Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

If you woke up in <keyword id="19900881" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="delhi" source="keywords">Delhi</keyword> recently, you might have noticed more than just the nip in the air – a thick, toxic smog has blanketed the city, turning the air almost unbreathable. On Monday, Delhi’s <keyword id="19920379" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="air-quality-index" source="keywords">Air Quality Index</keyword> (<keyword id="19916482" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aqi" source="keywords">AQI</keyword>) hit 481, placing it in the "severe plus" category. For context, the “severe” category begins at an AQI of 401, and anything above 450 poses serious health risks even for healthy individuals. According to Swiss group IQAir’s live rankings, Delhi is currently the most polluted city in the world, with an air quality score of 1,081 – a “hazardous” level that is 130.9 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit for PM2.5. <h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14pt;margin-bottom:4pt;">Major contributors to Delhi’s smog</h3>The root causes of Delhi’s pollution are manifold: <ul><li>Stubble Burning: On Saturday, crop residue burning contributed 25% of Delhi’s air pollution. By Sunday, this figure had climbed to 40%, according to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research). Satellites recorded 1,334 stubble-burning incidents in six northern states on Sunday alone, the highest number in four days.</li><li>Vehicles: On Sunday, vehicular emissions accounted for 15.8% of the city’s pollution, according to the Centre’s Decision Support System for Air Quality Management.</li><li>Construction Dust and Industrial Emissions: PM2.5, a deadly pollutant, remains the most prominent factor, capable of penetrating deep into the lungs and leading to severe respiratory and cardiac diseases.</li></ul><h3 style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:14pt;margin-bottom:4pt;"><keyword id="24020184" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="GRAP-Stage-4" source="keywords">GRAP Stage 4</keyword></h3>To combat the rising pollution levels, authorities have enforced Stage 4 of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). Here’s a breakdown of the restrictions: <ul><li>Vehicle Restrictions:</li><ul><li>Diesel medium and heavy goods vehicles (BS-IV and below) registered in Delhi are banned unless carrying essential goods.</li><li>Non-essential light commercial vehicles from outside Delhi can only enter if they use CNG, BS-VI diesel, or are electric.</li><li>Trucks carrying non-essential items are barred unless they use cleaner fuels like LNG, CNG, or BS-VI diesel. </li></ul><li>Workplace and School Adjustments:</li><ul><li>Classes for students in grades 6 to 9 and class 11 have moved online.</li><li>Offices in the National Capital Region (NCR) are advised to work at 50% capacity, with the rest operating remotely. </li></ul><li>Construction Ban: </li><ul><li>Construction and demolition (C&amp;D) activities have been halted, including large projects like highways, flyovers, and pipelines. </li></ul></ul>Out of Delhi’s 40 monitoring stations, 32 reported AQI levels above 400 on Monday. Visibility in parts of the city dropped to just 100 metres due to the thick smog. The health implications of these numbers are alarming. <keyword id="20118319" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="PM2-5-levels" source="keywords">PM2.5 levels</keyword> in Delhi were recorded at 130.9 times the safe limit set by the WHO. According to experts, long-term exposure to such air quality could lead to an 11% increase in premature mortality rates due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Studies have shown that Delhi residents may lose an average of 10 years of life expectancy if pollution levels persist. Despite the restrictions, life in Delhi continues under a cloud of smog. Iconic landmarks like India Gate have become barely visible through the haze. While flights and trains are operational, some delays have been reported.

GRAP Stage 4 restrictions take effect as air quality in Delhi deteriorates; PM2.5 levels 130 times higher than WHO limits

