thing about it is that if that man lived, he would probably be so very grateful that he wore that seatbelt. Who wouldn’t be initially? At first glance, it is the seatbelt that saved you. If you look closer, however, you can see that wearing the seatbelt caused you a much greater deal of risk than if you were without one. This is not even just seen in collisions of lower power/damage, as the man who was killed by his seatbelt when he would have otherwise been perfectly fine without one, was driving 110 kilometers per hour. Getting in a crash at 110 kilometers per hour was not enough to kill him, but the unpredictability and uncertain risk of his seatbelt certainly was. The one true way to truly mitigate day-by-day risk would be to begin driving without a seatbelt. In my opinion, if you limit your risk, you increase your safety, and as I have explained, not wearing a seatbelt is the ultimate way to limit your risk while driving. Following that process, the safest way for somebody to get from point A to point B would be without a seatbelt, rather than with one.
Another thing to note is how much somebodies risk of dying or getting injured in a crash decreases when the speed decreases. When do you drive faster, with a seatbelt, or without one? Assuming most people drive slower without their seatbelts on, this fact alone probably saves thousands of people a year. Without the fear of the potential repercussions that may arise from getting into a collision without a seatbelt on, your likelihood of getting into one significantly increases. At the end of the day, you just have to decide that it is more worth it to lower your risk of getting into an accident at all than increasing your risk by preparing for the accident. In wearing a seatbelt, it is almost as if you are welcoming a collision. You do something that will make getting in an accident more common, but you do it in order to mitigate the damages of said accidents. That is one of the most counter-intuitive things imaginable, even more so than neglecting to wear a seatbelt for the purpose of increasing safety.
References
Syarah Adibah, J., Mohd Najib, Y. (2022). Contributing Factors Towards Human Errors on Road Transport Safety Among Commercial Vehicle Drivers. In: , et al. Human-Centered Technology for a Better Tomorrow. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4115-2_19
Najari F, Alimohammadi AM. An Immediate Death by Seat Belt Compression; a Forensic Medicine Report. Emerg (Tehran). 2015 Fall;3(4):165-7. PMID: 26495409; PMCID: PMC4608342.
Definition Rewrite
Seatbelts Are Unsafe
Introduction
Seatbelts are widely considered a great thing for society that save many lives every year, and I wouldn’t argue that they definitely do save a lot of people when used correctly. That being said, while some people believe that they are safe and can save lives in the event of an accident, others argue that they can cause serious injuries and even death in certain cases. When thought is put into it in an abstract way, one will come to understand that seatbelts often times lower peoples inhibitions and makes them less prepared for collision. For this reason, it is not a completely absurd idea to suggest that seatbelts really no not do all that much to prevent risk, and risk often results in danger. Additionally, seatbelts cause people to drive more erratically and pose more of a danger to themselves and others. This whole argument really boils down to how somebody would define the word “risk”, as some people have different definitions than others. For that reason, for the sake of this argument I believe it is important that we understand and potentially reconsider what risk means for most people.
Definition
Risk is generally defined as a chance or possibility of danger, loss, or injury. Typically, risk is bad. Risk is something that somebody want to avoid as much as they possibly can when driving; which is exactly why seatbelts are dangerous. Once one feels safe, they lose their regard for their own safety, and therefore, are at a larger risk for danger. A drivers job is obviously to get from point A to point B with as little risk of danger as possible to themself and their passengers. In doing so, the driver wouldn’t want anything that would make them lose their sense of protection or to lower their ability to react. Humans are intrinsically protective of themselves when they are vulnerable. Taking this vulnerability away causes many people to become less focused, more easily distracted, and most importantly, more at risk. At the end of the day, risk is something that most people go out of their way to avoid, but the truth is that there are a lot of hidden risks in this world. Nobody would assume at first glance that wearing a seatbelt may pose more of a risk to somebody than driving without one, but the correct answer is not always the first one that appears. That being said, while risk is not always avoidable, I would prefer to always have the best chance instinctually to make the decisions or the maneuvers to keep myself and my passengers safe. When we break down what risk is, by its definition, we see that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles a greater deal of risk than not having one because they give drivers a false sense of security.
