For this journal entry, I interviewed my, male, 17-year-old cousin. He is a junior in High School and spent the totality of his freshman year online, and was bounced between virtual schooling and in-person schooling during his sophomore year. What surprised me the most was how open he was to talk about how much he is using social media and its impact on his life. I was also surprised when he told me that it doesn’t affect his self-image because he is a very “on trend” dressing guy, an athlete, and a person of color, so I assumed he would have put more weight on what the internet says about how he looks than he says it does. With how much time he spends on extra-curriculars I’m not surprised by his screen time being 5.5 hours, I would like to know what the screen time of someone not involved in after-school activities looks like, and compare their answers to the same questions.
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How often do you use your phone, computer, or some other form of technology in a day?
“Every day I use my school laptop and my iPhone. The majority of my screen time comes from my iPhone though, with a weekly average of around 5 and a half hours daily, and an added hour from school laptop screen time.”
Do you think technology has had a good or bad impact on your life and why?
“I believe technology as a whole does positively impact my life. It helps me connect with friends, family, teachers, etc. Technology also positively impacts my school environment as it helps me save files and view grades much easier.”
Does it affect your self-image?
“Technology itself does not affect my self your self-image, social media does though. Social media, although fun at times, is often one of the most degrading things you can view. it constantly makes you compare yourself to others and makes non-important things, such as followers, important to you.”
Are people your age more attached to technology or others?
“In my own social life, my close friends are more attached to others compared to technology. on the other hand, My own family is more attached to technology than others.”
What was the hardest part of virtual learning?
“The hardest part of virtual learning was my hours of screen time, disconnecting from my social life, and the learning curve which came from being unable to learn in person.”
What was the nicest thing about virtual learning?
“The nicest thing about virtual learning was that getting work done became much easier. All assignments were always right on my school laptop.”
How much of your schoolwork is online now?
“I would say the majority of our work is done on the laptop, around 95%.”
Tristen,
ReplyDeleteIt's so interesting reading your interview as I also interviewed a 17 year old male high school athlete. His answers were similar in his awareness of the impact of social media on his life, and in how much total screen time he has per day. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that my interviewee had views of technology that aligned with my own after engaging with the course material. I feel as if it is oftentimes easy to make assumptions about the younger generation and their reliance on technology, when in actuality they are perfectly aware of it's impacts both positive and negative.
Tristen,
ReplyDeleteJust like you I interviewed my male cousin who is a high school athlete too. I was surprised with some of the answers my interviewee had because he comes off as a school and sport focused individual. I was not expecting all these hours of video games or being on his phone. He does have awareness on social media and how it can effect people. I was defiantly surprised when he even said that social media effect his decision making. I wonder if that will keep happening as technology advances and new social media platforms appear.
Tristen,
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting to consider the way that people around this age view technology versus people in older generations. I think it is great that younger generations are being brought up during to time of social media and are aware of how dangerous and degrading it can be. Those even just a few years older than your cousin might have had to learn that lesson the hard way, as social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat were just being introduced a little over 10 years ago. I also asked my interviewee a similar question about screen time, to which the answer was about the same. Despite the seemingly high screen times per day, it doesn't seem to bother students of this age - I guess that is just what they're used to. For me, I dread seeing a screen time notification that tells me the ridiculous amount of time that I am on my phone everyday.