In a shocking development, <keyword id="20321520" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="lahore" source="keywords">Lahore</keyword> in <keyword id="19899252" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pakistan" source="keywords">Pakistan</keyword> is enduring an air pollution crisis that has driven its <keyword id="19918941" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="air-quality" source="keywords">Air Quality</keyword> Index (<keyword id="19916482" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="aqi" source="keywords">AQI</keyword>) well above the hazardous mark, crossing 1,000 in recent days. This level is over three times worse than the pollution typically recorded in New <keyword id="19900881" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="delhi" source="keywords">Delhi</keyword>, India, during <keyword id="188" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="diwali" source="Orion">Diwali</keyword> — a festival known for its own intense pollution spikes. The situation has led local officials to temporarily shut down primary schools and encourage remote work for half of the city’s workforce in a bid to limit exposure to the toxic air. Lahore’s pollution crisis has multiple contributors. Seasonal crop burning in nearby agricultural areas releases smoke and particulate matter into the air, while exhaust from vehicles and low-grade diesel generators further exacerbate the smog. During winter, cold air traps pollutants close to the ground, a phenomenon known as temperature inversion, which prevents pollutants from dispersing and intensifies smog. Lahore, a city of 14 million people, is experiencing the worst of these combined effects, which have led to severe visibility issues and alarming health risks for residents. Punjab’s Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb characterised the spike in Lahore’s pollution as "unexpected," pointing to cross-border pollution carried by winds from India as a key factor. She emphasised that the issue could only be managed through cooperation, adding that Pakistan’s foreign ministry would lead efforts to initiate discussions with Indian authorities. <h2>Understanding AQI and its health impacts</h2>The AQI is a standardised measurement of air pollution levels, ranging from 0 (good) to 500+ (hazardous). Different categories within this scale represent varying health risks. For example, AQI values between 0-50 signify “good” air quality, while levels above 300 are deemed “hazardous” for all populations. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114649550" title="Lahore and Delhi amongst world&amp;#39;s most polluted cities; health warnings issued" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Lahore's recent AQI of over 1,000 — going as high as 1,900 by some accounts — has been described as a severe public health crisis. It’s composed primarily of particulate matter known as PM2.5 — tiny particles that are especially dangerous because they can be inhaled deeply into the lungs, leading to long-term respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.<h2>Delhi during Diwali</h2>Delhi is no stranger to pollution spikes, especially during the Diwali season, when fireworks, stubble burning in surrounding states, and vehicle emissions combine to create hazardous air conditions. During Diwali this year, Delhi’s AQI surpassed 400 once again, categorising it as “very poor” to “severe” — even two days after the festival. To combat the issue, authorities implemented a series of emergency measures through the <keyword id="19920169" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="graded-response-action-plan" source="keywords">Graded Response Action Plan</keyword> (GRAP), including bans on diesel generators and regular sprinkling of roadways. While these measures offered some relief, Delhi’s air quality remained severely compromised for days. <h2>Long-term health implications</h2>The pollution crisis in cities like Lahore and Delhi poses a substantial long-term health risk. In Lahore, residents could lose an average of 7.5 years of life expectancy if these pollution levels persist, according to the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. Air pollution is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and premature death, highlighting the need for stricter emissions regulations, clean energy initiatives, and cross-border cooperation to tackle the issue. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114836869" title="Delhi’s ‘lit’ skyline on Diwali goes viral; netizens bring attention to the smog-covered skies" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Air pollution is especially dangerous for children, whose lungs are still developing. Children breathe more rapidly than adults, which means they inhale more pollutants relative to their body weight. The <keyword id="19896311" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-health-organization" source="keywords">World Health Organization</keyword> (WHO) reports that prolonged exposure to polluted air can result in severe health complications for children, including asthma, lung infections, and, in extreme cases, irreversible lung damage. South Asia as a whole is deeply affected by this issue, with nearly 600 million children regularly exposed to high levels of air pollution. UNICEF highlights that air pollution is a leading cause of child mortality in the region, with half of all childhood pneumonia cases linked to poor air quality. As cities like Lahore and Delhi grapple with worsening air quality, local governments, international bodies, and communities must prioritise pollution control to protect future generations from the devastating effects of polluted air.

