I conducted an interview with Chris who is age 15 lives in Indian Harbour Beach Florida and a freshman in high school. Chris is an avid skate boarder and basketball player on his school team.
Below are the questions I asked him via e-mail, our original plan to meet via face time didn't work out since he was on spring break and visiting his Dad.
Chris uses an iphone as his main electronic source. He states that he is only on social media for about 15 minutes a day, and uses snapchat and instagram. He is an avid watcher of you tube videos on skating and basketball and likes to shop on RageOn and Adidas. He does play video games but not the games I expected he plays NBA2k15, Robot unicorn attack 2 (which I had never heard of). his younger 11 year old brother is an avid World of Warcraft player and I thought Chris maybe of been playing that game too.
In school Chris is in honors classes, he states that the Internet is used in Marketing and a World History Honors class which are two of the 7 classes he takes in his high school. He uses the internet rather than the library to do research and prefers ebooks; "eBooks because it's easier to get to the information you need faster than regular books. You can also save information from eBooks to print out and make copies of. " He does not use blogs in his classes nor does he follow any blogs. He will begin to start to study for the SAT soon and said he will prefer to prepare online for this exam. When asked if he feels that he could be distracted when doing research on the internet he stated " Yes, but I can move around them efficiently."
Chris said that he does post photos and other personal information to social media via his iphone. He said that he mostly posts about skating and other athletic activities. He doesn't accept friend requests from people he doesn't know. He is aware of the dangers of social media and his parents have spoken to him regarding internet safety. He is familiar with the term cyber bulling but has not been effected by it. He only shares his passwords with his parents. One thing that concerned me is that he isn't concerned about any internet privacy issues.
When asked about his personal relationships I was happy to learn that he feels more comfortable with physical relationships than those online. He shares his online interests with his friends in the physical space but again enjoys being with people more than being online. When asked how he would feel if for 30 days he would have no access to the internet his response was "I would be fine, I can go without it." That was not the answer I was expecting to be honest but I'm happy to know he feels like that.
Chris is an exceptional kid, I have been friends with his mom over 20 years and watched him grow up. I'm usually on the mom side of the conversation learning from her his likes and dislikes. His parents do a wonderful job keeping him and his brother engaged in family activities especially living in Florida they are able to enjoy the weather year round. They are a family who surfs, rock climbs, skateboards and camps together and has dinner as a family and my friend stated that at night internet usage by both children is monitored and done in the same room as the parents. I'm sure that I may have learned a bit more if I wasn't his mom's friend and he maybe telling me what he thinks I may want to hear but I do know that as a family they are committed to "family time" and I think that and his interest in sports keeps him more engaged in offline relationships.
Sounds like you were able to get some great information from him. I like that he still values personal relationships - and recognizes the difference.I think everything in balance is key. My son plays video games online as well but he would not turn down the opportunity to spend time with friends or family to continue playing. I think that is so important. I like to see kids understanding and recognizing the efficiencies that the Internet affords them. As they go through life, embracing technology will be critical for them. I definitely see the need for them adapting. The one area that still scares me is the sharing of pictures and personal information online. You never know who is seeing it, collecting it, asking, etc and they are not always aware enough to consider the implications.
ReplyDeleteNice job!
Cathy
I agree with you!! Chris is the son of one of my best and longest friends. It's been great to watch him grow and to be honest now with my own little one I'm still learning from his mom about the pitfalls of technology and how to deal with your own fears and anxiety about your kid being plugged into social media. But the reality is that technology will be a part of these kids lives.
ReplyDeleteChery - this sounds like the most wonderful child on the planet! I have to say, I too had a few interviews like this, where the kids were so well adjusted (go you parents!). Sadly, the majority of students I interviewed (because I cast a wide net over my entire class) were practically addicted to the Internet - and they became shaky and scared at the mere thought of being alone with other kids, teachers, parents.
ReplyDeleteI have an 8 month old daughter now, but I hope to raise her like this kid you interviewed, because I want her to be will adjusted, and not some unbalanced adolescent with a void in their soul that typically gets filled not with family and friends and books, but in cyberspace, where they can get lost for hours, or days, and when they unplug, they look just as haggard and disheveled as if they were on some drug binge.