Social media can severely affect mental health and self-esteem for the worse, and I’ve experienced it for myself as well. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time online because my generation was the “tablet generation,” essentially given a screen the moment I could string together the words to ask for it, and playing video games and watching online videos by the time I was 3. Most of my friends were people I knew through the internet due to my constant internet usage. It seemed great at first, but over time, I noticed my real-life social skills started to worsen. I found it hard to interact with people face-to-face. I would do weird things like making odd noises or moving strangely, and it made people uncomfortable. This made me feel really bad about myself, and I started thinking I wasn’t “normal” or good enough. As a result, I isolated myself even more, convinced that I couldn’t make real friends. I had lost access to a lot of the important social interaction developing children need. Things got worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. With everything going online, I became even more isolated. I was forced into virtual school for a few years, from the end of 7th grade to the start of 10th grade, and I felt even more disconnected from people. This time only made my depression worse and hurt my self-esteem even more, as I knew absolutely nobody when I had returned to physical school. After the pandemic ended and I returned to physical school in 10th grade, I slowly started getting better. I worked on my social skills and began feeling more comfortable talking to people. But even now, I’m still dealing with the effects of that isolation. My self-esteem and mental health are still things I have to think about and work on. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I did, so here are a few things I think could help. First, we should spend more time outdoors and try to meet up with people in real life for activities. That way, we can build stronger, healthier connections and not feel so alone. Another thing is to spend less time on social media. If we can balance our time online and offline, I think we’d see big improvements in our mental health and self-esteem. Additionally, people should stop staring into other people’s lives, as watching the lives of others and wishing your own life was like theirs only makes things more tough for yourself, as you would become more and more jealous and envious of them.

In my engineering class, I faced a challenge while designing the lid for my wooden container. After completing my design, I attempted to machine small pockets on the lid using a 1/16” flat-end mill. The pockets were too intricate for the tool, and each attempt resulted in uneven, messy features that didn’t match my original design. I then turned to the 60-degree and 90-degree engraving bits, but I wasn’t familiar with how to use them in Fusion360, the design software. My attempts with the engraving function resulted in the bit cutting too deeply, causing errors where lines intersected rather than tracing the edges as I needed. I was frustrated and felt like I was running out of time. I wanted to bash my head into the wall out of anger. However, after much tiresome trial and error, I discovered the “trace” function in Fusion360. This feature was perfect for my needs, allowing me to engrave the edges of my design precisely. With this newfound knowledge, I successfully completed my lid and realized the importance of problem-solving and perseverance. However, after telling my teacher about this revelation, he told me “Oh you could’ve just asked me for help, I’ve known about that function for ages.” I was baffled. I couldn’t believe that I had spent all this time stressing and losing my mind, only for it to have been as easy as just asking my teacher a question. This experience taught me a valuable lesson about the role of education: I spent nearly a week figuring out the solution on my own when, with a simple question to my teacher, I could have solved the problem in a day. I realized that education isn’t just about learning technical skills; it’s also about knowing when to ask for help. It’s not a sign of weakness but an opportunity to learn faster and more efficiently. This realization has shaped my outlook on education. I now see it not only as a way to gain knowledge but also as a tool for collaboration and growth. Through this experience, I learned that reaching out for guidance can make a significant difference in overcoming obstacles. In the future, I plan to use this lesson to help others in my community. I want to encourage those who are struggling to seek help and avoid the unnecessary stress of trying to do everything alone. I believe that by fostering an environment where collaboration is valued, we can all achieve more and grow together. My education has equipped me with the technical skills to succeed, and I want to share those skills, as well as the lesson of seeking help, with others so that we can overcome challenges together.