Week 10/11 - Adolescent Interview

For this task, I interviewed Alyssa Navos, a 12-year-old Brooklynite. Her answers were very interesting and were a little bit of an eye-opener for me.

For the first question, I asked her how she learned how to use the computer. She told me she learned simply by experimenting. This surprised me, because when I was an adolescent myself, my parents spent a lot of money to send me to a computer school during the summer to learn BASIC, WordPerfect, MS Word and Lotus 123. It just goes to show that the computer technology we have now is so much more user-friendly compared to 20 years ago. No need for classes!

Alyssa rated her computer skills as average, but believes she has more computer skills than her parents, which she attributes to her growing up in it. This shows us that there is indeed a "generation gap" if you may between the adults and the kids nowadays, with regards to technology. I personally know Allysa's mother, and she is not a novice to computers. She actually uses the computer everyday in her work as a nurse, and owns the latest smartphone. Imagine if Alyssa had a teacher who doesn't keep up with technology at all? She couldn't pinpoint though, who influences her online activity the most.

When asked how her life will be affected if she didn't have access to the Internet for a week, she replied that she will not be able to do her homework or any research. And if the lack of access stretched for a month, she wouldn't have access to news or whatever is going on in the big world. And she didn't know what she would do if she didn't have it for a year, and just said "Internet, come back!" Truly, the new generation is highly dependent on the Internet for a lot of things. For the latest news, I usually just turn the TV on. But this may be too "backward" for a young person like Alyssa.

She said she spent about 1 to 1.5 hours online. However when asked how much time she spends online for homework or research, she answered 2 to 3 hours. For entertainment purposes like music or video, she spends 1 to 2 hours online. Obviously, it doesn't add up, but I think she may not be able to judge accurately how much time she really spends online per day, and may be under-estimating it.

Alyssa, though young, is aware of the dangers of divulging personal information online and the risk of identity theft. She further said that one does not need to worry all the time if they're careful. Her parents do not allow her to post pictures of herself online. She has never bullied anybody nor experienced bullying online. She thinks that the Internet allows people to be more open in their opinion because there is less risk of criticism.

One very interesting information that Alyssa shared with me is that her school does not require the use of online books. I was sort of expecting the opposite. She said that she is a bookworm but prefers printed books. The online books are great, she said, however the light from the screen hurts her eyes after a while. And she prefers to hold and to flip the pages of a regular printed book. I agreed with her on this one, as there is something special about the smell and the feel of an actual book in your hand. There are some things that are just better in their traditional form.

Lastly, if she were a parent, she said she would allow online time depending on the child's behavior. She is a firm believer in technology and would encourage her children to use it. She believes going online will help with a lot of things and would not want her child to miss out on those.

Alyssa is a very smart girl and she gave me a clearer picture of how today's adolescents think. I think her generation is very lucky to have access to a lot of information ready at their fingertips. When you have a young population that is armed with information, and open to new ideas, you can expect great things. If Marshall McLuhan were still alive, he will be surely amazed that his predictions (the end of secrecy, transformation theory of communication, the end of monopoly of knowledge, etc.) have turned into reality. The next decade is going to be very exciting!