Mini Presentation

Adolescent Interview

For my adolescent interview I interviewed my sixteen year old nephew Collin. Below are my questions and his answers to those questions:

Adolescent Interview:

(My nephew Collin who is 16 years old)

1. Me: Are there any social media sites or other websites that you visit on a daily basis?

        Collin: Yes I use Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and YouTube daily.

2. Me: About how many hours a day do you spend on the internet?

Collin: Probably around 4 to 5 hours.

3. Me: When you are on the internet, what type of information are you looking for or reading about?

Collin: If I’m at school on my Chromebook usually I just look for information for classwork. But usually I am just looking for funny things like family drama.

4. Me: What kinds of technological devices (cell phone, iPod's, iPad's, Xbox, etc.) would you say you use on a daily, or almost daily, basis?

Collin: I use my phone, Chromebook, and PS3 daily.

         

5. Me: Throughout your school day, what types of technological devices do you and your teachers use during class? (Such as laptops, Kindles, iPad's, computers, SmartBoards, etc.)

Collin: At school we usually use our Chromebooks that the school gave us, but many of our teachers use SmartBoards or computers hooked up to TVs.

6. Me: During class, are you allowed to have cellphones, iPad's, iPod's, etc.? If not, what kind of punishment would occur if you were caught with one?

Collin: In my school It’s up to the teacher if we are allowed to keep them on us, but i they don’t we have to put them in cubbys by the door.

7. Me: Are you ever required to use the internet for homework assignments? If so, what does your teacher do for the students who do not have internet at home?

Collin: We have to use the internet in a lot of classes, and if someone doesn’t have access to internet at home they will either get a written assignment or more time to do it at school.

8. Me: Do you ever use the internet to communicate with friends? If so, then how do you communicate with them online?

Collin: I usually use Snapchat to talk to my friends.

9. Me: Do you ever worry about the internet being a risk to your privacy? Why or why not?

Collin: Not really because I try to never post or share personal information.

10. Me: If you were to lose your cell phone, what type of reaction would you have? How would you feel without it?

Collin: I would probably be pretty angry at first but I’d get over it, and I would feel bored.

        After reading through this interview several times I found some answers that surprised me. I suspected that when I asked my nephew how many hours a day he spent on the internet that he would say at least two. However, his answer surprised me. He spends at least four to five hours a day on the internet. This amount was much higher than I expected. I know that teenagers spend a lot of time on the internet but I did not realize how significant of an amount of time they truly spend. One response I was pleasantly surprised by was the use of technology and the internet throughout his school day. I was very pleased to hear that he has access to Chromebooks throughout his school day. This is not something my students have access to so I found it interesting and feel it must be very beneficial to the students. I am not sure what to think about some teachers allowing their students to keep their cell phones and other devices on them throughout class. I am curious as to how this affects the students focus and learning. I know that through personal experience it has always distracted me from the lesson and my surroundings if I have it during class. It would be interesting to speak with the teachers that allow students to have their phones and hear their reasoning's and experiences with the devices. I thought that my nephew would spend an equal or lesser amount of time on the  internet as me. I feel that I spend a significant amount of time each day on the internet. The fact that he spends a great deal more time on the internet per day than me really made me realize what a substantial part in plays in their every day lives. It showed me that the internet is an essential part of his every day whether it be in school or at home, or in his academic and social life. 

       One answer that did not surprise me was when he stated he would be very bored  and angry if he was to forget his phone at home. I could relate to these feelings. Whenever I have forgotten my phone I was very anxious and would reach for it when I was bored. When I realized I didn't have it to distract me I became more anxious and annoyed. I learned that these feelings do not just occur for people in their 20's but it also happens to young adults. This showed me how much our society depends on the internet and technological devices to keep us connected and entertained at all times. Another thing I learned was how much technology is incorporated into every day school activities. It seems that it is crucial for the learning and development of students throughout today's society. Instead of using books to help them with their assignments students are now solely depending on the internet to assist them. 