Body
A study was recently conducted in Kuwait testing what exactly it was that resulted in collisions on the road, it was found that a vast majority of the accidents were a result of human error, which can be attributed to losing ones sense of safety and becoming distracted. “The relationship between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident also determined. Data were collected from 80 respondents. Plus, observational technique was conducted at two roads chosen in Pahang and Terengganu. The questionnaire results concluded that there had association between factors that contribute to human error and road transport accident.” (Adibah) This study shows us that human nature will always triumph over human invention. At the end of the day, that is what this argument boils down to. Those that are more willing to place their faith in their intrinsic human instincts than a man made machine will agree that wearing a seatbelt can present somebody with a greater risk than not wearing one.
Body
In one instance, a 49-year old man with no underlying medical illness was killed when he got into an accident and his seatbelt compressed against his neck. The ironic thing about it is that if that man lived, he would probably be so very grateful that he wore that seatbelt. Who wouldn’t be initially? At first glance, it is the seatbelt that saved them. At a closer glance, however, one can see that wearing the seatbelt caused them a much greater deal of risk than if they were without one. This is not even just seen in collisions of lower power/damage, as the man who was killed by his seatbelt when he would have otherwise been perfectly fine without one, was driving 110 kilometers per hour. Getting in a crash at 110 kilometers per hour was not enough to kill him, but the unpredictability and uncertain risk of his seatbelt certainly was. The one true way to truly mitigate day-by-day risk would be to begin driving without a seatbelt. In my opinion, if we limit our risk, we increase our safety, and as I have explained, not wearing a seatbelt is the ultimate way to limit risk while driving. Following that process, the safest way for somebody to get from point A to point B would be without a seatbelt, rather than with one.
Another thing to note is how much somebodies risk of dying or getting injured in a crash decreases when the speed decreases. When do people drive faster, with a seatbelt, or without one? Assuming most people drive slower without their seatbelts on, this fact alone probably saves thousands of people a year. Without the fear of the potential repercussions that may arise from getting into a collision without a seatbelt on, the likelihood of getting into one significantly increases. At the end of the day, we just have to decide that it is more worth it to lower our risk of getting into an accident at all than increasing our risk by preparing for the accident. In wearing a seatbelt, it is almost as if somebody is welcoming a collision. People do something that will make getting in an accident more common, but they do it in order to mitigate the damages of said accidents. That is one of the most counter-intuitive things imaginable, even more so than neglecting to wear a seatbelt for the purpose of increasing safety.
References
Syarah Adibah, J., Mohd Najib, Y. (2022). Contributing Factors Towards Human Errors on Road Transport Safety Among Commercial Vehicle Drivers. In: , et al. Human-Centered Technology for a Better Tomorrow. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4115-2_19
Najari F, Alimohammadi AM. An Immediate Death by Seat Belt Compression; a Forensic Medicine Report. Emerg (Tehran). 2015 Fall;3(4):165-7. PMID: 26495409; PMCID: PMC4608342.
Causal
The effectiveness of seatbelts is not nearly as cut and dry as one might first be led to believe. There are lots of different factors to be taken into account when judging whether they actually save people or not. First of all, seatbelts really aren’t saving all that many people per year anyway. At least, not nearly as many as the figure would lead you to believe. Many of the people who were “saved by seatbelts” would have been perfectly fine had they not worn one. Another thing to keep in mind is that seatbelts have only been shown to be effective when they are worn correctly. Not only this, but when they are worn incorrectly, you are actually making it more likely for you to get injured in an accident. Additionally, wearing a seatbelt provides drivers with a false sense of security, which in turn causes them to lower their senses and inhibitions, making them more likely to end up in a collision. Considering all of these elements, I think it is safe to say that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles to become more vulnerable to an accident.
Contrary to what many might believe, statistics are not necessarily on the side of the seatbelt. According to the NHTSA, of the 37,133 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, 47% of them were not wearing their seatbelts (Medium). This means that more than half of them WERE wearing the seatbelts that were supposed to save their lives. This leads us to one question. If seatbelts are not making people safer, how come the amount of motor vehicle deaths has declined recently? We can reasonably infer that the reason this number has gone down is due to better technological advancements, more safety regulations and other outside factors. Ultimately, people want seatbelts to work. They want to feel safer in their cars. However, staying with this naive mindset is giving people a false sense of security while driving. A lot of people think that they are invincible while driving. This is because they are so used to wearing seatbelts and not having to worry about having their life and other peoples lives in their hands.
