Make money while spending

by Mackenzie Creasman

Did you know you can make money from shopping? I know that seems impossible, but with Fetch, it’s not. Fetch is a free app that rewards the users points for simply scanning receipts.

You can scan any receipt that you have from within the past 14 days, and it must include the date, price, and store. All you have to do is press the camera button on the bottom of the homepage and take a picture of the receipt. The points you accumulate can be redeemed for gift cards from many brands like Amazon and Ulta.

I was skeptical of Fetch at first because I wondered what they were doing with the receipts. However, anyone who is suspicious of the app or thinks it is a scam can rest assured. According to research and finance experts, the app is safe and reliable.

On Fetch’s blog, you can find out how they make their money and how important user safety is to them. They have a cybersecurity team who shields user data from potential threats. Fetch does sell your data; for example, where you shop is shared with advertisers, but the data is anonymous and protected. Also, the data is only used to monitor wide-scale shopping behavior trends. In addition, data is commonly used and sold on most websites and apps, including social media. It’s honestly refreshing to know that Fetch cares about your data.

Fetch also makes money from their partnership with big brands as they promote the brands and products on their apps by offering more points for buying those brands/products.

Fetch has over 13 million users. One of these users is Michael Timmermann, a personal finance expert who shares his advice on michaelsaves.com.

“Since I first downloaded the Fetch app (formerly Fetch Rewards) in January 2018 and started uploading my grocery receipts every week, I’ve redeemed my points for more than $1,000 in Amazon gift cards,” he says.

So far this month, I have gotten one $10 Amazon gift card, and I am about to receive another. I have introduced my entire family to this app, and they all love it. You get points for joining, and there are many other opportunities for rewards; sometimes, Fetch gives daily rewards that occur every 24 hours, which allow you to spin a wheel and collect points.

Fetch has been nothing but amazing and helpful since it’s convenient and makes shopping feel rewarding. Who doesn’t want to get paid for buying things?

Defined by experts at Brown University, perfectionism is “a set of self-defeating thoughts and behaviors aimed at reaching excessively high unrealistic goals.” They also say: “Perfectionism is often mistakenly seen in our society as desirable or even necessary for success.”

Parental figures can also have an impact on the desire to be flawless. The gut-wrenching feeling of failure and making mistakes affects numerous teens when they feel their work is not perfect. The desire for approval from their guardians motivates many to go above and beyond, in an attempt to pursue excellence.

Being in a new environment this year, freshman Caroline Easler speaks about what causes her feelings of perfectionism “Teachers and peers encourage my feelings of perfectionism because I feel like I have to do as well as they think I am going to do,” she says.

There are many ways you can strive for greatness in a healthy way, like setting realistic goals which is important because they are achievable, therefore success is more likely guaranteed. Perectionism is seen in gifted students more so than others because they are expected to exceed the average, and when they don’t, the urge to try harder affects them personally.

Many students get overstimulated from not perfecting their work and don’t know how to calm down. “To get calmed down I take a step back from my work and focus attention on something else then come back to it with a positive mindset” says Paityn Tumblin (‘24).

When making mistakes, many people, especially teens, feel embarrassed or guilty in some way, avoiding those feelings often develops a perfectionist. Perfectionism is also associated with anxiety and linked to other mental concerns.

“To students who struggle with perfectionism, I want to stress that they need to give themselves some grace, says Principal Chris Chandler. “At the end of the day, if they worked hard and did their best then that is all that anyone can ask of them. There is also value in learning from failure because we don’t always get it right, but those lessons when I have failed have stuck with me more than others.”

Sooner or later everyone is most likely going to experience imperfectection but when the time comes, being prepared and giving yourself credit for doing the best you can is ultimately what keeps those feelings to a minimum.

Rewatching something familar makes people feel good

by Amaris Arroyave

Are you still watching? It's late at night, and the question pops up on your brightly lit screen. More often than not, people get caught up in the show-binging abyss. What makes this abyss more unfathomable and puzzling is when someone goes back to watch episodes of a show they’ve already seen back to back.

Whether someone misses their favorite characters or wants easy-tofollow content by putting on a familiar show, rewatching shows is not only common, but also healthier than you might expect.

People were rewatching shows even before the pandemic began. However, during and since COVID-19 caused shut downs and quarantine, the number of people who have replayed shows has increased. In an article published in June 2021 by Jennifer Fayard, an Associate Professor of Psychology at Ouachita Baptist University, many people had been rewatching familiar TV shows rather than new shows within the last fifteen months, these months include the height of the pandemic and its aftermath. Because the pandemic was a time of uncertainty, people watched “comfort” shows. Something we’ve already seen holds a sense of normalcy and familiarity for viewers; hence the increase in people rewatching their favorite shows.

"There was never a lot to do, or a good way to spend the time," said Sia Dighade ('24). "Watching shows was entertaining, something I desperately needed during quarantine, when we couldn;t fo anywhere or do anything. It was like an escape"

Studies show that people might lean towards rewatching a show versus starting a new one due to an increased cognitive load, which refers to the quantity of stress placed on the working memory. The material from a previously seen show has already been retained, so seeing it again would not add to the cognitive load.

TV shows already provide a great way for people to unwind. When stressed and overloaded people can fall back on familiar shows–they are restorative.

“I think rewatching TV shows can be good sometimes,” said Madden Bessant ('24). “It’s nice to sit back and watch something familiar…it might bring you back to certain good times you wish to relive”

TV shows enhance feelings of belonging. Humans have the natural tendency to find belonging in groups of people, and TV shows make it that much easier for people to feel like they fit in, such as fitting in to that cast of characters.

“When I was a kid whenever I saw a character like Elmo I would feel happy and excited, like he was talking to me,” said Melody Allen ('25) “I felt like I belonged and we were best friends.”

People tend to build parasocial relationships with characters. Relationships that are one-sided in which one person extends a type of energy, such as emotional energy, to a person or fictional character who does not reciprocate that energy or does not even know the other exists. Parasocial relationships have more benefits than you might expect. For instance, they can inspire and even encourage viewers. A fictional character from a TV show has the potential to be whatever the viewer needs them to be in their life, such as a comedic relief. So, a person has more incentive to watch a show, especially one already seen before with characters that are familiar so as to relive that relationship.

Rewatching shows proves beneficial as it restores the soul and gives people familiar content that becomes a comfort. Replaying shows is a common phenomenon that makes people feel good.

So go ahead. Keep watching.