The movie, which was released on October 1, 2010 and has made $80 million at the box office, is being called the story of the generation. It tells the story of the creation of Facebook, the website used worldwide.

The first scene creates the path to launching Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, being dumped by his girlfriend. He goes home and creates Facemash, a version of “Hot or Not” for the Harvard University campus. 22,000 hits in one night and harsh criticisms later, Mark is found talking to the “Winklevi,” twin brothers asking him to help create Harvard Connection, a social networking website for Harvard.

Mark finds his friend Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, and introduces the idea of “Thefacebook” a website that allows Harvard students to share personal information and pictures with their peers. Thefacebook is created and the downfall of Mark’s reputation begins when he is sued by two different parties over the ownership and idea for the site.

The movie is carried by a talented cast; Eisenberg manages to be despised but likeable at the same time. Justin Timberlake, who plays Sean Parker, is an obnoxious programmer wanting money and fame. The cast all work flawlessly, managing to be expert computer programmers and sociable people at the same time.

In the film, Mark betrays many of his friends to get ahead with Facebook, by lying and stealing from them.

“I didn’t expect Mark to be as much of a backstabber as he was,” said junior Nida Hussein.

Another high point is the soundtrack; composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, it is a blend of synthesized sound and dark melodies. “Pieces From the Whole” begins with a simple bass and ends sounding like a casino with many slot machines scrolling through possible

outcomes. The songs kick in at heart pounding moments and compliment the movie’s technological background in a way that makes the film feel like a cyberspace extravaganza: loud and colorful.

The cinematography in the movie looks great. In a rowing scene featuring the Winklevoss

twins, a technique called tilt shift miniature faking makes the landscape look like a tiny diorama. It is an amazing scene to behold, coupled with extreme closeups of all the rowers moving in and out of focus and an electronic version of “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” The amazing camera work in this movie is expected, as Director David Fincher is known for it, as shown in Panic Room.

“The movie looks beautiful, and being a photographer it taught me a lot of new techniques,” said sophomore Gabriella Marsh.

The film, although having a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, has been criticized by the real life Mark Zuckerberg and other co-founders of Facebook, who have called it fiction. Despite this, Fincher says it is the movie he wanted to make, and it was a decision that should be commended.

The Social Network is an intriguing look into the, if not fully realistic, interesting and dramatic creation of Facebook, the website used by over five-hundred million people worldwide. Be advised, the script is sometimes heartily confusing, skipping from one of the many hearings to late night programming parties, but that should not scare anyone away. The Social Network is the story of the generation, and everyone (Facebook user or not) should catch a glimpse.

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“They have no educational value,” said Assistant Principal Mr. Canale. “Students use them in ways that get themselves in trouble by defaming reputations, antagonizing and bullying others, and even provoking people from other schools that then seek to retaliate more violently.” Canale points out that many teenagers don’t recognize the effects of posting information onto a public site. Future employers, college admissions officers, scholarship evaluators, and investigators can easily access anything we post.

Of course, we are the school’s responsibility during school hours so it is perfectly understandable that unnecessary and potentially risky situations be avoided by simply blocking sites. The school wants clean hands and we understand. However, if a person wants to insult or defame, there will always be options both in school without social networking or outside of school with the freedom to use social networks.

Social networking sites, despite our addictions to them, are not as beneficial to education as other likewise blocked sites potentially can be. Other blocked sites like YouTube , Flickr, and other pools of multimedia sources are blocked no matter what topic a desired video is about.

“Photo and video websites can be very useful tools for high school students because both help us communicate, share, and even exhibit our creations with the rest of the world. It is frustrating to be cut off from these because, even as an international school, we don’t have much access to the multimedia available on the world wide web,” said Managing Editor Simit Christian.

Photos and videos can easily become another medium teachers could use to teach a lesson. Students from across the globe would have a new means of sharing visuals that would aid in understanding of other cultures.

Most importantly, why should innocent videos and photos be blocked? There has to be a way to block only certain images while leaving potentially educational media open for viewing in school.

There is also much to be learned from the sites themselves. We live in a rapidly developing technological world, where technology skills should never be underestimated. The internet is thriving and we should know how to keep up.

“The future will require us to use YouTube and other similar sites with our careers and schooling,” said Managing Editor Sean Fisher. “And colleges and jobs can look to see how (and if) you have networked on the internet.”

And games! It seems that any site with even the word “game” in it is blocked from our use. Many seniors and juniors have free periods in addition to a lunch block, both of which could innocently be spent playing an online game. It’s a way to occupy free time, a way to relax. What’s so wrong with that?

“Well, I can see why they would be blocked because kids do go on the sites and they can be a distraction,” said reporter Kim Holder, “but, most of the time, kids aren’t even on the computers except for at lunch or during global technology so we should be trusted to have these sites unblocked.”

We may be partially influenced by a subconscious addition to social networking. We may even resent the restriction of websites on school computers because of our typical teenage desires to be independent. However, something should be reconsidered when even chess is blocked on the library computers.