Pakistan shuts down schools as AQI becomes 3x worse than Delhi on Diwali

In the early 2000s, the business of for-profit college was booming. After the University of Phoenix's parent company, the Apollo Group, went public in 1994, others were close on its heels: Corinthian, ITT Tech, and Kaplan each had IPOs in the 1990s, netting tens of millions of dollars and setting off tremendous periods of growth.Soon, private equity firms caught wind of the opportunity. In 2003, there were just 18 for-profits owned by private equity firms; less than a decade later, that number had more than tripled, to 61. For-profit enrollments were also exploding, from a little more than 425,000 in 2000 to 1.7 million in 2012 — an increase of more than 300%. By contrast, public colleges had grown by just 31%.Increasingly the boom could be characterized as a Wall Street versus Main Street match-up. Even in the 1980s, the majority of for-profit programs were still mom-and-pop affairs: short-term certificate courses in subjects like cosmetology and truck driving. By the early years of the new millennium, students were attending Fortune 500 chain schools for full-fledged degrees in teaching, medical assisting, business, and psychology. In 2012 there were 21 publicly traded for-profit colleges, and less than a quarter of for-profit college students attended a mom-and-pop operation; the other 1.3 million went to publicly traded or private-equity-owned schools.The profits in this new world were beyond belief. One study found that the for-profit industry netted 55% profit margins between 2000 and 2012. In other words, for every dollar they took from students, 55 cents went to shareholders, with overall profits peaking in 2011 at $5 billion. Within a decade of Apollo's IPO, Phoenix's student body had grown tenfold, and thanks to students' easy federal money, the company was bringing in more than $1 billion a year.It was a win-win for just about everyone involved. The schools' profits came almost exclusively from federal grant and loan moneys. The federal government was bankrolling not only their and their investors' windfalls but also those of the financial institutions and guarantee agencies that did the lending and collecting under the Federal Family Education Loan program.But there were two groups left out of the bonanza: the public at large, whose tax dollars kept the machine running, and the students who got sacked with the bill.Then the evidence started coming in, yet again, that the for-profit corporate darlings of the '90s and aughts were no more sophisticated — certainly no more beneficial — than the shady computer schools that had preceded them. In 1970 there had been only 18,333 students enrolled at degree-granting for-profit schools, less than a quarter of a percent of the total number of college students. By 2009 there were 1.85 million — almost 10% of the total. The grift had grown a hundredfold."I had worked in the sales industry for many years," the admissions supervisor stated. "But Ashford [University] had the most aggressive sales floor I have ever seen." The supervisor's employer was putatively an accredited institution that offered a wide variety of bachelor's and advanced degrees; in reality it was effectively a money-printing operation.The school's many sordid practices were revealed in a 2017 lawsuit filed against the institution by the attorney general of California. Among them were the tales of Ashford's salespeople — aka "admissions counselors" — who made hundreds, sometimes even a thousand, cold calls a week. Still their managers berated and taunted them, forcing underperformers to stand all day, jangling keyrings with the ID cards of their fired former colleagues in their faces. Some of them cried; some had mental breakdowns; eventually most quit or were fired. Managers created "lowest performer lists" and then fired the bottom 10th of recruiters. When the salespeople did manage to land a mark, they celebrated by ringing cowbells or flapping plastic hand clappers. "The sales floor had a true boiler room atmosphere," said the supervisor, not unlike that "portrayed in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street." And if they all misled some naive fools in the process, say, a few hundred a month, well, that was just the cost of doing business. It wasn't like they were going to get fired for calling loans "grants" or promising a program would lead to high-paying jobs or guaranteeing that if things didn't work out at the school, any credits earned there would transfer elsewhere (as they almost certainly would not). One Ashford admissions counselor got 25 violations in eight months and the managers dished out only a slap on the wrist. The risk of punishment by the company's Compliance Department was low, but the reward was irresistibly high: admissions counselors got paid by the sale, and the best of them made in the six figures. Recruiters preyed on their marks' naiveté about higher education, convincing them that they couldn't receive their financial aid until well into the semester (when it would be too late to get a refund), lying about what their degrees would qualify them to do, and encouraging them to spend their federal aid funds on things like cars or expensive vacations (against federal law).Ashford University was owned by Bridgepoint Education, which was backed by Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm. And the secret to its success was a foolproof tactic that for-profit financiers had discovered for getting their business off the ground and gaining access to the all-important stream of federal aid money. The trick was to gobble up existing mom-and-pop proprietary schools — as well as small, financially struggling nonprofits — and to acquire their accreditations, assets as valuable as New York City taxi medallions.But for students, the