Founded by Steve Huffman and Alex Ohanian in 2005, Reddit is a website that allows users to submit original content, content found elsewhere on the Internet or simple text for review by their peers. Everything considered important such as recent news or a viral video is voted to the front page of the website where it can be immediately accessed by anyone. Reddit content is organized into different topics called “sub-reddits” that can vary from “r/funny” which aggregates humorous pictures and videos, to “r/worldnews,” which serves as a forum for current events news and articles. The “r” symbol is used to get to the link of specific subreddits. A web address for a subreddit would be reddit.com/r/worldnews for example.

“You can ask a question and have it almost immediately answered, in a very detailed and accurate format,” senior Denise Li said. “Relevant news articles get posted and shoot up to the front page far faster than I could hear about them on Facebook or somewhere else. If you can sort past the rubble, you learn a lot of interesting things.”

In early October 2010, neighbors bullied 7-year-old Kathleen Edward because she was recently diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. Within hours, a description of her situation was voted to the front page of Reddit and users raised over $17,000 to give the girl money for a shopping spree at her local toy store.

“I think [Reddit] is different because of the general attitude of most of the people on Reddit,” senior Richard Sage said. “For the most part the people are very helpful and almost always have a kind word or a piece of advice.”

Reddit is the organizer of the largest secret Santa gift exchange in the world, an operation including 12,179 different people as of 2010 and more than 60 countries. One popular sub-reddit is “r/nonprofit” which raised over $10,000 for the Haiti earthquake victims. Another cause Reddit users supported with donations over $500,000 was the “Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear” which was held last fall in front of the capitol. As a number of users are politically active, a variety of specific sub-reddits dedicated to the Occupy movements sprung up this year.

According to general manager Erik Martin, Reddit is a community of communities with sub-reddits, or, categories. These can range from sub-reddits for specific video games or movies, to every kind of political flavor, to every hobby as well as more abstract categories based around rhetorical frameworks like “I am a,” “Today I Learned…” or “Ask Science.”

Students find that the sub-reddit system is appealing because it allows users to pick and choose which topics to read about, and the varied content of Reddit can educate students on a large number of topics.

“I mostly use Reddit for entertainment and news, and [to] see what’s going viral on the Internet,” junior Constantine Koehler said. “It’s easy to go on Reddit, click a link or two and get completely addicted to Reddit’s content.”

According to the Reddit blog, a website that documents updates and Reddit-related news, Reddit’s popularity has tripled in size over the previous 15 months and grown beyond its original user base.

“When it really started, it came out of programming communities, engineers, geeks, that sort of thing, and had a very strong geek culture to it but it’s expanded beyond that,” Martin said. “Reddit is probably 70 percent US, 30 percent international.”

At CHS, students find that Reddit users have also increased as students learn about Reddit from friends and in classes. A Reddit app is now available for smartphones.

“My friend talked about all he does at work is go on Reddit,” Koehler said. “I went to Reddit on my smartphone and spent countless hours on it thereafter.”

A downside of this vast array of information is that it can distract students and easily become addicting.

“The longest time I ever spent on it at one time was probably 6 hours,” Sage said. “It can suck away hours of your life, but I still love going on Reddit whenever I have free time.”

Although it may seem like a source of distraction for teens, the website can provide benefits. Students can find specialized communities on Reddit to learn more about a particular interest.

“For young people, one of the nice things about using Reddit is that it has communities for every different interest out there,” Martin said. “Whether you’re trying to learn a new programming language, looking to get into a certain career, looking for particular information on a college, or if you’re just looking for people who like the same TV or movie that you like, you’re going to be able to find other people that have shared interests. I think that’s really important when you’re in high school or trying to figure out what to do.”

