technology – North Toronto Collegiate Institute

The Effects Technology Has On Our Environment

by Nicolino

Air and Water pollution

The Effects Technology has on our environment. Air pollution happens once harmful or excessive quantities of gases comparable to carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, gas, and alkane series are introduced into the earth’s atmosphere. This air pollution is caused by producing and using technology. Water pollution is also caused by technology most electronics include non-biodegradable substances, heavy metals, and poisonous substances like cadmium, lead, and mercury.

Over time, those poisonous substances can leak into the ground, which could contaminate the water we drink, the flora we devour, and the animals that stay across the area.

Depletion of natural resources

Resource depletion is some other poor effects technology has on the environment. It refers to the intake of a useful resource quicker than it can be replenished. Natural assets include the ones which are in lifestyles without people having created them, and that they may be both renewable and non-renewable. There are numerous styles of useful resource depletion, with the maximum excessive being aquifer depletion, deforestation, mining for fossil fuels and minerals, infection of Assets, soil erosion, and overconsumption of assets. These especially arise because of agriculture, mining, water utilization, and intake of fossil fuels, all of that has been enabled with the aid of using improvements in Technology.

To keep producing this technology, we all use it daily, it takes lots of materials from all over the world, and to get most of these materials they come from mining. Mining comes with a high carbon cost, huge machinery usually powered by fossil fuels leading to the use of water and is massively polluting. In conclusion, If we stopped relying on technology so much, we would not have this need to constantly keep producing new tech, maybe we could find a new way to produce this technology without having so many effects on the environment.

Billionaire Space Race

by Sofia & Leah

The biggest billionaires of the biggest companies in the world, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Richard Branson, are racing to see who can profit from space the fastest. Bezos and Branson have already had trips into space, only lasting a few minutes each and costing several billion dollars. The end goal of this race is to see who can get suborbital space tourism the fastest. Maybe someday we will all be taking vacations in space.

Each billionaire has its own space company. Musk’s company is called SpaceX, Bezos has BlueOrigin and Barson is VirginGalactic. The highest rocket in space right now is from Bezos and is 100 kilometres in altitude. Branson and Bezos have been to space on short trips, making them the first private space tourists. So how much money did they spend? Well, the amount of money that just Bezos spent on a 4-minute trip could have saved 37.5 million people from hunger (the approximate population of Canada). Or he could fully fund COVAX and vaccinate two billion people.Space tourism

The US Government helped these massive corporations with the race and the large-scale capitalism through grants. This impacts local citizens because some of these massive companies don’t pay their share of taxes and are spending tax money on things that might not benefit them. Billionaires are also known for not paying as much in taxes as they should.

Rockets in general use a lot of fossil fuel which turns into carbon dioxide. That carbon dioxide goes to the atmosphere and speeds up global warming. It’s our world that these companies are changing for their profits.

This race has not ended yet, there is still no winner clear and determined. There is still no idea when this race will end and what is going to happen after or during the race. The winner since it is not clear and determined it could be any of the three men, what do you think? What is your opinion about the space race?

Positive & Negative Effects of Technology

by George

During the COVID-19 pandemic, electronic devices were used more often which has positive and negative effects.

Teenagers learned in a quadmester system in the 2020/2021 school year which was created by the Toronto District School Board. The students had two classes each semester and they were in class every other day. Teachers would assign virtual activities or require the children to work on a project when they were not at school. On the other hand, the mode of instruction in the 2021/22 school year is beginning to resemble pre-COVID-19 years. However though Mrs. Wolfe has something else to say. “The pandemic made phones and computers, iPhones and iPads critical to our social and academic connections and learning and so the habits and practices that kids learned through the pandemic remain with them now but because we are back in the classroom whether being able to pay attention and be present in the discussion and studies in the classroom is so important and so children right now are on their phones too much in the classroom. It is distracting them from immersing themselves in the learning experiences. They are missing a lot.”

This shows us the importance of a strong academic background when children and teenagers are not receiving them and are suffering the consequences which will impact them negatively in three ways. Firstly, some students may not be able to study properly in their post-secondary courses and be able to understand the material and apply it effectively in real life. Secondly, soft-skill such as collaboration, motivation and problem solving will not be life skills and will also not be developed which means that these future employees will have difficulty relaying information in a company which can cause delays in a project and lost money. Finally, the health effects of uncontrolled exposure is beyond calculation because children might not be able to tolerate not being on their devices which will impact every part of their body including the eyes. All this will create opportunities for businesses.

