Emma, 10

Media Consumption: 3 hours a day

Favorite Media/Technology: Tik Tok

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

My family and I watch movies together, share cool videos with each other, and listen to music together. We also have rules in our home for using technology which is no usage before brushing our teeth in the morning or after brushing them at night, no usage at the dining table, and no usage before all of our homework is done.

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

We make music videos together, watch TikToks together and learn the dances from them, send each other funny Snapchats with filters, and FaceTime to do our homework together.

What do you use media for?

I use media to interact with my friends when I am not with them, to listen to music and watch TikToks and TikTok dances, to send videos to my friends and family, to learn about new trends, and to work on homework with my friends.

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

My favorite thing about media/technology is that I can talk to my friends and my parents even when I am not with them. My least favorite thing about media/technology is that sometimes I feel like there are too many trends to follow and if I don’t follow them fast then I am not as cool as the people who do.

What is one thing you want the people who create the media you like to watch/play/to interact with to know?

I think that the people who create media like TikTok should make sure all of their information is correct when people post things because a lot of the time people post videos and pictures that are not true and it can confuse a lot of people.

What media do you interact with the most?

I probably use TikTok and Snapchat the most because I love watching videos and I also love sending funny Snapchats with filters to my friends.

Where do you get most of your information about what’s happening in the world (e.g., news, internet, parents, etc.)?

I get most of my information about the world from my parents. I see a lot of information on TikTok but I always ask my parents to make sure that it is true because I know a lot of the time not everything is true.

What media helps you stay busy/stay calm during challenging times?

I like watching TV or movies to stay calm because it makes me laugh and forget that things are hard or challenging like COVID was when I couldn’t see any of my friends.

What lessons have you learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenging times?

A lesson that I learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that it is important to stay in touch with people especially when you can’t see them because sometimes people can feel like you don’t care about them. I felt like when my friends didn’t talk to me that we were not friends anymore so I think it is important.

Have you learned anything about how you use media and technology because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenging times?

I learned that when there is nothing else to do a lot of people use too much media and technology because they are bored. My brother Liam played video games for so many hours and my parents didn’t like it but he always said there was nothing else for him to do and he was bored.

Interviewed by: Maya Luzon, UCLA student