business model was a bust — at Bridgepoint, just as at any number of for-profit giants. With only seven full-time faculty for almost 74,000 students, Bridgepoint, like many of its competitors, spent way more on recruiting than it did on instruction. And it showed: Only about a quarter of students in any given year went on to get their "diplomas" within six years (public and nonprofit schools consistently graduated about two-thirds of students in that timeframe). Those who did graduate tended to leave with a hefty amount of debt — nearly $35,000 on average. By 2017 almost 20% of alumni were unemployed, and almost half didn't do anything related to their degree.Five years after California filed suit against Ashford, a state superior court judge found that the company had engaged in widespread deception — estimating that over an 11-year period, its recruiters had spread misinformation in more than 1.2 million calls — and issued more than $22 million in penalties. (In 2024, an appeals court reduced the penalty by nearly $1 million).The beneficiaries of Bridgepoint's grift were its shareholders and managing partners. The losers were everybody else. And if theirs wasn't a particularly victimless crime, so what? Nobody cared much about students anyway. "You stop thinking of these students as people," said one recruiting manager.In 2010, Tom Harkin, chair of the Senate's education committee, began a two-year investigation into for-profit schools. Harkin's assessment of the sector was scathing. He declared for-profits expensive, exploitative, and concerned only with their own profits. "They are not focused on the success of their students," Harkin declared.A number of these schools were held by private equity firms like Goldman Sachs. In 2011, one Goldman-backed chain took in more than $350 million in Pell Grant funds and made a little more than that in profit. At a time when the federal government was refusing to help unemployed, down-on-their-luck, and defrauded borrowers, it was bailing out banks like Goldman Sachs twice over: They had already benefited from billions of dollars in Great Recession recovery funds, and now they were scooping up ill-begotten federal student aid via failing for-profit colleges. Fifteen of the schools Harkin's team investigated were publicly traded. These schools received, on average, 86% of their revenues from federal sources, right up to the line of what was legal. One of the ways they did this, Harkin found, was by recruiting veterans. In the years after World War II, legislators reinvented the GI Bill several times to reward veterans of later conflicts, like the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and to adapt to the evolving military, which had become an all-volunteer force in the 1970s. A loophole allowed them to count Defense Department moneys, including GI Bill funds, as non-federal money. In 2009, a Bloomberg News reporter uncovered a tactic used by Ashford University recruiters. They were targeting a wounded warriors unit at Camp Lejeune, signing up veterans with brain injuries who couldn't remember which classes they were taking. Each veteran was a lucrative prospect, allowing schools to gobble up yet more federal funds.And gobble they did. By 2010, Harkin found, for-profits were taking in a third of all GI Bill education funds. But even more shocking, federal money flowing to for-profit schools accounted for 25% of all federal student aid and 47% of eventual loan defaults. This, in spite of the fact that the schools enrolled little more than 10% of all American college students.So what happened to all the extra money for-profits took in? Harkin's investigation found that for-profits spent nearly a quarter of all revenues on marketing and recruiting and often paid their executives multimillion-dollar salaries, far above the average rates for public- or nonprofit-university presidents. Students' money enriched every corner of the for-profit industry except one: quality of instruction.<div type="image" title="Cover image of Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis by Ryann Liebenthal" height="2775" width="1838" msid="113224481" hostid="261" sizebytes="715136"></div>Economist Stephanie Riegg Cellini co-authored a sweeping study of for-profits, which found that students of for-profit certificate programs were slightly less likely to hold a job than their counterparts in public programs. In 2015, a separate study found that job applicants got just as many call-backs by listing no educational experience on their résumés as they did by listing for-profit credentials.When for-profit grads did find employment, Cellini found, they earned about a 10th less than the public program certificate holders. In fact, these for-profit students were actually worse off than if they hadn't gone to school at all. When taking into account their debt loads, for-profit graduates were projected to lose about $1,200 on their educational "investments" over the course of their lifetimes.In short, a simple equation summed up the for-profit ethos at this time: charge as much as federal student aid will supply, and cut costs to the bone. Everything in the middle could be harvested as profit. For-profit education was an industry on the dole.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/ryann-liebenthal">Ryann Liebenthal</a> is a writer and editor living in Oakland, California, who has reported extensively on the student loan crisis. She is the author of "BURDENED: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis."Excerpted from the book "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/burdened-ryann-liebenthal?variant=41472117669922">BURDENED: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis</a>." Copyright © 2024 by Ryann Liebenthal. From Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission.

