Chiropractor Dr. Luke Yoder said that technology has an impact on children in a negative way. One of the most prevalent ways is how technology is affecting children’s posture. 

“From a physiological standpoint, when you look down at your phone, for example, that is 60 pounds of pressure on your cervical spine,” Yoder said. 

This pressure can lead to long-term effects, with “text-neck” being one of them. 

“What that means is forward head posture and an increase in thoracic spine flexion, making a hump at the top of the upper back and a reverse-curve in their neck.” Yoder said

While technology is a large part of everyday life, Yoder said that parents need to recognize its role, and understand the effects that it can have on their children. 

“A good start is making parents aware that screen time is detrimental to their child’s health,” Yoder said. “Screens and technology are harming your kids in ways that you can’t even imagine.” 

By recognizing the harm that screen time and technology can have, Yoder believes that larger physiological issues can be avoided through monitored screen time during the developmental stages of children. 

Elementary schools, high schools, and even colleges and universities across the United States have taken on a technology-based learning approach, even in Grant County. While there are many benefits to this use of technology, there are also some dangers. 

Jordan Harmon, the mother of an eighth grader at Oak Hill Elementary School, recognizes just how much screen time her child is being exposed to on a daily basis. 

“It has definitely overtaken,” Harmon said. “Book, paper, pencil, everything is transmitted online.”

Harmon explains that on top of the screen time at school, at-home screen time needs factored into the equation as well. 

“Even though they’re interacting with electronics all day at school, they’re then coming home and then just being interactive with it all night long as well,” Harmon said. 

Allison Troyer, an Indiana Wesleyan University student, is doing a student-teaching practicum at Northview Elementary School. Troyer said that there has been an increase in the use of technology in the classrooms at Northview. 

“A lot of my friends’ classrooms are on iPads literally all day long,” Troyer said. 

Troyer explains that technology has replaced a lot of the traditional classroom activities, such as reading and writing. 

“There is this app called Epic, and Epic reads the books to you so you don’t even have physical books in some classrooms, they just listen to the stories or read the stories online,” Troyer said. 

Traditional standardized testing has even made the shift towards the digital realm, as well as the in-class games and activities that students participate in during the school day. 

“Everything that they do, at least in the spring, is prep for i-Ready and ILEARN, so they’re on their iPads doing practice,” Troyer said. “They also do games on their iPads instead of games in class with their classmates.” 

As technology continues to play a large role in education, parents and teachers’ understanding of its impact can play a big role in the physical health and development of a child.

Men, women, and children from different walks of life came together to present the Easter story to thousands of people. The story is presented in six scenes, and takes the audience from Marion to Jerusalem, where they experience joy, suffering, trial, sorrow, and then finally an outburst of praise.

This performance is a huge community effort, and it takes all hands on deck to make the show run smoothly while conveying one of the most important stories in the Bible.

A big factor in this production is that all of the cast and crew members are to remain anonymous.

One stage crew member said that this event is important in today’s culture.

“This is important for waking up the world to what is coming and what is going on,” he said. “We have to reach out and let the world know that the way out is through Jesus Christ.”

The actor who portrayed Jesus, who is also to remain anonymous, said that he believes the pageant is equally as important for people to see.

“The re-telling of the life of Christ and what He sacrificed is important for us to tell,” he said. “Culturally, it is a dark time where people do not have a lot of hope, and He is the light in that darkness.”

This actor explained that there is a lot of time and effort on behalf of the cast and crew that goes into making this performance come to life.

“We start acting in January, and the younger kids and the dancers start even before that,” he said. “It takes a village to pull this off, and we definitely have a village.”

As the show has no dialogue, it relies heavily on music to move the scenes along. The scenes are guided by the singing of the choir and performing of the orchestra.

Indiana Wesleyan University’s Chorale and Wind Ensemble teams make up a part of this choir, and play an important role in the story.

A member of the Wind Ensemble shared that this was a powerful experience to be a part of.

“I enjoyed participating in this event,” she said. “Watching the gospel message creatively unfold was a powerful and meaningful experience, and I definitely felt closer to God during this performance.”

She said that the outcome of the show was a great success, and that she would recommend it to anyone who is interested and willing to come.

“The shows provide a unique and beautiful perspective of the gospel message. I know I was moved by this experience, and it helped me to reflect more deeply on the significance of the Easter story,” she said.

The New Marion Easter Pageant is always searching for people to participate in future pageants. For more information, or to become a cast or crew member in the future, visit www.easterpageant.com

Indiana Wesleyan University student Jadyn Mucher said that this is a well-known concept throughout the school. She said that chances are, if you head home for Christmas break, someone within your friend group will come back engaged.

“I think over winter break I saw a total of eight engagements within the span of two days,” Mucher said.

Mucher also said that she has seen a lot of engagements right before or during the spring semesters at IWU.

“Spring leads into the summer and then the fall, which is when most college weddings take place; so engagements in the spring makes sense time-wise,” Mucher said.

Allison Perkins, a student at IWU, is engaged and preparing to be married this upcoming summer. She said that one of the attractions to getting married in college are the benefits that come along with it.

“Financial-aid wise, there are a ton of benefits,” Perkins said. “So, when people know that they want to get married eventually, they go ahead anyways to be able to save more money.”

Perkins said that one of the things that come along with a spring engagement is the backlash from friends at other colleges where this is not as common of an occurrence.

“People from other schools tend to be so confused by the fact that over half of my friends and I are engaged,” Perkins said.

Perkins said that IWU makes marriage very possible, however, since it is so common.

“Things such as the marriage housing on campus make it very affordable, while still providing that college-experience,” Perkins said.

People outside of the universities are catching onto this as well. Kay Jewelry employee Ashley Glaser says that college students coming into the store to purchase an engagement ring is more than common this time of year.

“We get a lot of people in general, due to the sales that we have in the winter and spring, but a really high percentage of those people are college students,” Glaser said. “It is really common that when someone comes in for a ring during this time of year, they are in college.”

It is not often that people turn down a bargain, and college students are one of the first to take a business up on any sale that they have. Glaser said that the Christmas and Valentines seasons offer the biggest sales of the year, which could play a role in these engagements.

“The sales we have going on are what make the more financially-conscious customers come in for rings, and college students are some of the most financially aware people there are,” Glaser said.