Many companies that offer blue light glasses such as EssilorLuxottica (EPA: EL) will benefit by having an increase in their income. This could allow them to raise the salary for their employees which could act as an incentive to be motivated to work more and better in order for the company to prosper. Furthermore, the increased income will drive the price of a stock upwards which will please those who have invested in the company and it will also give it a good reputation that could motivate others to look into it.

Though, there are ways to reduce the number of hours on your phone. One of them being that you can stop notifications from social medical websites that distract you from working which leads to staying up late in the evening. Rather, you can call the person that you would like to connect with. This way, you can also improve your social skills. This is one way to reduce time on a device.

How students have gained a deficient addiction to technology

by Ore, Emilie & Maddy

65.5% of junior high school students belong to the internet addiction-risk group. Why is this happening? Approximately a year and a half of online learning and periodical lockdowns are to blame. Students from all schools, especially North Toronto, have gained a deficient addiction to technology significantly affecting their mental health and quality of school work this year.

Approaching the end of the 2019-2020 school year, school abruptly went online due to the excessive transmission COVID-19. For the rest of the year, students participated in mandatory online learning.

Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, students began participating in in-person-learning. Due to the rapid increase in cases at times, students shifted from in-person to online learning a total of three3 times. They participated in online learning for about half of the school year. When they were online, they’d spend an average of 6 hours online daily. This time was spent attending a class wide Zzoom or google classroom call, or completing online work.

The significant amount of time spent in front of a screen, created unhealthy habits affecting mental health and an addiction to technology. This addiction was caused by relying on technology for necessary tasks. It is even said by Newport Technology that “Numerous studies over the past decade have shown that tech dependence has the same effect on the brain as drug addiction”.

The reward system in the brain releases dopamine in reaction to a joyful experience or hyperarousal, video games can be immensely addictive. When a person is overly engaged when playing video games, the brain correlates the activity with the release of dopamine. Video games are addictive because they cause a person to acquire a strong desire to seek out that same pleasure over and over again.

A North Toronto grade 10 student, Ray Macaulay, shared his thoughts regarding technological addiction. His response was, “The reason why I think the internet is so influential and inspiring is because I can make positive elixir trades in Clash Royale which I find to be quite satisfying” He also mentions that he has an addiction to technology.

Despite many positives that come with modern technology, it can also lead to addiction and overpower one’s life causing it to be harder to focus on more important tasks like school work. This would partially explain why numerous students’ grades are decreasing during and after online learning.

Another North Toronto grade 10 student, Chloe Nakamura, shared how she feels influenced by technology and if she believes she has an addiction. She answered as follows, “It definitely influences my daily life because it makes life a lot easier, but also has some negative impacts on my mental health, and yeah.” Technology addictions can go either way, making a positive impact on one’s life or being detrimental to one’s mental health.

Technology is tailored in a way, as Chloe and Ray have stated, that makes tasks in our everyday life more efficient and enjoyable, with potential negative impacts. Tasks as small as contacting a friend or searching facts on the internet become second nature, further influencing us to develop an addiction.

The Endeavor of Quarantine: Succeeding In Remote Learning

How to stay motivated and advance your mark at home

by Dylan

Three hundred and eighty nine days, the amount of time since life was normal, schools were mask free and the worry about learning online was out of question.

The formulation of quarantine and the implementation of online learning globally has strongly impacted our schooling today, connecting with teachers miles away and learning trigonometry over a screen. However the latter factors also resulted in the fall of motivation.

I interviewed North Toronto’s own Tait O., the question asked was; What have you done to stay motivated whilst in online school? “The biggest work incentive for me has been finding the right setup” said Tait, “The past year I have rearranged my computer 3 times and I think I got it right, having everything where I need it has made my classes far easier”. Continuing on with what Tait has said, I too believe organization is a key factor to succeeding this year. The next point of view will come from myself, The term I would use to describe what motivates me is engagement, through all online and in class lessons, being part of the conversation has been something that urges me to work as I am more invested in the said topic. I have always been taught that speaking what you have learned is the best way to remember it and I feel remote learning is the best location to apply this principle.

The final piece of advice comes from another North Toronto student, Ralph. “The problem I had with working online was how fast everything was moving” Ralph stated, “To combat my problem, the most helpful tactic I used was persistence and routine”. Ralph’s solution is also a subfactor of what Tait said about organization and I too believe persistence is a keystone of virtual school.