Wall Street tried getting into higher education. Disaster ensued. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Zs have found a more authentic resource when researching colleges: college content creators.</li><li>College content creators give study advice and post snippets of day-to-day school life on TikTok.</li></ul>In the summer before his senior year of high school, videos of students waking up in dorm rooms or wandering down the college quad started to flood Ryan Fuhrman's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-is-bad-boring-fyp-2024-2">TikTok For You feed</a>.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-algorithm-for-you-page-works-watch-time-report-2021-7">algorithm</a> clearly knew that he should be researching college— and he took it as a cue to get started."Dorm room in NYU," he typed into the TikTok search bar. In a matter of seconds, he could <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tour-nyu-freshman-dorm-room-building-2023-9">tour the dorms</a> of New York University, checking out the bedding and wall art of each student who had chosen to share.In a similar manner, he went on to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/college-food-best-dining-halls-2017-8">judge the food quality</a> at the University of California, Los Angeles's dining halls, and get a feel for what a day in the life of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-college-freshmen-successful-first-year-professor-2024-9">college freshman</a> might look like at the University of Southern California.Unlike scrolling a school's website or browsing a brochure, TikTok allowed him to see colleges through other students' eyes."It made me believe, 'Wow, that actually could be my day,'" Fuhrman, 18, told Business Insider.Fuhrman is not alone. According to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nearly-half-genz-use-tiktok-instagram-over-google-search-2022-7">Google's internal data</a>, nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers searching on TikTok and Instagram over Google Search and Maps, BI reported in July 2022.When it comes to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-choose-college-campus-tour-data-2023-12">deciding on a school</a>, these TikToks illuminate parts of college life that previous generations had little access to and often didn't discover until their freshman year — after the decision of where to go had been made.Instead of the typical campus tour hosted by one of the college's brand ambassadors and led along a curated map of the school's most attractive amenities, Gen Zers have multiple feeds through which they can examine a campus' vibe. And unlike the 15-minute promo videos produced by schools, much of what's featured on social media is coming from people they can relate to.<div type="image" title="Helaine Zhao standing outside of Harvard" height="1363" width="1817" msid="114753464" hostid="261" sizebytes="200338"></div><h2 id="c9b73a20-6e08-4a15-944b-3ebc651c868a">The rise of college content creators</h2>As of October 29, there were 2.3 million TikTok videos under the hashtag "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/College-life">college life</a>." The hashtag has gone viral, with 30.5 billion views.The popularity of college content on TikTok has introduced a slew of content creators covering their school life.From her very first day, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@helainezhao?lang=en">Helaine Zhao</a>, a Harvard freshman, started posting vlogs about life on campus.In a video posted in September, she shared her morning routine at college. The video shows her getting out of bed, putting in her contact lenses, picking out clothes, applying make-up, exercising at a gym, and getting breakfast. The video gained over 6 million views.Zhao, who started posting content in March, has gained over 92,300 followers on TikTok. And while she's eligible for TikTok's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-creator-rewards-program-challenges-google-search-youtube-2024-3">Creator Rewards Program</a>, which allows creators to monetize their content, she has not yet joined. Still, she occasionally signs paid collaborations with study brands like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/notability-note-taking-app-ipad-apple-review">Notability</a>, a note-taking app. Zhao preferred not to share how much she earns from the sponsorships.She recalls using the app to research colleges when she was deciding between Stanford, Harvard, and Yale."It was definitely a very helpful tool to get to experience these campuses without actually going to them in person," she said, although she eventually did visit the schools in person during their admitted student days.One college content creator she followed at the time was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@elisempham?lang=en">Elise Pham</a>. Now in her junior year at Harvard, Pham has more than 155,800 followers.<div type="image" title="A girl poses at Harvard" height="1000" width="1500" msid="114753468" hostid="261" sizebytes="54994"></div>"As the child of a single immigrant father and a mother who passed away when I was 9 years old, I didn't necessarily have a lot of resources and mentorship regarding the college application process," Pham, 20, told BI.She saw the value of providing resources for students who need college advice. So, when she started college, she began posting college admissions videos on TikTok about Harvard to help prospective students.She then founded the Ultimate Ivy League Guide, a college admissions consulting business that provides students with online guides and courses on college admissions. She's running the business while finishing her last two years of undergrad, and plans to continue working there full-time after graduating.Pham told BI that while she doesn't take personal income from the business, it earns a low six-figure amount a month. "The money is used to build a program that can make education more accessible for students from all socioeconomic and geographical backgrounds," she said. Pham provided BI with documentation of her business earnings.Similarly, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lillianzhang_?lang=en">Lillian Zhang</a>, a University of California Berkeley graduate, started posting content about her college life and internships during her junior year. It was during the thick of Covid, and she decided to cure her boredom by providing useful content for students.As it happened, some of her UC Berkeley vlogs went viral. In one vlog, which gained over 200,000 views, she wakes up early to go to the gym, has a mid-term review at school, then grabs a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stanford-student-internship-matcha-tea-farm-japan-what-she-learned-2024-10">matcha</a> latte and quesadilla for lunch."I think people just want to see what life at the school was through my experience," said Zhang, 24, who has more than 113,100 followers on TikTok.<div type="image" title="Lillian Zhang, a UC Berkeley alumni, speaking to students" height="3012" width="4016" msid="114753467" hostid="261" sizebytes="177026"></div>She added that prospective students had reached out to her to ask questions about school and internships."When I was still at Berkeley, there were people who recognized me from the videos. That was a really cool experience hearing how the information that I've shared has helped," she said.These days, Zhang works as a product marketing manager at a Big Tech company and posts mostly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worst-career-advice-on-tiktok-2024-8">career and financial advice.</a>In her first year of receiving income as a content creator, Zhang made around $47,000, mostly from sponsorships. This year, her revenue from content creation amounted to a low six-figure number. Zhang provided BI with documentation of her social media income.<h2 id="9db52995-a72c-4c11-8da5-4ec1c508d2f5">An authentic first-person perspective</h2>TikTok can be a useful tool for students to gain extra <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-american-students-avoid-debt-studying-abroad-college-europe-2024-10">insight into colleges</a> they are interested in.Lucie Vágnerová, the cofounder of the higher education consulting firm BKT Education in Brooklyn, advises her students to use social media during their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/only-1-in-4-americans-think-going-college-worth-it-2024-5">college research</a>."You might see a snippet from the cafeteria, people kicking a soccer ball around the quad, or even whether it's stressful to study in the library," she told BI. "Just real-life stuff that a college website won't necessarily tell you."Students can get a "vibe check" to see if they can relate to other students and appreciate the school culture, she added.At the same time, college content can also change how prospective students view a college for the worst, Greg Kaplan, a college advisor, said."We have seen students change their school lists based on what they observe about <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-10-party-universities-in-america-ranked-2024-9">fraternities and sororities</a> and not apply to those schools if they don't think they will fit in," said Kaplan, whose company, Kaplan Educational Group, provides college application guidance to around 350 high school students yearly.<h2 id="47905484-234c-45bb-be67-7bb333c7f6e0">TikTok is useful — but it has limitations</h2>Vágnerová said prospective students should use TikTok with a discerning eye."As much as I love to see what's happening with social media creators coming out of campuses, I always tell students, 'This is one piece of the puzzle; don't linger anywhere too long,'" she said."Look for other social media creators. Look for location tags on Instagram stories. Get a comprehensive picture of a campus or an academic culture rather than just looking at it through the prism of one person," she added.And while TikTok can influence students' perceptions of a school, other factors that students consider before making their decision typically include cost, rankings, and location.<div type="image" title="A college student posing with his UCSD hoodie." height="1092" width="1456" msid="114753466" hostid="261" sizebytes="142156"></div>Of the 17 schools he applied to, Fuhrman said the schools he was accepted to included NYU, USC, and California State University. When it came down to his decision, he decided on the University of California, San Diego, because of its reputation, rankings, and cost. Fuhrman, who grew up in San Jose, also toured several schools in person.Still, he says it was TikTok videos that gave him confidence in his decision.On the app, he has a collection of saved videos titled "UCSD." One video shows the beaches of La Jolla: "That kind of made me fall in love with the school," he said. Another video he saved shows the modern interior of Franklin Antonio Hall — an engineering facility with an auditorium, 100-seat classrooms, and collaborative study space for students. The building opened on campus in 2022. "I would never have known because every single promotional content for the school just shows a picture of the library," he said."But the school is so much more than that."In between studying for a degree in structural engineering, Fuhrman, who has around <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ryan.furball">3,400 followers</a>, has also joined in on documenting his college life on TikTok."I think that inspiring others like me who didn't really have the school on their radar is my goal, ultimately," he said.