    I really enjoyed this interview because it showed me how much technology and the internet in school has changed the every day routine. Although we had limited access when I was in high school, the students in today's society are dependent on the internet for their academic success. It was very interesting to learn about the different types of technology the teachers implement into their lessons. Another thing I found interesting was that many of the social media sites my nephew visits on a daily basis were the same ones I tend to visit on a daily basis. Although we are about fifteen years apart we do still have similarities with our use of technology and the internet. It seems that as the years go on our society becomes more and more dependent on these technologies and the internet.

Advertisement Deconstruction

It is common knowledge that many advertisements are very controversial for the ways they portray certain groups of people or for the products they are advertising to their targeted audience. For example, cigarette companies are often ridiculed for targeting teens and young adults with their advertisements. However, it was not until I deconstructed a popular beer commercial that I realized how many stereotypes existed in this commercial. Prior to deconstructing this commercial I never really thought twice about the advertisement or the stereotypes it was showing. For this advertisement in particular it showed many stereotypes of women. In the commercial it seemed that the sole purpose of the women was to be around the man. Whenever they were around him they were laughing and enjoying themselves. All of the women were thin, beautiful and dressed very elegantly. It gave the notion that the sole purpose of these women was to please the man and cater to him. It was as if the women wanted nothing more then to spend as much time with him as possible. The man was portrayed as a strong, masculine, charismatic and mysterious person. It was very obvious that this was the reason that the women were so attracted to him.

It was very frustrating to see that this sexism is still so apparent in every day advertisements. These are commercials on national television that are seen by millions of men, women, teenagers, and children. These types of messages continue to embed messages of sexism into our society. It also shows our children and young adults that men are only attracted to young, skinny, beautiful and elegantly dressed women and that their sole purpose is to gain the attention of a desirable man. These are dangerous messages that we are portraying to our young generation of girls. Although these advertisements appear in new forms of media it seems that they continue to show stereotypes in harmful and damaging ways.

An Acoustic World

Throughout Marshal McLuhan's video of "Living in an Acoustic World", there were many times that I felt a bit lost and confused. What I gathered from the video was that McLuhan did not agree with the way our society is developing and continuously changing. At the end of his video he states that, "Americans came to this continent to subdue nature, fast and furious. They tamed it, they subdued it, they crushed it. They turned it into the enemy." I was a bit confused by this statement. Did McLuhan mean that technological developments, such as cellphones, internet and computers, were created as a way for us to subdue nature? If that is the case, then does McLuhan oppose these new advances in our society? I think I struggled with understanding his point of view because this video was dated back forty or more years ago. His point of view may be more clear to me if I was to hear it in terms of today's society.

Another part of McLuhan's speech that made me think he is not in favor of these technological advancements was when he discussed the "end of secrecy." From his speech I understood this to be him thinking this was a negative. I agree with him that the creation of these new technologies does end secrecy. However, in many cases I do not think this is a negative. In the case of government and politics I do not think there should be secrets from the citizens of the country. With secrets being harder to keep we are not left in the dark about as many issues and situations as we were prior to these advancements. In today's society, when people join social media they are giving up a piece of their lives to the public. In my opinion, they opted to end their secrecy to a certain extent. Many people put their entire lives on social media through posts, videos or pictures. However, this was their own decision. It was their personal choice to give that information to the public and to have it no longer be private. People who would like to keep their lives more private tend to not post on social media or do not participate in social media altogether.

I would be very interested to hear McLuhan's point of view of society in today's technologically advanced world. What does he think of new media? Does he think this has a positive or negative impact on our society? It was difficult to relate to what he was saying during his videos because it was during a time that I was not yet born. I do not know the changes that were occurring in our society at that time and how many people felt about those changes. I would also enjoy hearing his thoughts on bringing technology into the classroom. Did anyone get a different message or idea from McLuhan's video? I would love to hear different perspectives. Again, I was confused through parts of it and could have missed some key information!


McLuhan, Marshal. Living in an Acoustic World.
http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/lecture/1970-living-in-an-acoustic-world/