Reflections and Images

Last weekend, I watched  The Social Dilemma , a documentary that interviews former executives at top technology companies about the dark side of apps like social media. Before watching the film, I thought that most of the information wouldn't be new to me because I already read books like  Deep Work  and  The Shallows  about the effect of technology on productivity and society. I also listened to some podcasts and read some blogs by Cal Newport about how to become a digital minimalist.  As I watched the film, however, I realized that there were a lot of things that I didn't know about technology. I rarely use strong language, but the documentary honestly scared the hell out of me. Seeing the teenager getting manipulated and controlled by three adults disturbed me. I found it depressing to see the teenager enter a downward spiral of not having any real hobby or passion besides looking at his phone. The adults reminded me of evil masterminds who were finding ...

Yesterday marked the last day of the online 2021 National Youth Science Camp (NYSC). Founded in 1963, NYSC is a free summer program that lasts for three-and-a-half weeks. This year, there were around 140 delegates from 40 states and 11 other countries from the Americas like Argentina, Brazil, etc. The main activities in the camp are seminars, lectures, and directed studies about various topics in STEM. Besides learning about STEM and other subjects like the social sciences, the program has social events and cabin meetings to get to know other camp delegates better. During the pre-COVID times, the camp would be held in the woods of West Virginia and have an outdoor component. This year, however, we were on Zoom all the time on the weekdays, which left the weekends for us to explore our outdoor surroundings.  What made NYSC an unforgettable experience was that I not only had the opportunity to be exposed to various fields in STEM but also learn about the interdisciplinary subjects th...

Half of 2021 is already over, and I am currently on my 30th book. While there are still many books I have not read yet, I am confident to say that Call Me By Your Name  (CMBYN) is one of the best books I have read in my life. I do not say this as an exaggeration. It was such a good book that I was excited to write a book review about it for my school's newspaper that you can find here . I read the book three months ago, but I still think about the book from time to time. I don't know if I can call myself a real fan of CMBYN, though I definitely agree that I was kind of obsessed with it for some period of time.  For those that haven't read the book, Call Me By Your Name  is about a 17-year-old boy called Elio Perlman who falls in love with Oliver, a summer scholar working under Elio's father. Taking place in the Italian Riviera, Elio and Oliver end up falling in love with each other and have one of the most memorable times of their lives in the summer of 1987.  Althou...

I think one personal struggle that has been with me throughout high school is that I mess up by saying something that wasn't nice or polite and then I end up apologizing to the person. There have been so many times that I don't think before I talk and when I say the words out loud, it is too late. Then, I feel very bad and guilty for what I did. The worse thing is that I don't apologize right away and I am such a coward that I end up apologizing over text. As I write this blog, I do recall times that I apologized in person, but my impression is that the majority of the time is through texting. But apologizing over text cannot substitute apologizing in a face-to-face setting. It shows that I can't confront the issue in real life so I turn to easier means to solve the solution.  My problem with apologizing over text instead of apologizing in person wasn't made obvious until I read a short book called Screen Kids about kids living in the digital era. In my honest opini...

 I always wanted to write this blog post, but I kept delaying it. It would have made more sense if I published this blog post during the second semester of senior year, but I will still write it now.  After receiving my college acceptance in December, a substantial amount of my daydreams consisted of imagining my life as a college student and the various exciting things my college offered from its awesome location to the special classes I wanted to take. After a few months of exhibiting this behavior, I started wondering about the consequences of constantly thinking about the future. What startled me was considering the fact that thinking about the future prevents me from being present in the moment. By occupying my mind in another place, I neglected some important things that I tend to take for granted like the quiet surroundings and the pleasant weather. Looking back, I believe that the main reason I thought so much about college was that life during the second semester of s...