Gen Z turns to TikTok to find the perfect school. Some college students are cashing in.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-things-moving-to-ireland-from-us-2022-2">moved from the US to Ireland</a> years ago and decided to attend college here. </li><li>My college education cost about 1/4 of what I would've paid going to a popular university in the US.</li></ul>At 15, I embarked on an adventure of a lifetime when my dad's job reassigned him from Chicago to Dublin. After completing secondary school, I decided to stay in Ireland and go to college while my parents <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/returned-to-us-for-high-school-had-culture-shock-2023-11">returned to the US</a> after my dad's assignment was finished.After graduating from college at 21, I knew what I'd found in Ireland was special and that I should try to hold onto it as long as I could. I stayed, and immersing myself in the way of the Irish has benefited my life in so many ways, even though living here isn't perfect. After all, Ireland is one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/world-20-most-expensive-countries-123251618.html">most expensive countries to live in</a> in 2024, ranked just under the US. Life's not always easy here, as Ireland goes through a cost of living and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/11/ireland-housing-crisis-far-right-europe-refugees">housing crisis</a>.Even so, I believe my quality of life here is much better than it would be if I'd stayed in the US. Here are a few of my favorite parts of living here. <h2 id="9bddb6d2-664c-4609-886b-734e4f80fa5b">The Irish culture and people are unmatched</h2><div type="image" title="Cocktail on bar mat " height="2268" width="3024" msid="110643239" hostid="261" sizebytes="304420"></div>The Irish people have a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/why-is-being-irish-so-cool-internationally-loved-and-admired-135088463-238113751">great reputation</a> and are pretty loved around the world for a reason.In my experience, many Irish folks are willing to stop and ask tourists if they need help if they look lost, give advice from across bus seats if they overhear a conversation, or just talk someone's ear off in a pub. Locals I've met are animated storytellers who always leave me hanging on the edge of my seat, before I nearly fall off of it laughing.But one of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-irish-person-found-surprising-first-time-in-us-2022-11">things I love about the Irish</a> is the pride they have for their country, culture, and history. Since I've lived here, Irish locals have always been happy to educate me and allow me to actively participate in their culture.<h2 id="92b8b864-86c1-4609-ace5-eea760807909">The quality of food and drink — both out and about and at home — is truly incredible</h2>Beyond Ireland's drinking culture lies an innovative and exciting nightlife, especially with Dublin's growing cocktail scene. Bars all over Dublin experiment with spirits in new ways. Pubs and bars are beyond just places to drink — they are social beacons, places where people congregate after a long day to spend time with one another. And with a budding nightlife comes a bustling restaurant scene. I've found there's at least one excellent restaurant on every street in the city center if you're willing to shell out a good few quid.But, part of what makes the drinking and eating culture so vibrant in Ireland is the quality of the food and drink here. <div type="image" title="Produce section in grocery store in Ireland " height="3024" width="4032" msid="110643241" hostid="261" sizebytes="850796"></div>Ireland is ranked as the <a target="_blank" href="https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/project/food-security-index/">second country in the world with the best access to food</a>. We have strict produce laws and regulations, and our produce is labeled with what country it comes from if it's grown outside of Ireland. There's also plenty of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/irish-foods-recipes-st-patricks-day-2019-3">Irish homegrown beef</a>.Plus, it's cheaper for me to shop for fresh produce in Ireland than it ever was in the US. I can get carrots, celery, leeks, onions, and leafy greens for under €1, and find a dozen apples or bag of oranges for less than €4. <h2 id="04e6af7c-efe3-4cb3-b4ae-d1fade227338">Four years of college here cost the same as one year at a school I'd wanted to attend in the US </h2>It was way cheaper for me to attend an Irish university than it would've been to attend a popular one in the US, even with international fees applied. Before moving to Ireland, I wanted to go to New York University — which would've cost me over $76,000 a year in 2018. At University College Dublin (UCD), I paid about €72,000, or about $78,000, for all four years of school and received a bachelor's degree in English.And, with Ireland and The United States having great relations, I was eligible to use federal student aid for my degree in Ireland.My education was invaluable, and I got to study at the same university as famous writers such as James Joyce, Roddy Doyle, and Mary Lavin. I wouldn't trade my decision to study at UCD for anything in the world regardless of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-to-know-before-moving-to-ireland-from-us-2022-4">how expensive living in Ireland is</a>.

