Medium Magazine

In Mid-March, the state of California put in place a stay at home order due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. This required schools, businesses, and public places including parks to shut down in order to halt the spread of the virus. This confined people to their homes leaving them with lots of time to kill. It seems that a lot of that time was spent on our digital devices, and more specifically social media platforms. A new study reveals that the usage of social media went up by 61

People often think of social media as a way to connect with others but it can also create a divide, particularly between partners in a romantic relationship. Nowadays, just about everywhere, couples can be seen in public not paying attention to each other and giving more attention to their phones. Part of this is that with advances in smart phones, mobile technologies, and WiFi, people can now take their social media wherever they go, to share their thoughts, political belie

Crackling sounds tickle Christian Bolden’s ear as he carefully drops the needle down on one of his favorite vinyl records. After a few more seconds of crackling noises, a boozy jazz melody fills his room as Ari Lennox’s “Chicago Boy” begins to play. Bolden closes his eyes and lets the music transport him out of his dark room to somewhere else. Before the world came to a screeching halt due to California issuing its “Stay at Home” orders to prevent the spread of the coronavir

“I started my first journalism course in 2017. This was a time when two investigative reporters broke the news of the sexual allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and these two investigative reporters were female reporters. I thought to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’” Alyssa Vega was inspired by the investigative journalism of New York Times reporters Meghan Twohey and Jodi Kantor . Today, Vega is a journalism student at Boston University and a lifestyle, arts and enter

Within the past ten years, popular culture has been heavily affected by the rapid expansion of media across all forms. The non-stop media consumption has slowly escalated to the point where our devices even tell us our weekly usage. With the media-centered popular culture in place, one particular media platform gave many an outlet to reach millions while expressing their creativity - YouTube. YouTube is defined as a “video-sharing service” but is much much more than that. Wi

Social Media is becoming an epidemic that is infecting all of us, particularly in how we represent ourselves, judge or get judged by others. Social media started as a way to include those in your circle with an update, a photo, or a video you wanted to share. It also allowed us to see what our friends and followers were up to. Myspace was one of the first forms of social media but back then it was only on your desktop. There, users were able to customize their pages and choo

As the internet constantly evolves from one thing to another, there has been an uprise in one specific form of communication. From the traditional emojis that first started appearing since the early age of AOL, young adults have been constantly pushing the boundaries and finding new ways to communicate through the internet. The latest fad being memes. What are memes? Memes in a sense can be traced back to 1996 when people would sit around in cubicles and email “I hate Monday

It’s week 2,000 of quarantine and Donald Rivera is losing his mind. Will alternative learning, like online education, actually help kids from K-12 continue their education from where they left off? Rivera is a senior at King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles, Calif. He is an athlete at his school playing multiple sports from soccer to volleyball and basketball in his free time with his friends. His last season of volleyball was about to begi

We are tired. Tired of the media making it “look” like plus size women are inclusive in the fashion industry, and then really just… not being fully included. Women are subjected to fit categories that are virtually impossible to fulfill. “Company’s only like to feature “plus-size” models that are aesthetically pleasing to see and that in reality aren’t even plus-size at all,” said Yulissa Arevalo, age 22. The story that they tell is with the intention to sell numbers. To

Women are finding new ways to date and taking precautionary measures in the time of this epidemic One hundred faces stare back at Matthew Hussey, life dating coach expert and New York Times best-selling author of how to “Get the Guy,” each one enclosed in a box as he kicks off his Webinar scheduled for 11 a.m. sharp. When participants successfully log in, they can’t help but notice a diverse crowd. All of these women - Black, White, Latino, Asian - are trying to get answers t

In early March, 2020, 20-year-old author and owner of GenGuru.com John Stillman was diagnosed with the coronavirus after experiencing symptoms that began with a slight cough and sore throat, and then escalated to a high fever and body aches. “It felt like I was in a horrible car accident almost,” Stillman said in an interview with TODAY. “I couldn’t move...the simplest of tasks would wind me.” That week, 22-year-old Bjonda Haliti gained online attention for her tweet in whi

Growing up, I remember being told by my mom to enjoy the time I had with my friends while we still went to the same school because after high school we would most likely disconnect. Little did she know the idea of ‘temporary’ friendships would be no more, or that the structure of friendships would change drastically with the rise of social media. I didn’t join Instagram or Facebook until my senior year of high school. As soon as I hopped on the trend, I followed all my close

W hat do the “Good Doctor,” “Forrest Gump,” “Rain Man,” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” have in common? What they share is profiting from a community that isn’t theirs. No this isn’t a #metoo article or #Hollywoodsowhite also. This is about the disability community that never gets the right representation even though they make up 20 percent of the world’s population. This is about how Hollywood always casts the actor/actress to put a costume on the disability community. It

With the world feeling the brunt of the pandemic, the popular meme and phrase “gamers rise up” has taken a whole new meaning. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people around the world to stay at home in hopes of slowing down the number of those infected, allowing more time for many to look for creative ways to combat boredom by picking up an old hobby or finding a new one. It turns out many have taken to the virtual world of video games, finding creative ways to still ha

COVID-19 is changing the landscape for social interactions, social distancing is forcing us to be more creative. Bars have closed their doors, dine-in restaurants have put up their chairs, and social life throughout much of the country has come to a grinding halt. COVID-19 has put the world in a precarious position, where social isolation is the new normal and society is looking for ways to jump the hurdle. Orange County residents Joseph and Claudine Sidhom and a few of thei

This year, the Oscars shocked everyone by giving their biggest award of the night, Best Picture, to the movie “Parasite.” The film is described as a comedic thriller that deals with topics on class discrimination and greed. It had amazing reviews, won other major film awards like the Critics Choice Award, and made over $200 million in the box office. It has everything an Oscar-worthy film would need: controversial topics, an amazing cast, and an unforgettable plot twist. Yet

Since this virus outbreak many of us don’t know how to actually keep busy or we have just found out that we don’t have any real hobbies, other than maybe sleeping and eating. This is something we didn’t really expect, but it is what it is and we are here now, thriving and trying to survive it! At the beginning of this quarantine, let’s be real, we all sort of liked it. Staying at home and sleeping in, not going to class, but reality hit when we REALLY had to stay home and no