Another thing that makes seatbelts dangerous is their locking mechanic. Anybody who has ever worn a seatbelt knows this. If you try pulling the seatbelt too fast, it freezes up, or locks in place. This is to prevent people from going flying when they get into an accident, but what it actually ends up doing is just giving people whiplash and causing injury and entanglement when they are in minor accidents, which are significantly more common than a severe car crash. One article read that “Since 2000, over 200 rear seat occupants have become entangled in the seatbelt when they inadvertently switched it from emergency locking mode (ELR) to automatic locking mode (ALR). Since a method is needed to lock the seatbelt when installing child restraint systems (CRS), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) commissioned tool, inc. to develop prototype devices that could reduce the risk of seatbelt entanglement resulting from the lockability requirement.”(sae.org) This statistic just makes it seem like all of this isn’t even worth it. If these seatbelts are only going to cause a mass number of people to get injuries that they otherwise wouldn’t, they are not worth having in cars, and are actually making the roads a lot more dangerous.
While many people think that they are great drivers, the truth is that most are not. This false sense of superiority on the road is already a problem as it is, causing people to take unnecessary risks and try to do things that they can not pull off. Now imagine how much worse that is made because somebody is wearing their seatbelt and doesn’t even care enough to look at the road because they incorrectly believe that wearing a seatbelt makes them invulnerable and a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr. All of that extra risk is not worth what seatbelts provide for society, and if you think it is then you need to straighten out your priorities. Also, not only do people feel safer and therefore are less safe when driving with a seatbelt on, but they also cause people to drive faster, which results in more deadly accidents. I do not believe that seatbelts giving bad drivers unwarranted confidence and the idea that they can afford to go faster than they actually can is making the road a safer place in any capacity. A new phenomenon is something that is known as “seatbelt syndrome”. Essentially, after getting into an accident while wearing a seatbelt, certain victims report having lingering injuries such as intra-abdominal injuries and vertebral fractures. This has been known to cause chronic pain in its victims for the rest of their lives. Many sufferers of seatbelt syndrome never recover, and their quality of life diminishes heavily.
To conclude, the definitive reason that you should not wear a seatbelt while driving is that it does the one thing that you do not want to happen while you drive. It makes the road more dangerous. Seatbelts cause drivers to lower their inhibitions and become more susceptible to damage sustained during a wreck or collision. Many people refuse to accept this truth because they can not wrap their minds around the fact that something that is supposed to be protecting us is actually harming us, and it is being promoted by the government. If people opened their eyes up to this sort of thing more often, they would see that it is not all the uncommon. The government promotes things that are against the best interest of the people all the time, take, for instance, the fact that tobacco and nicotine is a billion dollar industry that kills people, but makes money, so its not a big deal to the government. If people realized that a lot more often than they realize, this world is not as soft and protective as they have been led to believe. It is the lack of people that are willing to challenge common belief that allows the narrative of helpful seatbelts to prevail.
Sources:
Klinich, K., Ebert, S., Malik, L., Manary, M. et al., “Seatbelt Entanglement: Field Analysis, Countermeasure Development, and Subject Evaluation of Devices Intended to Reduce Risk,” SAE Technical Paper 2019-01-0619, 2019, https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-01-0619.
The effectiveness of seatbelts is not nearly as cut and dry as one might first be led to believe. There are lots of different factors to be taken into account when judging whether they actually save people or not. First of all, seatbelts really aren’t saving all that many people per year anyway. At least, not nearly as many as the figure would lead the public to believe. Many of the people who were “saved by seatbelts” would have been perfectly fine had they not worn one. Another thing to keep in mind is that seatbelts have only been shown to be effective when they are worn correctly. Not only this, but when they are worn incorrectly, it actually makes it more likely for a person to get injured in an accident. Additionally, wearing a seatbelt provides drivers with a false sense of security, which in turn causes them to lower their senses and inhibitions, making them more likely to end up in a collision. Considering all of these elements, I think it is safe to say that seatbelts cause drivers of vehicles to become more vulnerable to an accident.
Contrary to what many might believe, statistics are not necessarily on the side of the seatbelt. According to the NHTSA, of the 37,133 people killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, 47% of them were not wearing their seatbelts (Medium). This means that more than half of them WERE wearing the seatbelts that were supposed to save their lives. This leads us to one question. If seatbelts are not making people safer, how come the amount of motor vehicle deaths has declined recently? We can reasonably infer that the reason this number has gone down is due to better technological advancements, more safety regulations and other outside factors.
Ultimately, people want seatbelts to work. They want to feel safer in their cars. However, staying with this naive mindset is giving people a false sense of security while driving. A lot of people think that they are invincible while driving. This is because they are so used to wearing seatbelts and not having to worry about having their life and other peoples lives in their hands.