I moved from the US to Ireland 8 years ago. It's has drawbacks, but my quality of life is exceptional and my education was way cheaper.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new Pew study says nearly 70% of adults agree that schools should ban phones during class.</li><li>Teachers have been urging a ban on phones — and more and more schools are agreeing.</li></ul>In the running debates on teens and kids using cellphones in school — and social media's effects on young people — there's at least one thing most adults seem to agree on: banning phones in school.The Pew Research Center just released <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/10/14/most-americans-back-cellphone-bans-during-class-but-fewer-support-all-day-restrictions/">a report</a> of recent polling in which 68% of adults surveyed said middle and high school students shouldn't be allowed to use their phones during class. (Most thought kids should have access during lunch and between classes — and 36% thought phones should be locked up all day.)An increasing number of schools around the country are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-23/newsom-signs-school-cell-phone-law">banning</a> phones. Teachers are overwhelmingly in favor of these cellphone bans — 90% of National Education Association members supported policies banning phones during instructional time, a spring <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/take-cellphones-out-classroom-educators-say">survey</a> said. Students, as you might imagine, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-madison-school-cellphone-18651029.php">aren't always as keen</a> on it. (Although some have said they've learned to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-teacher-all-schools-should-ban-phones-in-classroom-2024-8">like the cellphone bans</a>.)Meanwhile, in the last year, there's been a noticeable crescendo in the debate over <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-quit-social-media-anxiety-free-time-2024-3">phones and teens,</a> especially with the publication of Jonathan Haidt's bestseller "The Anxious Generation" and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/states-sue-meta-allege-facebook-instagram-harm-youth-mental-health-2023-10">state lawsuits against Meta </a>and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-lawsuits-mirror-tobacco-purdue-pharma-2024-10">TikTok</a> claiming various harms against young people. The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/surgeon-general-social-media-warning-label-mental-health-crisis-children-2024-6">US Surgeon General recently suggested social media</a> should come with a warning label for teens.<h2 id="5d54f716-edee-47a2-9b81-3f59d404ecd1">Banning phones in school is different from discussion on social media's potential harm</h2>The debate about phones in schools is connected to this bigger conversation, but for a few reasons, it also stands very separate.For one thing, the discussion about phones in schools has practical solutions: Schools can issue classroom phone bans today, and they go into effect basically immediately — there's no litigation with Big Tech giants or intellectuals pontificating about society's ills.And it doesn't really take a deep level of scientific research or analysis to conclude that phones are probably very distracting in class. If you're an adult with a phone, you can probably imagine what it would've been like to have that phone during 11th-grade English class. I'm old enough that I didn't have a cellphone in high school, but I can absolutely tell that I would have been scheming all sorts of ways to covertly text my friends under my desk during biology class.<h2 id="babf4a31-ea3a-4fd5-a199-f5bead5144b4">Research on social media and teen mental health isn't always clear</h2>On the other hand, the argument that social media and phone use are causing a mental health crisis for teens is not as clearly a slam-dunk case. The body of research on the topic is mixed, and there are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://reason.com/video/2024/04/02/the-bad-science-behind-jonathan-haidts-anti-social-media-crusade/">persuasive arguments both ways</a>. Consider a very recent kerfuffle: A researcher <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-80192-001">published a meta-analysis</a> of studies on what happens when teens quit social media and suggested that Haidt's research was flawed. Then, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.afterbabel.com/p/the-case-for-causality-part-1">Haidt and his crew published a three-part Substack series</a> attempting to debunk the meta-analysis. Then, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://matthewbjane.quarto.pub/social-media-and-mental-health/">yet another researcher</a> came out with a new analysis of the whole thing, attempting a re-debunking of Haidt.Which party is correct here is far beyond my ability to judge, but the point is that academic research in this area is complicated. Studies can be flawed by design, and data can be interpreted differently.The way people talk about it matters, too; <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</a> recently said in an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theverge.com/24253481/meta-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-ar-glasses-orion-ray-bans-ai-decoder-interview">interview</a> with The Verge: "I think the majority of the high-quality research out there suggests that there's no causal connection at a broad scale" between social media and harm to teen mental health (emphasis mine). Meanwhile, researchers from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/bced2138-366b-448f-ab12-3c068199145a">Oxford just published a study</a> indicating a correlation between the two. I think even a high school student who was tweeting during science class knows the difference between correlation and causation.There is, too, a bit of common sense: Teens are not a monolithic group, and for some, social media and phones may be highly beneficial; for others, they might worsen anxiety and depression and potentially exacerbate eating disorders.While phones in school are a generally similar topic to the discussion of potential harms social media might bring to young people's mental health, they're really separate conversations — with different standards of proof and different solutions. And it's a conversation that most adults have come to the same common-sense conclusion on: Don't text and learn.