Top 11 Most Memorable Moments:
1. 11:11 on 11/11/11
2. 10th Anniversary of 9/11
3. Royal Wedding
4. Osama Bin Laden Assassinated
5. D.C Area Earthquake
6. Steve Jobs’ Death
7. Occupy Wall Street
8. CHS Football Regional Finals
9. CHS Wins State Hockey Champ
pionship
10. Kim Kardashian’s 72 Day Marriage
11. Casey Anthony Trial

Top 11 Celebrities:
1. Charlie Sheen
2. Kim Kardashian
3. Katy Perry
4. Rebecca Black
5. Justin Bieber
6. Lady GaGa
7. Bradley Cooper
8. Drake
9. Beyonce
10. Emma Stone
11. Kate Middleton

Top 11 Movies:
1. Harry Potter
7, Part 2
2. The Help
3. Limitless
4. Transformers 3
5. Twilight 4: Break
ing Dawn Part 1
Top 11 Movies:
6. Crazy, Stupid, Love
7. Hangover 2
8. Justin Bieber: Never Say Never
9. Super 8
10. Paranormal Activity 3
11. Moneyball

Top 11 Trends:
1. Raving/ Neon
2. Planking
3. Hashtagging/Twitter
4. Touch Screen (iPhone, iPad,
Droid etc.)
5. Hair Feathers
6. Dubstep/House Music
7. Coning/ Cupping
8. Leather Boots
9. Google+ and Google Chrome
10. Facebook Changes
11. Tebowing

Top 11 Songs:
1. “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO
2. “Levels” by Avicii
3. “We Found Love” by Rihanna
4. “Rolling In the Deep” by Adele
5. “Friday” by Rebecca Black
6. “LastFridayNight(T.G.I.F)” byKaty Perry
7. “Look at Me Now” by Chris Brown
ft. Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes
8. “The Show Goes On” by Lupe Fiasco
9. “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green
10. “Good Life” by OneRepublic
11. “Firework” by Katy Perry

According to the Ohio Sleep
Medicine Institute, sleep
texting is when someone
texts while sleeping, most
likely during the non-rapid
eye movement cycle. Sleep
texting could be considered a
parasomnia, an abnormal or
unwanted sleep behavior like
sleep talking or sleepwalking.
However, it is not officially
categorized yet.

“I believe that this is a
problem that we will see more
of as we are living in a 24/7
society and many are sleep
restricted,” said Dr. Helene
Emsellem who works for the
Center for Sleep and Wake
Disorders in Chevy Chase,
MD. “This, in combination with
our unhealthy dependence
on being connected, sets us
up for increased probability
of using our phones to send
messages when we are half
awake and half asleep.”

Dr. Marcus Schmidt,
sleep expert at Ohio Sleep
Medicine Institute, has also
seen more cases of sleep
texting. According to a Nov.
16 MSNBC article, Schmidt
observed that four out of five
kids who have a cell phone will
sleep with their phone in their
bedroom next to their bed.
Only one in ten will actually
turn the cell phone off.

“I think kids are texting
since that is now a major
form of communication, and
many sleep with their phones
charging and on at their
bedsides,” Emsellem said.

Some students will shut off
their phones and leave them
downstairs, but sophomore
Breanna Boggan chooses to
keep her phone on and close to her.

“I keep it on and plug it in
to the outlet right by my bed,”
Boggan said. “I have my alarm
on [my phone] so it wakes me up
in the morning.”

According to the MSNBC
article, being deprived of sleep
can lead to uncommon sleep
behaviors, including reaching
for one’s phone when it goes off.
In addition to more people giving
up landlines and only using
cell phones, sleep texting may
become more common.

“The average teenager
is severely sleep restricted,
needing 8.5 to 9.25 hours of
sleep per night and often getting
seven hours or less per night,”
Emsellem said. “Having the
phone available so that texting
behavior can occur is yet another
factor interfering with sleep.”

It can be humiliating for
someone to text something
accidently, but it is even worse
when he or she doesn’t even
know he or she is doing it.

“Unfortunately, not being fully
awake when you engage in this
behavior can lead to bizarre
messages and a fair probability
that you may say something
inappropriate to someone and
not have the ‘superego’ available
that we have during wakefulness
to monitor what we do and
stop us from embarrassing
ourselves,” Emsellem said.

Some, like Dr. Peter Robbins
a child, adolescent and adult
psychiatrist in Fairfax, VA,
argue that sleep texting will
never be a huge problem
because it will happen to only
a minority of people.

“I think that the likelihood
of this happening is only in a
setting where parents are afraid
to set limits with their children
about cell phone access,” Robbins said.

THE ADDICTION
A function MRI study
conducted earlier this year
by best-selling author and
consumer advocate Martin
Lindstrom proves that the
feelings someone has for a
loved one, such as a boyfriend
or girlfriend, are the same
as he experiences when he
hears his phone ring, making
the argument that people
are actually in love with their
phones.

