A Report From a Busy High School Student

New Year’s resolutions may be slowly losing their grip, but local teenagers are still thinking about self improvement when they have time. Grace has a whole list going – taking better care of her hair so it's not as dead, cutting back on hot chips, finding a hobby she actually enjoys, and learning to speak her mind more. It's the kind of mix that shows how teens are thinking about everything

from basic self-care to emotional honesty.

Rosalie's resolution hits on something a lot of young people are wanting to, “spend less time on my phone and on social media and more with the people I love." Screen fatigue is real, and it seems like more teens are recognizing the value of face-to-face connections over endless scrolling.

Mental health is also a priority. One student wants to give herself more "me-time" and draw more consistently – like, way more than once a month. It's about finding balance, and actually sticking with the things that bring joy, instead of letting them fall by the wayside.

But, not everyone's on board with the whole resolution tradition. Anna wants to go on a hike every morning before school, but she calls it her preresolution because she thinks, "resolutions are stupid and you should always achieve to be better." And, Fisa's pretty honest about the whole thing, "I don't really do resolutions because I’m always upset when I don't fulfill them."

Maybe that's the real trend here – Gen Z moving away from arbitrary yearly milestones and towards self-improvement at their own pace.

In theory, planning a party shouldn’t require downloading another app. You could just text and make a group chat. Here is the thing about group chats – they get messy fast. Someone never responds. Three people ask about parking. Someone adds a friend. All of a sudden there are 47 unread messages asking if they should bring something.

The Partiful platform solves this by letting you send one link that has all the information already laid out. Your friends click it, say yes or no, and that's it. No endless back-and-forth. No scrolling through a chaotic thread to find the address again. The best part is the receiver doesn’t have to download the app to accept the invitation!

What's interesting is how the app reflects the way Gen Z actually socializes. Everything's casual, but also weirdly organized. You want people to show up, but you're not sending formal invitations. You're putting a meme at the top of the invite and adding sparkle animations, but you're also tracking dietary restrictions, and setting a guest limit.

The features are surprisingly practical. You can poll people on what date works best instead of the usual, "does next Saturday work?" texts that go unanswered. You can blast updates to everyone without creating a group chat. You can even hide timestamps so it's less obvious when you're inviting someone last minute.

Cancel culture is perhaps one of the most interesting facets of Gen Z’s online presence. Although not unique to this generation, cancel culture has certainly evolved with the rise of short form media as well as social media in general.

Before the advent of social lower, meaning “canceling” was less widespread. It was managed through traditional media, such as TV or tabloids. Certain people could omit certain news from being spread.

Social media has greatly changed celebrity culture. The famous are no longer distant, protected with PR, but are now under constant scrutiny. The

public audience has more power than ever to judge and hold celebrities accountable. Most of the time, “canceling” involves re-questing removement from the public space.

Canceling can be caused by old videos resurfacing – testaments to the celebrity’s bad behavior, etc. What social media has done is that it has allowed people to be in control, as opposed to the traditional media sources.

In some cases, cancel culture can also be very volatile. After a cancellation, one heartfelt apology can make the public swoon and move on. In fact, when so many “cancellings” happen, it is hard to keep track of everything.

By Michelle Li