At the end of a long day, after finishing all of our work, most of us probably look forward to one thing: sleep. However, how many of us go to bed and check our Instagram and put in about a thousand scrolls on Tiktok before finally feeling sleepy enough to finally end our day. What do you know, the next morning rolls around and you’re just as tired as before you went to sleep the day before, coming off of 6 hours of sleep. With the amount of classmates that we all see walking

Social media is something that teens today use daily. Many people post about their daily life, exciting events, or even show off their accomplishments. These things can actively cause competition and can negatively impact people’s mindset. As social media may have benefits like access to mental health resources, it's important to balance things especially during finals week. If you open social media, you may be welcomed with celebrations, perfect grades, college acceptances,

One mental health issue that affects many students is perfectionism. As a student, I often see people put a lot of pressure on themselves to get perfect grades, be involved in multiple activities, and meet high expectations from teachers, parents, and even themselves. While having goals can be motivating, constantly feeling like you have to be perfect can create a lot of stress and anxiety. Perfectionism can make students afraid to make mistakes because they worry that one ba

Have you ever tripped in front of a crowd, waved to the wrong person, or made an awkward comment? Many people have experienced moments like these and felt embarrassed afterwards. These moments can create feelings of embarrassment, which can manifest as the flushing of your face and neck, and your eyebrows knitting together. But what if embarrassment is not just what experience, but also our perspective on said experience? Embarrassment is often coupled with shame and guilt an

Imagine that feeling when you check your final grade after studying for hours only to see a number way lower than you wanted. Your stomach drops. Everything feels wrong and you can’t help but be utterly disappointed in yourself. When you feel like you’ve let yourself down, how do you get back up? As much as it may feel like it, academics are not everything. Of course we all want good grades, but it is hard to come to terms with a score that makes you doubt yourself. Let’s fi

You know the feeling. It’s 10:30, and you still have what seems like a whole week’s worth of work that’s due the next morning, not to mention the fact that finals week has you doing anything to secure the last minute grade. A growing number of teenagers have been relying on caffeine in order to make it through these days, and even in order to make it through school on a day-to-day basis. What does caffeine really do? It blocks the release of adenosine into the synaptic gaps

Imagine it’s the Sunday night before finals, and a year's worth of zoning out in class has finally caught up to you. Sure, you managed to get by on chapter tests by cramming at the last minute, but tomorrow’s final covers the entire semester’s curriculum, and you absolutely need to ace it. You want to study. You need to study. But instead, you glance over at the clock and see that it's 9:52 PM. I’ll start at 10:00 when the time is even, you tell yourself, picking up your phon

If you find yourself constantly finding yourself in situations where you have to soothe a loved one’s problems or deal with interpersonal drama in your friend group and can't help but suggest solutions, your position as the emotional anchor is not a coincidence. Then you might just be the designated “therapist friend” within your social circle. Looking at this psychologically, this role is often driven by a combination of a high emotional intelligence, acute hyper-vigalence,

You just posted a story and realized there’s a weird shadow in the background. Your stomach drops. You delete it immediately, but the “10 views” notification haunts you. You’re convinced those ten people are currently screenshotting it and wondering what’s wrong with you. But here’s the cold hard truth: nobody actually cares. In fact, they didn’t even see the shadow. They were too busy scanning their own reflection in the corner of their own screen to notice yours. We all liv

Being liked brings more validation than being real. Biologically, over time your brain connects being liked with being safe. Every time you get approval, like praise, attention, or even a simple reaction, your brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical neurotransmitter that is connected to personal reward and motivation. It constantly reinforces the behavior that led to that feeling. If being agreeable gets you approval, your brain starts pushing you to repeat that beh

The greatest lie of all. Not that we actually wish to fool anyone, but just because it's easier. It's easier than explaining why your chest feels so heavy. This helps to keep our thoughts to ourselves and not cause further trouble to others, but this slowly breaks us apart. It's easier than trying to put things into words and thoughts that you don't understand. It is easier than risking being exposed too clearly. In everyday situations, people learn how to wear a mask when in

In today’s competitive school environment, students are constantly expected to do more—earn higher grades, take harder classes, and participate in multiple extracurricular activities. A good GPA, test scores, and achievements are what students constantly seek. While working hard is important, the pressure to build a “perfect” college application is starting to negatively affect students’ mental health. One of the biggest sources of stress is the expectation to get near-perfec

Imagine you’re scrolling through Instagram or TikTok at night. Edits with sad songs and captions that seem deep and interesting. At first, it just seems like your average video. However, you begin to see how real mental health struggles are portrayed. It’s just another video meant to be aesthetic, and slowly the idea starts to seep into our minds. Being depressed or anxious is seen as an interesting personality trait or an accessory that makes you seem unique. Struggles an

You might have heard the saying, “comparison is the thief of joy.” I, for one, am quite acquainted with it. Not only by others, but also by an assessment of my own mood when I catch myself longing to be like someone else. Even seemingly insignificant, thoughtless sayings like, imagine if I were like her, or, if I had what he had, I bet my life would be SO much easier, can lead to a decline in self-image. So, most are quite familiar with comparison. In fact, 93% of social medi

Cheating culture has been around since school throughout the history of education. It is inevitable that cheating can allow students to get ahead with minimal effort.However, in recent years it has become more common everywhere, especially within education systems. Educators have been struggling to figure out why these rates have increased. Especially when most students obviously know that cheating is morally and ethically wrong. Students , maybe in your own school, are che

It’s 1 AM, you’re lying in bed, and you find yourself incapable of sleeping. You’ve tried doomscrolling to distract yourself from the swarm of your thoughts, but it’s ultimately unavoidable. Suddenly, every embarrassing moment you’ve had, every mistake you’ve made, and every worry about the future floods into your brain like a bright light, unable to turn off the switch. But why, exactly, does this happen in the first place? At night, your body begins to transition into its “

Cheating culture has been around since school throughout the history of education. It is inevitable that cheating can allow students to get ahead with minimal effort.However, in recent years it has become more common everywhere, especially within education systems. Educators have been struggling to figure out why these rates have increased. Especially when most students obviously know that cheating is morally and ethically wrong. Students , maybe in your own school, are che

By Derrick Harris Aanya Mukherjee’s Buy Yourself Flowers (BYF) is a prime example of how personal experiences can be crafted into action. Here is her story: Mukherjee experienced the Bay Area’s “hustle culture” firsthand while growing up in a South Asian immigrant household in Los Altos, where she was expected to work hard and not discuss feelings. This pressure followed her into her academic life at The Harker School where the “hustle” was only amplified. When you go t