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Back in the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln was beginning his presidential campaign. At the time, biased newspapers were extremely common. A reporter from The New York Herald once wrote that Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech was “unmitigated trash, interlarded with coarse and clumsy jokes.”

On November 4, 2009, Journalism teacher Mrs. Nancy Kaplan took ten staff members to view the Lincoln Exhibit at the New York Historical Society in Manhattan to learn how the press influenced society, and consider whether the media still has an influence today.

Northern newspapers, such as The New York Tribune favored Lincoln while southern newspapers like The Ch

arleston Mercury were totally against him. “ It depended on which part of the country you were from as to how Lincoln was viewed in the press. Obviously, the abolitionist newspapers and the pro-Union papers were favorable to him,” said history teacher Ms. Karolynn Mangiero.

Biased newspapers and headlines were used during the 1800s as an attempt to sway people to one political side.

Today biased front pages and headlines are not only rare, but also unethical. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become more popular than newspapers, thus making them the biased newspapers of our generation.

“Oddly enough, people aren’t really all that shocked for the most part. A lot of people who come through the exhibit express the feeling that a lot of bias still exists in the media today. It’s just more subtle now,” said docent Jennifer Lagasse.

During Lincoln’s time, newspapers were seen as a source for news and a way to share information about local happenings with people. Nowadays, some newspapers have become geared towards whose dating whom and the latest celebrity’s public misconduct.

“Today I believe newspapers are about sensationalization and manipulating individuals so they can make large sums of money. For example, the headlines in New York’s daily newspapers have been filled with Tiger Woods’ domestic issues rather than the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the major social and economic issues facing the nation,” said Ms. Mangiero. “This also says a lot about us as news readers. We are more concerned with gossip than real issues.”

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There have been many social networking websites over the years. After the 2002 launch of the website Friendster, several employees saw the potential this site had, and began working on the site that is now known as Myspace.

“Facebook was founded in 2004 as way for people to communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers,” said the Facebook Press Release. “Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.”

Facebook is advertised as a way to connect to people all over the world, as well as close friends. It’s basically used to catch up with friends and to interact more with the people from the past and present.

“I use Facebook to keep in touch with my family and friends,” said sophomore Karis Robichaud. “I haven’t seen some people I have as friends in years, so it’s a good way to stay friends with each other. It’s also something I use as a past time.”

However, there are concerns from parents and teachers that Facebook has become too addicting.

Facebook is popular for the numerous applications and games available on the website. Another addiction is the amount of status updates. The website makes it

easier to follow other people, and what they are doing. Many complain that users abuse their status privileges, while others complain about the applications being all over their

page.

Some people say Facebook is an issue, and that parents are concerned for the safety of their kids and their schoolwork might suffer.

“I don’t use Facebook a lot, but I know a lot of people who are constantly on, updating their status and taking random quizzes,” said New Dorp High School sophomore Janeanne Foster. “They’re probably loosing study time because they’re on it constantly.”

Statistics show that there are around 300 million active users on Facebook, with around 50% of active users logging on everyday. Worldwide, around 6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day, and there are more than 40 billion status updates each day.

More on this, there are more than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. Around 70% of users are from outside the United States.

These statistics speak for themselves. Facebook is used constantly in modern every day life. The addiction is growing and spreading, and the mobile application doesn’t help very much.

People can play it off like it’s not a big deal, but while some find it easy to juggle social time and school time; others can find it hard to find that balance.

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Welcome to the world of “strategic multi-tasking” Otherwise known as procrastinating.

“Homework should be illegal,” said  sophomore Shara Joy Aya.

What exactly is procrastinating?

“…Procrastination is putting off what you need to do and instead getting distracted and doing something else” said sophomore Lori Lee.

It’s always been an issue, but as sophomores we’ve got lots of new work and with that an increase in difficulty.

“… We don’t go down grades, so why should the homework?” said William Ao, sophomore.

Even juniors admit that homework has grown harder.

So one question remains; how do we deal with it? Procrastinating sure isn’t helping, though many of us think otherwise.

“Make sure you keep all of your assignments organized, keep a planner and a calendar or simply keep some things on your cell phone and or computer at home. That way you don’t forget anything.” continued Henna.

Mrs. Victoria Weit, CTT teacher, agrees. “Homework planners, getting the right amount of sleep, and eating well can help you hand in your homework on time. Time management can also help.”

In the end, it all comes back to how you plan. Planning ahead by putting what needs to be done in an agenda, planner, calendar, or even just a “to do” list for that day can help.

This way when that phone call comes, you know you have something to do and are less likely to take the offer and/or procrastinate. You should work on the self-discipline you have already, you may find you have the ability to say no in the first place.

It can also come down to being realistic. If you’re trying to do a project that should take a day or two in just three hours than you’re fooling yourself into thinking you have more time to fool around.

So here we are again, pencil in hand, homework to the side, computer in front, and your favorite website calling your name. Reaching for the mouse you start to think one minute couldn’t hurt –suddenly, you stop.

Not this time.

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