Virtual Reality

October 5, 2022

Failure to communicate: Disconnect in the 21st century

By Min Seo Riu

Min Seo Riu takes a digital pen to paper to consider how technology has influenced modern communication and relationships.

September 29, 2022

BeReal is the False Heir of Social Media and Casual Authenticity

By Melody Chen

Melody Chen contemplates BeReal's innate contradiction: a social media app claiming devotion to authenticity.

May 19, 2022

Big Brother and Black Boxes: Uncovering Human Bias in Automated Inventions

By Melody Chen

Melody Chen investigates the unforeseen, and often unnoticed, human biases that have wormed their way into today's AI.

May 5, 2022

No, I’m Not Mad At You.

By Talia Smith

Talia Smith examines the gendered emotional expression of exclamation points (or lack thereof).

April 7, 2022

I Have a Digital Bridge To Sell You

By Blake McQuilkin

Blake McQuilkin discusses the newest nonsense to grace our digital landscape: NFTs.

February 17, 2022

Black Beauty and Fashion Creators on Digital Platforms

By Robyn Violanda

Robyn Violanda explores the contributions and lack of recognition for Black content creators on social media platforms like TikTok.

January 27, 2022

Stories from Storke: Return to Virtual Learning

By Opinion Editor

The Opinion Staff reflects on another quarter of virtual learning.

November 8, 2021

Why Isn’t UCSB Verified on Instagram?

By Reese Coblentz

Reese Coblentz argues that verifying UC Santa Barbara on Instagram is more important than you might think.

October 21, 2021

Siri and Shopping Carts

By Toni Shindler-Ruberg

Toni Shindler-Ruberg unpacks the trend of gendered artificial intelligence and its implications of automatically conflating femininity with servitude.

October 7, 2021

Killing the “Final Girl”

By Katie Caracciolo

Katie Caracciolo explores the "Final Girl" trope in horror movies, delving into the past and recent representation of women in the genre.

September 30, 2021

The Death of Physical Media

By Min Seo Riu

Min Seo Riu unpacks the rise of streaming services and resulting decline of physical media.

August 1, 2021

Artificial Intelligence: The Terminator of Truth

By Brian Byrne

Brian Byrne explores some of the misconceptions about and true dangers of artificial intelligence.

June 25, 2021

Why Stream When You Can Use 123Movies?

By Christine Tu

Christine Tu expresses her frustration with the overabundance of less-than-ideal streaming services.

June 15, 2021

Argument in the Office: Social Media — Addiction or Activism?

By Nathan Lee, Liliana Ma

Nathan Lee and Liliana Ma scroll through the pros and cons of social media's widening virtual grasp.

April 28, 2021

The Most Disappointing Game of 2020 is Animal Crossing: New Horizons

By Christine Tu

Christine Tu discusses her frustration with Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

April 16, 2021

Frankenstein’s Monster Has Nothing On the Internet

By Kiana Perez-Granados

Kiana Perez-Granados unpacks the detrimental consequences of this era's scariest behemoth — the internet.