Since a method is needed to lock the seatbelt when installing child restraint systems (CRS), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) commissioned tool, inc. to develop prototype devices that could reduce the risk of seatbelt entanglement resulting from the lockability requirement.”(sae.org) This statistic just makes it seem like all of this isn’t even worth it. If these seatbelts are only going to cause a mass number of people to get injuries that they otherwise wouldn’t, they are not worth having in cars, and are actually making the roads a lot more dangerous.
While many people think that they are great drivers, the truth is that most are not. This false sense of superiority on the road is already a problem as it is, causing people to take unnecessary risks and try to do things that they can not pull off. Now imagine how much worse that is made because somebody is wearing their seatbelt and doesn’t even care enough to look at the road because they incorrectly believe that wearing a seatbelt makes them invulnerable and a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr. All of that extra risk is not worth what seatbelts provide for society, and anybody who thinks it is has to straighten out their priorities.
Also, not only do people feel safer and therefore are less safe when driving with a seatbelt on, but they also cause people to drive faster, which results in more deadly accidents. I do not believe that seatbelts giving bad drivers unwarranted confidence and the idea that they can afford to go faster than they actually can is making the road a safer place in any capacity. Another opinion that is important in this topic is that of those who are victims of wreckless drivers who became less able to operate their car properly because they wore their seatbelt.
A new phenomenon is something that is known as “seatbelt syndrome”. Essentially, after getting into an accident while wearing a seatbelt, certain victims report having lingering injuries such as intra-abdominal injuries and vertebral fractures. This has been known to cause chronic pain in its victims for the rest of their lives. Many sufferers of seatbelt syndrome never recover, and their quality of life diminishes heavily.
Seatbelts cause drivers to lower their inhibitions and become more susceptible to damage sustained during a wreck or collision. Many people refuse to accept this truth because they can not wrap their minds around the fact that something that is supposed to be protecting us is actually harming us, and it is being promoted by the government. If people opened their eyes up to this sort of thing more often, they would see that it is not all the uncommon. The government promotes things that are against the best interest of the people all the time, take, for instance, the fact that tobacco and nicotine is a billion dollar industry that kills people, but makes money, so its not a big deal to the government.
To conclude, the definitive reason that people should not wear a seatbelt while driving is that it does the one thing that twe do not want to happen while we drive. It makes the road more dangerous. If people realized that a lot more often than they realize, this world is not as soft and protective as they have been led to believe. It is the lack of people that are willing to challenge common belief that allows the narrative of helpful seatbelts to prevail.
References (not Sources) centered
Klinich, K., Ebert, S., Malik, L., Manary, M. et al., “Seatbelt Entanglement: Field Analysis, Countermeasure Development, and Subject Evaluation of Devices Intended to Reduce Risk,” SAE Technical Paper 2019-01-0619, 2019, https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-01-0619.
In case of a school shooting, the presence of police officers armed with guns could allow for a quick response and immediate action to neutralize the threat. This would limit the number of casualties and save lives. Deterrent to potential attackers: The presence of armed police officers in schools could also act as a deterrent to potential attackers, who may be deterred from committing a crime in a place where they know they will face armed resistance. Proper training and evaluation: Police officers are thoroughly trained in the use of firearms and undergo regular evaluations to ensure they are fit for the job. This will minimize the risk of the weapon being misused and ensures that only those who are qualified to handle firearms are allowed to carry them. Police officers are responsible for the safety of the community, and their role in schools is no different. They are trained to protect and serve, and carrying a gun is part of that responsibility. The police in school’s topic have been an ongoing debate for several years now, and it continues to draw mixed reactions and opinions from various people. One school of thought argues that having police officers in schools increases the safety and security of students and teachers while another suggests that such a move leads to increased incidents of violence and discrimination. (Facts About Armed Guards in Schools Statistics – Safe and Sound Security (getsafeandsound.com). In this article, they talk about the percentage of high schools that have armed police officers in their schools. “From 2013 to 2014, 43% of all public schools had one or more security staff present in their buildings. This number increased to 56.5% in the period from 2015 to 2016. As for armed guards present in school, or security staff routinely carrying a firearm, statistics show 28.0% of all schools had armed security guards from 2009 to 2010. “
This article says “110 people have been killed and 162 injured by gunfire in 57 school shootings, according to a school shooting tracker NBC News is making public. As of March 29, 2023, it has been two days since the last school shooting.” (What research shows about police in schools – Chalkbeat). This article talks about what different states’ stances are on police in schools. States like Dever said they didn’t want police in their schools, while New York and Chicago say they need police to give the students safety and order. And I can understand why Dever thinks like that but school shootings are a part of this generation’s problem, and they are getting more and more frequent. And any parent would rather their kid be in school and come home, rather than their kid goes to school and never comes back because there is a school shooter in the building and no one to save them.
