The following is an interview I conducted with my 15 year old cousin. She is interested in going to college for design and fashion. She actively participates in school functions. She plays on the volleyball team and she is in chorus, select chorus, and show choir. She also is on stage crew for the school musical.
While conducting the interview, I found it interesting that she thinks she spends only 3-4 hours using technology a day. She says that they use laptops in almost every class and that she is required to use the Internet for homework. So I wonder what she constitutes as technology. I also thought it was funny that she thought of Facebook as an app before thinking of it as a website. When I first used Facebook, it was not an app at all and only available via the Internet as a website. The times have changed rather quickly.
It also felt like I could have been interviewing myself, she does her research on a product before even going into a store and pretty much only goes into the store to test the product before making a purchase and rarely going to get information on it.
She is very wise, too, when it comes to the benefits and implications of using social media. She realizes that it can be used as a great tool as well as the fact that it can be misused easily.
What really surprised me during the interview was her opinions on technology in school. She is definitely not a huge fan of using the laptops in the classroom. She made it clear that she values having the teacher to have conversation with or just to absorb information from them. She didn't have suggestions on how to use technology in a more beneficial way. This was strange for me because I work in a technology based school. It made me wonder if my students don't value the education that they get from the technology as much as they would if I were to use direct instruction, or if I were to have conversation with them about it. She made it seem like the relationship with her teachers is absent due to the constant use of technology within the classroom.
Internet Use:
11.
How much time a day do you use technology?
3-4 hours,
a lot at school
22.
How much time do you watch TV daily?
An hour or
two, not much
33.
What sites do you visit most often on the
Internet?
Google classroom,
newsela
44.
What apps do you use most on your phone?
Instagram,
Facebook, and Snapchat
55.
If you had to choose between a tablet and TV
what would you choose?
Tablet because
you can do more with it.
Technology/Devices:
11.
Do you research devices before you purchase
them? What do you look for when researching?
Yes, I
mostly look at the reviews and if people have it, what their opinions are about
it, the price or the best place to buy it, I like to look at the “specs”, does
it have a good camera and a good battery? But I really want to read the personal
reviews to see if it’s something I will want.
22.
Would you buy a new phone/tablet/laptop without
experiencing it first in a store or from a friend?
No, people
can lie in reviews. But I also want to get a feel for it or make my own personal
opinion about it before I get it.
Social Media/Communication:
11.
Do you ever feel like your parents are
distracted by social media?
Wait, my
parents? No. (laughs)
22.
Do you ever think your parents think that you’re
distracted by social media?
Yes.
33.
How do you communicate most with your friends?
Snapchat
44.
Do you think social media/phones have an effect
on teens ability to by empathetic? Have a face-to-face conversation?
Yes social
media makes it easy to judge someone based on pictures and shared images/links.
People make assumptions through about people they don’t know through social
media.
People don’t
know how to talk in person anymore they would rather text or tweet.
55.
Do you think there are benefits of not having a
face-to-face conversation?
I think
there is a benefit to being able to wait to respond during a conversation.
You can think
about the discussion before responding. I think it is really good for people
with anxiety.
66.
What benefits do you think social media will
have on your future? College/Job? What implications?
I think you
can see what other people’s ideas are. You are able to see around the world at
what other people are doing and get ideas from them. You can get ideas from
anyone which is very influential.
In response to implications:
It’s a short
route to cheating. Instead of looking for ideas, people are taking people’s
ideas and using them as their own. Social media could get in the way of getting
jobs or meeting people. It seems like people have no imagination and that they can’t
think for themselves with is not a good thing.
77.
Do you think privacy is an issue with social
media?
Yes, there
is not a lot of privacy. I can find out anything about anybody by searching
them. But I keep things private on social media to avoid that.
88.
Do you think there should be an age limit for
cell phones? Social media?
Yes. They have
to be mature about it first.
How old do you think they should be
before they have access?
13 – 14 years
old, that’s how old I was. I think they should earn their parent’s respect
first, like I had to do.
School:
11.
Do you have teachers who allow you to use your
phone in class? What do you use it for?
Yes. Look up
simple things for projects. Get ideas for projects, research, get in touch with
my parents if I need to by texting them.
22.
Do you have teacher who do not allow you to use
your phone in class? Do you still use it?
Yes. No, because
I give them respect. If they ask me not to use it in their room, I respect that
because they must have a reason.
33.
Do other students use their phone in those classes?
Others do
and probably social media or fool around. I don’t understand why though. Their
friends are usually in the same class and they will still be texting people in
other classes.
44.
Do you use any technology during your school
day? What?
Laptops for
the whole day. Everything we do is on them.
55.
Do you feel like your teachers utilize
technology to its fullest potential?
Kind of, I
feel like with the laptops you lose the learning ability. Sometimes you want
people to talk you through how to do something instead of figuring it out on
the computer. You miss the face-to-face conversation.
66.
How can your teachers use technology more effectively
in the classroom?
Don’t know
in what ways but I wish it wasn’t on the computer. I don’t actually talk to the
teacher anymore. It’s hard learning new things without the teacher and in new
ways.
77.
Do you feel like you remember more by reading a
book, or reading on a screen?
Book.
88.
Do you use Internet for homework? Is it a
requirement? What happens if someone doesn’t have Internet at home?
Yes I use
it and yes it is a requirement.
If they don’t
have Internet at home they have to stay after school. It would be useless to
take it home.
