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Show 4- WEDNESDAY, JANUARY, 25, - DIXIESUNNEINS.COM - ri I ,,4 Vtiti''Itl -'''( i ri,u I ,,- 11 ) n ,.. - , ,c,....... I Hi111..-r 1,.1.:1U r ",, ....., , , . ,,,- ', 1 ,..1-- ,; ,.... :ksol , ,,o-- - - - ,- , nio 1 LT 1 .' 0 J II . . i - yt fekter.'41--. 3 , d . f -- a ..4..0.. I rI I I 1 0 , I Q 1 V:11 t,,,,t t --- -----, ,.. t I. ,p..... , . , , I ,I ,,,, 1 , ,. , , , , ,., ,e'r" ,,,l' , , , ot ' 'A , : . , 4 , President Donald Trump speaks during the final day of the Republican national convention at Quicken Loans Arena cer Ricks says President Trump's behavior promotes ignorance on social media. BY I'm not just being SPENCER RICKS Spencer Ricks " , Catch With our new , legitirniz- - -r 4 Wendy Stabler's ing fake news and promot- ino cyber article about J1 spirituality on bullying, social media is no longer an innocent timewaster. Social media is as much a part of today's culture as sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll was for baby boomers; I'm as addicted to it as any other millennial. President Donald Trump even seems to have been taken hold by the global social media addiction sometimes tweeting about people he hates during the wee hours of the morning. While it can bridge gaps between distant friendships and give the voiceless a means to express their opinion, social media is well on its way to destroying truth and civility thanks to Trump. dixiesunnews.com . , r....- i, I, ' ' , i , 1 1 w i .. , LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send letters to the editor to DixieSundixiaedu. Letters to the editor are accepted and may be published in the newspaper andor dixiesunnews.corn. The guidelines for letters are as follows: ,; must be well-writte- MISSY PARRY MissyParryDSN n. Writers must include name, phone number and email address. Students should also include year in school, hometown and major. Letters are subject to editing for length, style and grammar. Letters consisting of inaccurate, libelous or highly offensive content will not be published. Letters should be submitted to dixiesundixie.edu in the body of the email, not an attachment. Letters become property of Dixie Sun News and may be published in any format. Dixie Sun News encourag- es a lively discussion on its website among its readers. Dixie Sun News does not edit comments. However, an editor will not post any comments that are libelous or vulgar. ' y matic. The Oxford Dictionaries' word of the year for 2016 which was refers to the time when emotion and personal beliefs are more influential than objective facts. While social media has been around for years, Trump finally opened the door for the rise of this h world in which we live by propping up fnotion, personal belief and fake news higher than honest journalism and cold facts. Fake news is currently having a heyday after the last election cycle. I remember seeing some of my Facebook friends sharing a legitimate-lookin- g news story in September 2016 with the headline "Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President." This story was completely false, but it had garnered enough likes and shares on Facebook that it went viral, and some people started to believe it. Trump built his political career by perpetrating the post-trut- unsubstantiated story that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya with Muslim roots. Besides retweeting many fake news articles during the election, Trump often made up his own fake news, like the time he claimed there were thousands of Muslims cheering after 911. Trump could have used his platform to condemn fake news and lies, but instead, he continually attacked the legitimate media for publishing the truth. He recently even called CNN "fake news" at a press conference for publishing a story that didn't make him look good. Trump also praised Alex Jones, a radio commentator turned social media juggernaut who perpetrated the story that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were "literal demons" who smelled like sulfur. According to a Buzzfeed News report, the top 20 fake news stories on Facebook generated over 1.5 million more shares, comments and reactions than the top 20 legitimate news stories dur in Cleveland on July 21, 2016. ing the last three months of the election. Having oftentimes been validated by our new president, the fake news revolution on social media is stamping out the honest journalism that a democracy needs to survive. Trump has also seemingly destroyed basic human decency by allowing cyber bullying to flourish. Read any comment section on social media, and you'll see how hateful people can be toward each other while hiding behind their unassuming us'emame and avatar. When I was in high school, the boys in my grade created a Facebook page where they would rate the girls in the school based on their looks, sometimes ruthlessly making fun of them. While none of them would likely