Reflect on how you manage stress in your life and care for your wellbeing. In particular, think about technology and if it is a cause or coping mechanism of stress for you. How has technology impacted your stress levels this year? How can you use technology to support you and your wellbeing? 

I used to pick up stress constantly which slowed my work progress down in grade 2 and 3. Once I hit grade 4 I realized that whenever I turn work in, I feel as if half of a car tire was lifted off my shoulders. At the same time, I could see in the teachers’ eyes that every time I hand something high quality in, they like it, they tell my parents and they like it too. My confidence lowers when turning the assignment in because I can never tell if how they act or any faces they make towards my work is good or bad, but when I get my it back, my happiness and admiration towards my work increases.

Doing work with the help of technology is easier because I have all the information right in front of me. I only need to find it, validate it, put it into the correct order, print it out, then turn it in. Maybe have some parts done in pencil or pencil crayon. If I simply don’t wanna do it because of stress, I can take my mind off of it for a bit by watching YouTube videos or by playing games.

If I’m doing a whole assignment online, the possibilities are as much time I have. I have infinite space, I have every piece of information ever collected and resources to them, I can experiment with anything I want, I can to go beyond any expectations set on me I have answers to all my problems, and I can entertain myself by helping other people solve their problems, or by playing games.

To put the limits of technology into perspective, imagine a whole document of information with resources at the very bottom, but in certain places in that document are embeds of other documents and PowerPoints to support your information on the main document, those embedded documents also written by you then containing resources at the bottom. That could be done in a matter of days, and the expectations could just be a 900 word essay on stress.

Whenever I have a personal or academic problem, I can simply search up how to solve it on the internet and get all my answers with relative ease. Everybody definitely has had to rely on technology to solve their problems at least 3 times. This includes me, I can never trust what even a teacher says in high school without verifying it on the internet, doing so not only helps me by either confirming what they say or by boosting my marks because of a mistake made about my marks.

Choose 2 prompts then explain in 1 or 2 sentences how they relate to you.

Prompt 1: I am kind to others, and support others when they need it. If someone is wrong or has a question, even if it isn’t directed to me, I still try to answer them first if I know, or think I know the answer. If someone needs extra help, I am open to helping them and try my best to show them how to do something (mainly if they need help in math or hockey). If somebody has a condition that changes their appearance or abilities/capabilities, I support them and try to talk them through it and suggest how they could work around their problems.

Prompt 2: I can appreciate diverse perspectives on issues and can resolve problems respectfully and effectively. I find it lovely when people work together because the different perspectives reveal mistakes in other perspectives. The only problem is how to let the person in the wrong know that they are wrong and correct them without them feeling stressed, rushed, or overpowered. Usually I try to work by myself because I have more freedom to do the activity I am assigned, otherwise people change it and that could change a context or idea completely, which could then lead to stress, anger, rush, or feeling overpowered by my own group member(s), unless the activity is sport related or if I don’t understand what is going on.

Prompt 3: I demonstrate respectful and inclusive behavior. Usually I would rather work alone but if there is somebody who wants to work with someone while everybody else is taken, I am welcoming to them, I can explain to them if they are confused, and I can give them ideas or suggestions. If I am in a group and someone is being left out or seems to feel like they are being left out, I alert the other people in my group to let the person who isn’t doing much, do more.