If the police were allowed in schools, this is how it could work. We would have a metal detector to see if there are any dangerous items in the kid’s bag and have a police officer with a guard dog at every entrance. The dog is there to sniff and detect if the kids have any weapons or illegal drugs on them. Also, if the shooter happens to fire the gun before the officer can grab theirs the dog will be able to take down the shooter. And if the shooter thinks to just wait and come in when the doors are closed, they will be sadly mistaken. The doors will be automatically locked, and you will have to show your school identification before they let you in. After that the officer and its dog will search you before you go into the school. And most people will say that you are treating the kids like prisoners, but to that i say how many more kids will have to die in a setting where they are supposed to feel safe. After 9/11, securities in all airports doubled so why haven’t that happened for high schools or for schools in general? After 9/11 there have been 0 plane hijacks, and you know why? The answer to that is because they have strict rules for kids and adults to make sure they board the plane safely and to make sure they have nothing harmful that can cause other passengers to die.
Officers in schools logically make since because just in the last year 2022 alone there have been 27 school shootings, there has only been one plane hijacking that has taken place on American soil. Schools will continue to fail their students by not making the rules they need to secure the children’s and the teachers safety. And the fact is that schools don’t want kids to feel like their environment is unsafe to be frank they already are. In my school we had everything that I mentioned today. We had search dogs in our schools and metal detectors at the front. And have never had a school shooting in the entire history of the school. But another school that didn’t have all that stuff their school their school was shot in and two students were injured. (Heritage High School: Boy taken into custody after Virginia school shooting that left 2 wounded, police say | CNN). But if schools had trained law enforcement in the building at all times this might have never happened. Mind you the police will have to create a new branch for these officers that will specialize in how to deal with children. They will have classes that will teach them descalation and negotiation in fights between students without any physically toughing either student or whoever is in the argument. They will also learn how to disarm people without using lethal force, and basically teaching them lethal force is the last thing they need to do. But most importantly they need skills on how to talk with kids and they need to instinctively know when to be a friend and when to be serious. This in the long run will help kids see cops more as a big brother than a evil racist villain.
Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
I best demonstrated Core Value 1 in my white paper assignment. In the White paper Assignment, I looked through many sources, works, social experiments, etc. and I had to dive deep into each one. I showed that I could give backgrounds of different references I then figured out how I would develop the references into my own paper. Using tools like the Rowan database and google scholar helped me find interesting and elusive references. White Paper
Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
I best demonstrated Core Value 2 in the Definition paper. In this paper, I used multiple different sources to try and put together a common definition of happiness. I used different ideas from very influential people and sources to try to clearly state what my definition was and to make my paper flow better. I used multiple different views and causes of happiness to form my own definition that clearly showed core value 2.
Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
I best demonstrated Core Value 3 in my Visual Rhetoric assignment. The assignment’s goal was to dive deep into the short video clips. I had to pause the video every few seconds to explain exactly what was happening in and try to figure out what the purpose was behind each scene. Also, I used the passing scenes to try and understand the background of what was happening, and I had to clearly state what was going on. This assignment showed a clear rhetorical analysis of the short clips. Visual Rhetoric
Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
I demonstrated Core Value 4 in my Research paper. Throughout the whole year and in each different portion of this paper I was using different sources to help develop my ideas and back up my arguments. I used around 10 different and unique sources in my paper to help get my point across to the reader. Although this assignment was challenging, I believe that the research paper showed that I could evaluate and incorporate different evidence and ideas into a paper to back up and prove my argument.
Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citations.
I best demonstrated Core Value 5 in my Annotated Bibliography. In this assignment, I had to cite all the references I used in my paper and explain how I used each one to prove my point. I had to cite each website correctly and show where I used it in my paper, I also had to cite the authors correctly in my paper. I put each reference with a link and citation to go back to the website, so I feel that this assignment shows Core Value 5 the best.
I prefer David or Dave, but students uncomfortable with first names can call me Professor or Mister Hodges. (Sir Dave and Dave-a-lot are popular alternatives.) My ESL students' charming solution, Mister David, is my favorite by far.
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Counterintuitive Spring 2023 