criticize their classmates to their face, social media gave them a platform to freely attack whomever they wanted without consequences. Trump has exemplified a similar amount of immaturity on social media as my high Editor-in-Chi- . k ef school classmates by attat, ing things as trivial as the appearances of his oppo nerits. The New York Tin, counted 305 different pee:, places and things eilump insulted on Twitter before inauguration. This includt calling Clinton "nasty," Meryl Streep "overrated," Obama "insane" and Ivle Kelly a "bimbo." My higt school classmates actuath had a bigger vocabularyi their social media insults than our new president Trump has become the faL of everything wrong vith social media and haon the highest office in Mst. ica because of it. WhileV., unlikely humanity will stop using social media anyttrat soon, we can at least igno Trump, any other cyber lies or fake news broadcu ers on social media. Only by turning a blind eye to Trump and any oth: troll on social media begin to starve the fake rt sites of our clicks and the cyber bullies of the attent they crave. Learning how to survive your university experieno 1 Submissions should be no longer than 250 words and dra- "post-truth- ," president Social Media Editor -- , .., z 0) - 1 f 'k, ' , , ., t d ,, Nothing screams college more than eating ramen noodles out of a mug at 3:30 a.m. while questioning your existence. College life is like the feeling of hopeful elation you have on the first day of school when the professor has just finished going over the class syllabus. You assume class will end early so you can go home and take a nap. Then when the professor opens up Microsoft Power-Poiand immediately goes into the lecture and reality hits, like a physics textbook to the face. You look over at the person sitting next to you, staring at the slide on the screen like a deer caught in the headlights, wondering what is going on? That's the golden question that college students wonder daily. No one really knows nt what's going on; we're all just really good at faking it. No one is perfect, and the few who know what they're doing with their lives are the fortunate ones. I am not one of those lucky ones. I don't even know what I want to eat for dinner, let alone what kind of career I want to have. I would look at everyone around me and feel so inadequate because I seemed to be the only one struggling. College is hard and knowing that you're not alone can really help with a rough day. With "College Life Relatable," you can expect to find me every other week getting through the semester just like you. I'll be writing about what many students are thinking, but too afraid to say. Consider me your Gandalf, Yoda or spirit guide through your college experience. I'm sure I'm not the only student who sometimes feels a little overwhelmed during the beginning of the semester. I wish Dixie State University offered a major in stress with an emphasis in anxiety, because I would exceed expectations in that area of attending DSU. The elevators in the Jeffrey R. Holland Centennial Commons operate on this strange idea that up is down and down is up. Don't bother pressing the elevator button, you will only get caught in this elevator trap. Save time and take the stairs; your perfect attendance record will thank you. Stock up on Scantrons from the campus bookstore, and no, I'm not tallcing about a Transformer action figure. study. Once I went to the Test Center and forgot to 1)614 Scantron, and they woulc: let me buy one there. So, in order to make on tithe to take my test,I. to run faster than UsainP to buy one at the bookstc Learn from my mist, College has a tendency sneak up on you when least expect it. Just knoll. you're not alone and dot' afraid to ask for help make sure to check the labus first. It's only the third week of the spring semester, and I've already sat down in the wrong class, caught myself accidentally staring at someone while zoning out during a lecture, been late for my 9 a.m. class, had a printer go rogue and d print 267 pages double-sided instead of (so much for trying to save trees), cried to my mom about dropping out, and Googled which of my internal organs I could r sell and still live. I have painstakingly learned many college life lessons through trial and error. The free food they have during events on campus is the reason I haven't died from starvation. I gave up looking good the second day of t school because sleeping in " ; an extra 30 minutes is a big deal, especially when you've stayed up all night doing the homework that you put off 0 h to "Stranger ' 1 Things" on Netflix. I put the z "pro" in procrastination. f I before let So, go, I'll you Staff Writer Missy Parry hangs from a cliff at Bryce CanYon, in on a couple kernels of Nationa. Park. Parry shares her and solut' college wisdom I've discovered since her column "College Life Relatable." struggles one-side- -- - , , , P' - binge-watc- 31 , yc - |