Here at Wimbledon High, some of us share views on politics, ethics, and morality and, let’s be honest, are not exactly renowned for our collective ability to keep quiet on them. So, I feel fairly confident in saying that a lot of us have similar thoughts on ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. For example, there is a large group who are, politically, slightly left leaning. I cannot exclude myself from this group of people, nor do I wish to. However, most of my political views hugely reshaped themselves since I downloaded the popular social media app TikTok, and I’m sure that many of you have also been heavily influenced by social media; be it, like me, TikTok, or your friends reposting posts on Instagram, or Twitter.

A defining feature of all authoritarian governments and ideologies, censorship is hardly a new phenomenon. Just take a cursory glance at history, and you will find countless examples of people imposing censorship as a means of thought control, often with devastating consequences. It comes as no surprise that freedom of expression is often seen as the hallmark of a civilised society – and for good reason. The suppression of dissenting opinion invariably paves the way for further abuses of human rights, and betrays the values of democracy.

When you hear the term “pseudoscience” your mind may instinctively go towards the fields of study linked to acupuncture, aromatherapy, and other alternative types of medicine. And in this thinking, you would be correct. However, there is a whole segment of pseudoscience surrounding the study of psychology. Some of these sciences include phrenology, craniology, and the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test. These studies and practices have had major ripple effects on the way the brain is studied and how a person views themselves today.

As the historic COP26 begins, many are calling for more drastic measures to be taken by countries to become carbon neutral, preserve ecosystems and improve environmental sustainability. The oil, meat, and textiles industries are often targeted when pushing for this drive towards net zero. However, one industry is often overlooked in this drive for sustainability – crystals. While many have heard the term “blood diamonds”, coined to describe diamonds sourced from areas of conflict these gems are often not linked to the word “crystals”, despite the various impacts of crystal mining and transportation. Indeed, despite increased drive on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to become more eco-friendly, crystal purchasing has gone through the roof since the pandemic.

FOMO, or ‘Fear of Missing Out’, is very much a prevalent phenomenon within our social, digitalised, high-schooler age group, and is defined as the ‘anxiety felt by an individual when it seems that others are having rewarding experiences without us’. It’s becoming more and more challenging to be able to be autonomous in your activities, without being influenced, directly or indirectly, by peer pressure, our environment, and the media; however, is this socially orientated lifestyle forcing us into the wrong kinds of habits and putting our health (physical and mental) at risk?