Lily - 14

Lily, 14

Media Consumption: 6hrs/day on weekdays, 10hrs/day on the weekend

Favorite Media/Technology: Instagram


How do you and your family interact with media/technology?

My parents and I use media to interact with each other every day. Most nights, we watch TV together after dinner. I also text them occasionally during the day, but usually only when one of us has a question for the other. My parents don’t interact with me on social media because they don’t really use it. My mom just monitors my social media posts and comments to make sure everything is appropriate. Sometimes my parents get mad at me for being on my phone too much, but I don’t think I’m on it too much. Plus, my dad is always on his iPad while we watch TV at night, so it’s unfair that they get mad at me for always using devices when they do it too. We try not to use our phones during dinner because it’s usually the first time of day we’re all together and we like to talk about our days with each other.

How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?

My peers and I interact with media in a variety of ways, including text, social media, and Facetime. I’m constantly snapchatting all of my closest friends throughout the day. We do this every day so we have streaks—my highest streak right now is 1018 days in a row. We also enjoy sending each other funny posts on TikTok or Twitter. At night, I’ll facetime my friends who are in the same classes as me and we’ll do our homework together or talk about school. A lot of the time I hang out with my friends so we have something to post on social media. We go to cool places nearby to go on photoshoots to get cool pictures to post on Instagram.

What do you use media for?

I use media for a wide variety of purposes that range from entertainment to education. Most of my time spent using media is talking with my friends. At every point in the day, we’re either texting, facetiming, or snapchatting. One of my favorite things to do is Facetime my best friend after one of us goes shopping. We’ll give each other “hauls” of what we bought, just like influencers do on YouTube. I also use media to help me with school. I’ll use it to look up information that can help me with my homework, or to talk with friends about class assignments. During my free time, I’ll watch YouTube or Netflix to stay entertained, but I don’t get a lot of time to do this unless it’s the weekend.

What is your favorite/east favorite thing about media/technology?

My favorite thing about my phone is that I can talk to my friends all the time. I can always see what they’re doing and share what I’m doing with them so we never miss out on parts of each other’s lives. However, always knowing what my friends are doing also leads to my least favorite thing about media: getting FOMO. When I see a bunch of my friends hanging out and I can’t go, I get upset and always wish I could be with my friends instead of where I actually am.

Interviewed By:

Jessica Helfond

UCLA 2nd Year Student

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