What is Bitcoin?

by Stone

Bitcoin surpasses all expectations by becoming the top crypto currency in the world and having people invest billions into it. Now you may be asking yourself, What is a Bitcoin? Well Bitcoin is a new currency that was created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks! Bitcoin can be used to book hotels on Expedia, shop for furniture on Overstock and buy Xbox games. But much of the hype is about getting rich by trading it. The price of bitcoin skyrocketed into the thousands in 2017.

Bitcoin is a great thing for high school students to start getting into, I in fact have a tiny amount of money into bitcoin and I find it quite fun watching bitcoin and watching my investment go up. Also, I think bitcoin is a great way to start learning more about crypto currency. It is very easy to understand and I think I have written everything the average person would need to know about bitcoin in the following paragraphs.

Bitcoins can be used to buy merchandise anonymously. In addition, international payments are easy and cheap because bitcoins are not tied to any country or subject to regulation. Small businesses may like them because there are no credit card fees. Some people just buy bitcoins as an investment, hoping that they’ll go up in value.

Bitcoins are stored in a “digital wallet,” which exists either in the cloud or on a user’s computer. The wallet is a kind of virtual bank account that allows users to send or receive bitcoins, pay for goods or save their money. Unlike bank accounts, bitcoin wallets are not insured by the FDIC.

No one knows what will become of bitcoin. It is mostly unregulated, but some countries like Japan, China and Australia have begun weighing regulations. Governments are concerned about taxation and their lack of control over the currency.

In fact, Elon Musk has just recently made it so you can purchase a Tesla with Bitcoin. Musk even added #bitcoin in his bio on Twitter recently, “I think bitcoin is really on the verge of getting broad acceptance by conventional finance people” Musk said.

Now one bitcoin is worth $74,138.23, bitcoin has gone up by $58,502.63 in the last 7 years. Although some of the richest people in the world still don’t believe in it like Warren Buffet, Warren says “crypto currencies don’t have any real value you can only sell it to someone else, you can’t do anything with it”.

When will fully-autonomous cars be ready for the road across Canada?

And what does this mean for NT students?

by Andrea

Imagine going to greet your uber driver, then realizing that there’s no driver. Your Uber is actually a level 5 autonomous car, and you are just another passenger. To the students here that don’t subscribe to the news, this concept may still seem very fantastical, and far away from ever reaching production. However, this is not true in the cases of Tesla Motors and Waymo (formerly known as Google’s driverless car). These companies have been working away at new innovative softwares for longer than most of us have been aware of, making them closer and closer to full autonomy every day. Still, the questions remain: how long will it take? And how will it affect us?

Fully autonomous cars could be ready tomorrow, yet they won’t be road ready for a while. Presently, Ontario is the only province in Canada with laws allowing driverless cars on the road. The conditions for this law state that there has to be a licensed driver behind the wheel, and a $5M insurance on the car. Every other region has to wait until Transport Canada gives the go-ahead for fully-autonomous vehicles. With this in mind, Tesla released a statement saying that a level five autonomy car will be released by the end of early 2021. Excluding Tesla, other autonomous car companies are approximating 2024-2030 for the delivery of their models respectively. Knowing this, our driverless car fate may be much sooner than anticipated.

With this fate, NT students will be affected mostly through their wallets. Current taxi rates are around $0.40 per mile. In comparison, a fully-autonomous robo-taxi is projected to cost around $0.32 per mile, according to Inside EV’s. This lowered cost of travel with driverless cars will heavily drop expenses on our costs for transportation. In addition, robo-taxis will have much more space for ride-sharing as there is one less person needed in the car.

Realizing all this, autonomous cars will be in our very near future, regardless of whether it be in a few months or years. When these cars do become an actual product, and become robo-taxis, they will save everyone (not solely NT students) a fair amount of money in transportation.

Bitcoin?

What is crypto currency and should you invest in bitcoin

by Calixto

Bitcoin, I’m sure the word rings so many bells. A concept that in recent years has taken the internet by storm and has created a whole new wave of currency, Cryptocurrency. As I’m sure you have heard, Bitcoin is the largest most prominent cryptocurrency. Nonetheless, few know the history, how the currency works and if you should invest in it.

Put simply, Bitcoin is purely operated online and unlike government-issued currencies, it is operated by a decentralized authority. It is unregulated and very volatile.

Many would be skeptical about investing online, and in an online currency, mainly due to not trusting online security and the thought of their information or money being stolen. In reality, that is not the case as the technology and system that Bitcoin uses is very safe and virtually unhackable. The Bitcoin code is run in a collection of computers referred to as nodes.