According to a Sept. 30
New York Times article
written by Lindstrom, some
psychologists have found
that using smartphones like
iPhones and Blackberries
signal the same associative
learning paths in one’s
brain that cause other
obsessive behaviors like
gambling. The chemical
that causes these feelings
is the neurotransmitter
dopamine, which makes
someone feel good.

“I think what draws us to
our electronic gadgets, in all
their forms, is the anticipation
of what might be waiting on
the other end of that ding that
alerts us that a text message
is waiting or that beep that tells
us someone just left a voice
message,” said psychologist
Sherrie Bourg Carter, who
specializes in stress.

According to Lindstrom’s
article, only 16 people
between the ages of 16 and
25 were tested in the study,
and they were tested with the
audio and video of an iPhone
with the volume on and with it
on vibrate.

The study found that the
clients’ visual and audio
cortices were stimulated when
the phone went off, meaning
that the same part of the brain
lit up as it would if they were
talking to a friend.

CHS IN LOVE
Many CHS students can
relate to this.
According to junior Paige
Brody, she is addicted to
her cell phone and uses it
whenever she can. If she ever
loses it, she freaks out.

According to Carter’s Oct.
2. Psychology Today article,
rather than being in love with
the cell phone device itself,
people are more in love with
the anticipation of waiting
for a text message to arrive.

This anticipation creates
the excitement people feel,
causing them to pick up their
phones immediately. Now, it is
more common for couples on
dates to interrupt each other
to answer a text or phone call.

“I also think this kind of
‘addiction’ can be harmful,
such as in cases of driving
while texting or being so
consumed with checking or
writing texts, emails, etc. that it
interferes in our relationships
with others, which of course
may lead to psychological
problems such as traumatic
stress reactions, anxiety, and
depression,” Carter said.

Many people are starting
to take texting to another
level by constantly having
their phones on and feeling
incomplete without them.

“It is a problem because you
lose touch with reality, and time
is wasted rather than used
appropriately,” junior Chris
Rahimi said. “I use my phone
on an occasional basis but not
every minute of the day.”

Some students believe
that some phones are more
addicting than others.

“The more high tech the
phones are makes the kids
more addicted because there
is more to do on them with all
the applications,” Brody said.

THE GENETICS
Another factor in addiction
is parental involvement.
According to freshman
Evangeline Pergantis, she
believes parents have an
effect on their kids’ addiction if
they do not spend enough time
with their kids, communicate
with them enough or teach
them about self-control.

“My level of technology
dependency completely affects
my children in a good way,”
CHS parent Patty Silber said. “It
makes them completely more
aware of the world and of their
surroundings. They keep up
on current events and school
activities. Also, if we are apart
they always have the capability
of contacting me for any reason
whether it be a pick up location,
‘I forgot my lunch,’ or just to say
‘I love you.’”

Using technology may not
always be a bad thing, but
extreme usage of it may lead
to the inability to perform
basic actions like talking to
someone in person without
being awkward or being able
to handwrite papers.

“It’s a problem if a person
has little or no self-control and
regularly, or in some extreme
cases, constantly is distracted
from their work or what they
should be attending to, in order
to text, call, or check messages
or emails,” Carter said.

THE FUTURE OF
SOCIETY
Phone addiction has
caused a huge change in the
way humans interact socially,
and if the trend continues,
one wonders whether people
will lose the ability or desire
to communicate with other
people in person.

“I understand with
technology advancing phones
are really important to people,
but I don’t think we should let
old methods of communication
die out,” sophomore Sonja
Judkins said. “Texting shouldn’t
become the main form of
communication over calling
someone or just going to talk
to someone face to face.”
Society, however, is now
very technology based.

“Children nowadays are
completely dependent on
technology mainly because
of their environment,” Silber
said. “They need cell phones in
today’s world to communicate
whether it be through voice or
text, and a lot of homes don’t
even have landlines anymore,
just multiple cell phones.”

MAKING IT BETTER
According to Carter, people
can fix their addiction problem
through discipline.
“Addiction to an electronic
gadget is a bad habit, and like
all bad habits can be altered by
consistent self-monitoring and
self-regulation,” Carter said.