"Background Essay"

“Background Essay” by Donald L. Fixico discussed the topic of suicide. How the suicide rate among Native youth, young adults, and adults is exceptionally high. Tribes all around North America (U.S and Canada), were taken into account in this research. Findings and diagnostics were shared from the “Centers of Disease Control and Prevention”, as well as Health Canada. One key piece of information gave a lot of insight of the issue at hand and it could be found in the second paragraph. Stating, “suicide was one of the top seven causes of death among American Indians. In the United States, Native American suicides were 1.7 times as high compared to the national rate, the highest of any racial group, and Native people had a life expectancy of 2.4 years less than the rest of the mainstream population. Native youth suicide rates are the highest among 15 to 19 year olds in the United States and Native American males commit more suicides than female Native youths”.

After reading this and when it stated its highest rates are among 15-19 year olds , I was at a loss of words. To think that this is my age range as well as my friends here at school just makes you think that anyone can be feeling like this. Youth now have a hard time finding an outlet to deal with their pain and emotions so it comes out as trying to inflict damage to themselves or others. Thats why I think its important to help the youth while their young, get them active, as well as their brains. Help them find their outlet whether that be sports or some kind of hobby in the arts category. Something, as long as they aren't stuck inside, wasting hours stuck on devices.

Fixico, Donald L. "Background Essay." The American Mosaic: The American Indian Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2021, americanindian-abc-clio-com.sfis.idm.oclc.org/Search/Display/1652143. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.

"Indian Horse"

The film "Indian Horse" takes place in the late 1950’s and tells the dark history of what happened inside of basically all indigenous boarding schools at the time. Its chimed in how it traumatized children and as they got older how they took dark turns. Didn't know how to deal with their painful past and how many turned to alcohol and drugs as their support system. It follows the story of a young Ojibway boy named Saul who lost his family at a young age and was taken away to one of Canada’s notorious Catholic Residential Schools. Here he is denied the freedom to practice his culture and speak his own language. He witnesses many forms of abuse to the ones he cares about by the people who are “suppose to care for them”. Despite all this he finds refuge in the sport hockey. Intrigued by this he secretly teaches himself how to play and get pretty good at it. Growing up and continuing to play, his talent takes him away form the horrifying school and places him with a loving family. He still continues to play the sport he loves but now is subject to racist and prejudiced people who just want to see him fail. Unfazed by this because he has his teammates at his side, and just ends ups getting better and better. He is meet by the opportunity of playing in the NHL but is still haunted by the ghosts of his past and this in turn destroys his bright career and future. He is influenced by alcohol and is forced to confront his painful past when he almost drinks himself to death. He then draws on the help of his friends and the spirit of his ancestors to help him in his healing process.

Netflix, 31 Mar. 2020, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80211455?trackId=14170056&tctx=4%2C2%2C66566eb5-384d-4f55-9796-0f2bb11e15c3-115258380%2Cd5bbd8a6-156d-464d-8489-942ee2313aed_11169646X10XX1635892702721%2Cd5bbd8a6-156d-464d-8489-942ee2313aed_ROOT%2C. Accessed 2 Nov. 2021.

"Kids nearly doubled screen time during the pandemic, but there is something you can do about it"

This was an article created by the CNN Wire. It was written toward the end of quarantine, capturing the after math of how it effected our youth. With online school being put into action and everyone having to stay at home, really raised up time spent on screens. It talked about a bunch studies done on children of all ages, teens and to as young as pre schoolers. Taking a look at their mental health, their mental state before and during the quarantine. Seeing how they acted with friends and family was also taken into account and how that drastically changed. This article was just mainly comparing and contrasting how were and how that changed from pre COVID to after COVID.

"Kids nearly doubled screen time during the pandemic, but there is something you can do about it." CNN Wire, 1 Nov. 2021, p. NA. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A6

"Can Too Much Screen Time Harm You? Learn how spending excessive time on electronic devices can affect your brain and body"

This piece was taken form the Choices/Current Health website. This brought awareness to the problems high screen time can have on the body and your mind set. Its main arguments were based on “having trouble sleeping”. How it affects the levels of melatonin in your brain. Melatonin being the chemical produced when in darkness that causes you to sleep. So the more light (screen time), you allow in you day before bed the less sleep you’ll get. The other argument being, mood changes. It stated one finding that higher levels of screen time can increase symptoms of depression. How it can make you neglect you responsibilities and make you lose interest in the things you use to like to do. But also stated scientists are still investigating how this effects mood. Then lastly it got into brain development. It explained all about this when it said, “Too many hours on your phone may even cause physical changes to your brain. The cortex--the outer layer of the brain that processes information--undergoes critical development during adolescence, and research shows that screen time may affect its growth. In a study called Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD), scientists discovered that some kids who use screens more than seven hours a day had a thinner cortex than those who use screens less.”

"Can Too Much Screen Time Harm You? Learn how spending excessive time on electronic devices can affect your brain and body." Choices/Current Health, vol. 35, no. 8, May 2020, pp. 20+. Gale In Context: Middle School, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A623696441/MSIC?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=0cae68f0. Accessed 11 Nov. 2021.