These nodes are scattered all around the world and number in the thousands. This decentralizes the Bitcoin network making it very difficult to target. These nodes also house a specific type of database known as blockchain. Nodes and blockchain are key to making Bitcoin safe. Blockchain works in a way that stores data and transactions in boxes, or “blocks”. As Bitcoin transactions happen live, blocks are visibly filled with set transactions which are also constantly being verified for legitimacy. This way, no one can cheat the system. The transparency and sheer width of the network is what makes Bitcoin a safe online network.

As popularity in cryptocurrency and specifically Bitcoin grow, the recurring question raised is “Should I buy Bitcoin?”. The simple answer is, if you have the money, go for it. Though very volatile, over the last ten years Bitcoin has seen serious gains (300% annual returns in 2020) and many see it as the future of currency. Nevertheless, you should be prepared to see violent fluctuations in price. Through thick and thin Bitcoin is still considered by many investors to be a great asset to one’s portfolio.

Why Buying Physical Copies of Media is Better than Digital

Sony closing playstation 3 and PSVita online stores reveals why it is still important to buy physical hard copies of games in this online dominated world.

by Tanzeel

As online networks become more reliable, people have been switching over to buying games online. Sony confirms that they are closing their stores for Playstation 3 and PSVita by August 21st, this would mean many well known and loved games exclusive to the PS3 and Vita would be completely lost to time. Sony did confirm people can still redownload and play games that they have already bought from the store but they can no longer buy new games. Giving people the ability to play owned online games still causes Sony to pay and run multiple servers.
Sony cannot keep these servers open forever and so at a certain point all of the online games you may own will stop working. The fact they shut down the stores means keeping the store servers up was getting too expensive for Sony making it only a matter of time till the servers that run games will also be shut down.
The positive of buying hard copy games is that you can never lose the game. Since the game does not run on a server you can play the game long after the hosting server is dead. You can also sell the game to retro game collectors for a far higher price as that game is no longer available for purchase anywhere.
This is not only true for video games but also for other media. An old niche movie can be lost to time if a disk is not owned as not every movie makes it onto a streaming service or the internet. Making said old movie extremely profitable to obtain.
As time passes, online stores and streaming services will close with physical media outliving them. Even if online stores are more convenient, hard copies will always be more profitable in the long run.

How to Succeed at Remote Learning

Anonymous

Adjusting to a new learning environment after years of doing it in person, isn’t a smooth transition for some people. A number of problems arise from this such as feeling lost or unmotivated, having distractions that take away from your learning and too much exposure to blue light. Here are four tips to help you succeed in remote learning:

Organize your time well

It can be hard to get motivated when you don’t know what the first step is. Using a calendar or daily planner to find to time finish assignments or mark dates for tests can help you manage your time well. It also lets you know when you can do other things that are not school related.

Eliminate distractions

Finding ways to amuse yourself can be especially easy when you’re logged on to a boring virtual class. It might be easier to focus on the lesson if you minimize distractions in your environment. A good place to tune into a virtual class is a quiet room, free from a T.V or other people talking. Turn off notifications from social media and remember that you can always get back to it later.

Take a break from screens

Depending on how your school coordinates your lessons, you could be spending at least 5 hours looking at a screen. That doesn’t count checking social media, writing and submitting assignments or streaming movies during your free time. Too much blue light, which screens emit, can affect your health.

Firstly, blue light can alter your sleep pattern by disrupting melatonin secretion, a hormone released to encourage sleep. This intern goes to disturb your Rapid Eye Movement cycle during sleep which is crucial for brain function. To avoid this, power down devices 2 to 3 hours before going to bed. Benefits attributed to REM include better memory, regulated mood and can increase how fast you can process information. Blue light can also cause eye strain or blurry vision. Instead of spending more time looking at a screen after school, opt for reading which can improve brain connectivity and increase your vocabulary and comprehension. Or walking which can reduce anxiety and stress and improves your heart health.

Get extra practice

From personal experience, I have found that getting into the groove of learning online can be extremely un motivating and is a difficult task for some people. From the comfort of your own home you can be inclined to slack off since your teachers aren’t there to tell you otherwise. Thanks to the internet, you can teach yourself almost everything. Math and science videos can be easily found on YouTube or Khan Academy. If you feel like you’re falling behind the rest of your class, consider getting in the extra practice.