Jason, 18
Media Consumption: a lot, probably more than 6 hours a day
Favorite Media/Technology: smartphone
How do you and your family interact with media/technology?
Generally, media makes up a very important part of my life, it allows me to be connected to people, no matter where they are. I’ve been able to hold friendships with people who moved across the world. My family uses media all the time such as WhatsApp as it allows us to interact with each other all over the world easily and quickly. Therefore it's really important to us.
How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?
Generally, Snapchat is a very common medium of conversation among peers, phone numbers are outdated and Snapchat allows you to interact with others without giving personal information.
What do you use media for?
A plethora of things. I use media to keep myself occupied, I can read about cool things on the Internet. Media is really cool.
What is your favorite/least favorite thing about media/technology?
My favorite thing is how expansive it is. you can play games, buy things from Amazon, and other cool features specific to phones. But I don't like that you are encapsulated by a phone’s limitations to normal interaction as they lead me to use my phone when I’m bored in a random place rather than find something to do such as talk to others or observe the environment.
What are your thoughts on media and privacy?
It's obvious that social media isn’t cheap to run and ads aren’t their only profit model, to be a user of social media you need to recognize that your data is being taken and sold.
What is one thing you want the people who create the media you like to watch/play/to interact with to know?
I wish they were more transparent with where our data is joining but I know that’s very unlikely to happen.
What media do you interact with the most?
In a general sense, Snapchat is for conversation as it's really easy to use and talk to people on.
Where do you get most of your information about what’s happening in the world (e.g., news, internet, parents, etc.)?
With various forms of websites, I like to stay informed and know what I’m talking about. I start by looking at news stories I see on Instagram or Snapchat then delve deeper by going to real news websites such as the New York Times to get the full picture.
What media helps you stay busy/stay calm during challenging times?
Anything that I can find, video games, shows, YouTube videos. A wide range of stuff.
What lessons have you learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenging times?
We can be really complacent with our lives and accept the world due to media. If this pandemic happened 30 years ago I think people would have gone crazy as they wouldn’t have any way to interact with others. Social media and tech allowed us to interact with others in safe ways during the pandemic.
Have you learned anything about how you use media and technology because of the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenging times?
I became more reliant on media and I think many of us began relying on it as well and used it instead of a creative outlet. The pandemic kinda exposed how much of our lives are reliant on this technology.
Interviewed by: Joshua Mehrdad, UCLA student