"Consequences for Kids' of Endless Screen Time"

Documented video interview by Reena Roy from the ABC News followed a series of two segments that gave look into what many families all over the US experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. First interview was of eleven year old Ion Lurkergie and how the epidemic effected him with his increase in screen time and decrease with just regular, ordinary human interaction. Then the last interview being about a mother of two Linsey Reckler, working from home, as well as parenting like millions of other Americans during the quarantine. They both discussed their struggles during the pandemic and how it changed them proceeding on. Its also gave insight on how the brain works. How when your on devices you get a dopamine rush, a pleasure feeling from whatever your doing on your screen. Weather thats watching a show, a video, playing games, etc. It can come form all those things and thats how you get addicted. It makes you feel comfortable, secure even because your just there watching what ever.

Roy, Reena. “Consequences for Kids' of Endless Screen Time”. ABC News, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bCCDGZyC0I

“Japan Kids Lack Exercise Due to More Screen Time, Less Club Activity Time: Sports Body.”

The Mainichi, Japans daily national news was what I looked into for my global connections. This article was titled, “Japan kids lack exercise due to more screen time, less club activity time: sports body”. This passage was about the JSA (Japan Sports Agency) finding highly noticeable decrease in the youths fitness tests from previous years. The study was done on both male and female students, in fifth grade elementary and second year junior high. Kids were tested in eight sporting events and had to complete all to the best of their ability. Once data was analyzed, they discovered a drop of 2.6 and 1.8 points. Results were compared to the year before, the year 2018. So that ment this study was conducted in 2019. After seeing this the JSA surveyed the kids to see what they were doing with their time. From both groups about 50% to 80% said they exercised “ at least seven hours a week”. Taking this into consideration they then asked how many hours were spend on screens. They found kids had about a 60% increase in their devices. With this they concluded and found that children with longer screen times particularly scored lower on the Physical Education test.

“Japan Kids Lack Exercise Due to More Screen Time, Less Club Activity Time: Sports Body.” The Mainichi, https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191224/p2a/00m/0na/020000c.

“Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Hulu Are Streaming Favorites as Americans Subscribe to More Services amid Covid-19.”

A USA Today post written by Mike Snider was about one of the most popular and currently growing services in the entertainment industry today. Streaming apps. It starts off talking about the Coronavirus pandemic and how it has changed our “entertainment behaviors”, how we are more likely now a days to stream something at home other than going out. Streaming is growing constantly and results taken back in 2020 shows that in just three months, worldwide viewing time increased by 44%. These apps are bringing in so many customers by adding popular movies and movie franchises to their arsenal. They show what appeals to the public, things that catch their eye. Another method of bringing in customers was to make the option of streaming brand new movies the day of release instead of going to the movie theater. This option was only available if consumers were subscribed to that particular app. Data was taken from surveys sent out and found that the number of streaming sources used among US consumers also increased by more than 50% compared to previous years in 2018. They also found which streaming apps were the most used. Netflix clocking in about 74 million in just Canada and the US. Amazon Prime with 150 million, Disney+ 94.9 million, Hulu 35.4 million, and HBO Max at 37.7 million.

Snider, Mike. “Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Hulu Are Streaming Favorites as Americans Subscribe to More Services amid Covid-19.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 Feb. 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/02/16/netflix-amazon-streaming-video-disney-hulu-hbo-max-peacock/6759020002/.

“Global Streaming Subscriptions Top 1B during COVID.”

An article written by R.T. Watson also talked about online video streaming services. Information in this passage was referenced from the Motion Picture Association (MPA). How box office was effect here in the US by the pandemic because of the worldwide shut down. People had to stay indoors so watching movies on the big screen was one of the enjoyable things that had to be put on pause. Its stated that box office revenues here in North America “plummeted” to 2.2 billion dollars in 2020 compared to that of 2019’s numbers 11.4 billion. Thats a large chuck of money lost in just a span of a year. Hollywood, one of the biggest show-business capital of the world, was also effected in a big way during this time. Because of streaming, customers preferred and engaged more toward episodic series rather than longer feature films. So for profit sake, the number of movies created decreased, and opened the door to more bingeable series. The movies that did make the the cut, home streaming was used to help box office, making it possible for viewers to watch and online rent newly released movies in the comforts of their home. Sales jumped from 47.2 billion to a whopping 61.8 billion dollars. Jumping to more current events now that places are opening up China has surpassed the US for the first time as the worlds top box office market. Generating 3 billion in ticket sales, thats tickets sold without the help of streaming services.

Watson, R.T. “Global Streaming Subscriptions Top 1B during COVID.” MarketWatch, MarketWatch, 18 Mar. 2021, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-streaming-subscriptions-top-1b-during-covid-2021-03-18.

The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices

Article titled, “The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices”, was written by Michelle Oliver and Besharah, both coming from the University of Saskatchewan. Their main point they share this whole essay is to teach the reader the importance of our voice, and just how powerful it is. They use other intellectuals' view points to expand upon their thesis with examples and quotes to define voice and power in different ways. Through pages 27 - 32. Sperling and Appleman, to Paulo Freire, Michael Unger, Leanne Simpson, and Aurthur Lloyd, their words all being taken into account and building off of each other's claims. On page 27, paragraph 4 it stated in Paulo Freire’s understanding that “Language is the powerful tool for understanding one’s life situation and giving voice to that life situation,” (p. 27). This quote just goes to show how powerful the language we are taught is. Depending upon the words provided by our culture and community, it allows us to have the “articulation” needed to share the full experiences in your life. The power that holds one's viewpoint may be determined by one's language's values.

Olivier M. & Besharah (2014). The Power of Voice: Advocating for Aboriginal Voices. View of the power of voice: Challenging racism and oppression. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/em/article/view/62884/46881