Wolf, 13

Media Consumption: ~8 hours a day

Favorite Media/ Technology: Snapchat

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

We don’t use it as a family ever. Whenever we are just together we don’t use our phones. We pay more attention to each other. Except when we are watching TV because we are watching together.

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

We mainly use it for jokes. We talk all the time about everything, and we also use it for helping each other do our homework.

What do you use media for?

People are constantly snapping you, I am constantly snapping everyone, and you can see everyone's locations. I can tell when my friends are lying to me or when my sister is lying to me because I can see where she actually is.

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

It gets really annoying when everyone wants to talk to me. My phone is always receiving Snapchats from everyone, and I never get a break. Sometimes I just really do not want to talk to anyone.

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

Not really anything. What would I want to tell them? I don't know.

What media do you interact with the most?

I think Snapchat, but also YouTube. I am constantly using Snapchat all day but when I get home I like to use YouTube for gaming videos.

Where do you get most of your information about what’s happening in the world?

My parents and my teachers. We always talk about what is happening whenever we watch the news together, and in class they tell us bigger important things.

What media helps you stay busy/calm during challenges?

Sometimes when I am stressed I go on YouTube instead of doing my homework, but then it makes me more stressed. I like to not be on my phone when I am busy, that helps me stay calm.

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

I got my iPhone right before the pandemic so it was pretty awesome and I was able to have stuff to do while staying at home. Family is important though. We spent a lot of time together at home all the time. It was good we all had phones to avoid each other when needed.”

Interviewed by: Marjorie Gray, UCLA student

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

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

Eliza, 14

Average screen time: 8 hours/day on phone; estimated 1 hour of TV

Favorite media/technology: Snapchat

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

We use family group chats, which I love. It’s a fun place where we can talk when we’re all doing different things. We send pictures, GIFs, life updates, and news articles. I Snapchat my siblings, but they don’t always respond to me. My parents don’t use social media.

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

I Facetime my friends a lot and sometimes we Snapchat while we Facetime. Or play iMessage games. We don’t text over iMessage that much anymore; we do it over Snapchat. That’s really the way that we text now.

What do you use media for?

I’m almost always using it to communicate with friends; that’s really the only reason. I text on Snapchat a lot. Sometimes I share posts with my friends on Instagram, but I’m not on Instagram as much. My friends and I also send TikToks to each other -- funny stuff, but also cool places we see online that we want to go to.

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

I feel very connected to my friends; we don’t even need each other’s phone numbers any more, we can just add each other on different apps and communicate with each other in so many different ways. I like how each platform gives me a different feeling -- Snapchat makes me feel grounded, Instagram gives me inspiration, and TikTok makes me feel creative. My least favorite thing is that you can track people. I might tell someone I’m busy, but if they see my Snapchat score went up, they’ll confront me about being on Snapchat. But I was really busy, it’s just so easy to send Snapchats. I don’t like that people think you’re always available.

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

I want to see more Asian creators on social media than what I see now. I feel like I see a lot of white, skinny, rich creators. For example, on TikTok I always see the D’Amelio’s, who are typical Connecticut, private school, privileged, preppy girls.

What media are you using more now because of COVID-19?

Snapchat. I get to have one-on-one conversations, and I get so many Snaps, almost constant. It’s a little weird, but I feel like I’m connected to the world and not isolated in my house.

Where do you get most of your information to learn more about COVID?

Family. I don’t really get news from social media. Or I try to look at reliable sources like the New York Times or the Washington Post or CNN.

What media has been helping you stay busy/calm during this difficult time?

Snapchat. Being connected to my friends calms me down. It’s just my mom and I in my house, so my screen time has exploded.

Have you learned anything about how you use media and technology because of COVID?

I feel like I’ve learned to share and respect other people’s opinions about COVID. I’ve learned how other people are taking it, like when people say it’s a hoax. This is definitely the first time I’ve been part of a political-type conversation on social media.

Interview conducted by: Claudia Morris, UCLA rising 4th Year Student