Most adults agree: Ban phones in schools. But that's the easy part — social media is the harder question.

Special Education, Inc.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>My daughter graduated from high school and didn't know what she wanted to do next.</li><li>We told her she didn't need to go straight to college, but she did need to do something productive.</li></ul>When my son <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/graduating-college-ceremony-high-school-pandemic-virtual-2024-5">graduated from high school</a>, it was a given that he would attend a four-year university. It seemed to suit him from the time any of us started thinking about his future plans.His sister graduated two years later, and her path <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/community-college-six-figure-tech-company-career-journey-2024-10">after high school</a> was not as obvious.She didn't know what she wanted to do, but she knew she didn't want to head straight into four more years of school. While she didn't rule college out completely, she also didn't know what she'd choose for a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/choosing-college-major-what-students-need-to-know-2023-11">college major</a> or what kind of career she wanted.Instead, she's taking her own path, and I couldn't be prouder.<h2 id="2991a5a4-19a4-4ce4-ad01-20bb5e8a357b">I've always tried to be supportive of my kids</h2>When <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/empty-nester-mom-regret-making-kids-whole-identity-2024-10">my kids</a> were little, it was easy for me to proudly say that I'd support them in whatever they wanted to do. It was so easy because it didn't occur to me just how many things they might do differently than I had.All of them hated swimming laps, so not one of my kids was going to be on the swim team like I had been. While I had always believed I'd encourage them to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-find-hobbies-connect-find-creativity-2023-6">follow their interests</a>, it was hard for me.Since I abandoned the swim team dream, I've had to let go of my assumptions about my kids several times. Each time, I'm surprised that it's a challenge. I don't think of myself as someone whose ego is wrapped up in her children, but sometimes, it catches me.And not going straight to college? Until <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/grandparents-moved-from-india-to-us-provide-free-childcare-2024-10">my daughter</a> brought it up, I hadn't thought one of the kids might consider it. I just sort of figured everyone would head straight there after high school.That's the fascinating part of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/child-free-marriage-anxiety-worry-regret-2024-9">having kids</a>, though, isn't it? They're not all the same, thank goodness. And they're not the same as I am, either (thank goodness again.) They've got their own ideas about things, and it's a thrill to see where those ideas take them.We ensured our daughter knew there was no requirement to go straight into more school. But we did expect her to do something productive. It could be work, it could be volunteering, or she'd have to help around the house. School wasn't mandatory, but the alternative couldn't be sitting around playing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-games-xbox-playstation-spider-man-movie-business-trouble-why-2024-2">video games</a> all day.<h2 id="d2dbd463-5b55-40b5-9f91-8c35a0d2ac88">She tried out a job that aligned with her potential major</h2>While she didn't like the pressure of deciding what to do for the rest of her life straight out of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/autistic-son-graduated-high-school-cant-go-to-college-2024-6">high school</a>, my daughter did have a few ideas for majors.One of them was teaching, so she's been working with elementary school-aged kids for the past year and a half. During the school year, she provides <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/childcare-daycare-cost-new-york-city-crisis-housing-2023-9">after-school care</a>, helps with homework, and supervises the kids. For two summers in a row, she's been a day camp counselor.Spending all this time with the kids has helped her to realize that she enjoys it. It's helped her narrow down her list of possible majors, and she's pretty sure she'll <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/career-change-less-money-more-rewarding-2024-10">pursue teaching</a>. If she'd hated it, that would be OK, too. I'd much rather she discover this wasn't for her now than after four years of school.<h2 id="fff3644c-6fd1-4f1d-a752-939a1eedf0be">She's had time to explore other interests, too</h2>Along with narrowing down her major, she's saved money from working and hasn't had to spend any yet on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/student-loans/how-to-pay-for-college">college expenses</a>. She's looking to buy a car, which she couldn't have afforded if she'd gone straight to college.She has also had quality time with lots of us in the family. She meets up with her younger brother during his lunch period on Fridays. She and I hike one morning a week. She stays up to hang out with her dad when the rest of us are fast asleep. She has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/one-on-one-time-children-mother-daughter-relationship-2023-11">one-on-one time</a> with us that she wouldn't get if she'd gone away to school.She also took her first solo airplane trip to visit her grandparents last fall. Beyond simply navigating the airport and hopping on a plane, she got to deal with a flight delay and eventual cancellation on the way home. It wasn't a fun experience but a valuable one that taught her to rely on herself and solve problems.My daughter still doesn't have any major plans for her future, but she's now looking at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saved-money-by-going-community-college-first-2023-10">community colleges</a> where she can get her general education out of the way before transferring to a university.The path she's taken so far isn't one that would have occurred to me. But I'm glad she recognized it was right for her. I'm excited to see what happens next.

You Searched For "School Education Quality Index" and got 8 results

GRAP Stage 4 restrictions take effect as air quality in Delhi deteriorates; PM2.5 levels 130 times higher than WHO limits

BI India Bureau

Pakistan shuts down schools as AQI becomes 3x worse than Delhi on Diwali

Ankush Banerjee

Wall Street tried getting into higher education. Disaster ensued.

Ryann Liebenthal

Gen Z turns to TikTok to find the perfect school. Some college students are cashing in.

Erin Liam

I moved from the US to Ireland 8 years ago. It's has drawbacks, but my quality of life is exceptional and my education was way cheaper.

Isabella Ambrosio

Most adults agree: Ban phones in schools. But that's the easy part — social media is the harder question.

Katie Notopoulos

Special Education, Inc.

Meghan Morris

My daughter decided not to go to college right after high school. I'm proud of her for exploring her interests first.

Laura Falin

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides