Adolescents and New Media

My nephew has become my "study subject" in that so much of what we study and discuss when talking about adolescent education I tend to tie back to him and his experiences in school. Like many adolescents, he has had successes and failures. I know that most people brag about the intelligence of their family, but he is also one of the smartest 13 year-olds I know-sometimes to his discredit.   Regardless of the fact that he is family, I utilized him and his experiences both in and out of school as the subject of the interview in this module.  His statement and what I learned was at parts surprising as well as what one may assume.  

When I asked him how much time he thought he spent daily utilizing modern media, he ball parked it at 1-2 hours. When I questioned that, I mentioned you have to consider all the time you spend on the internet, gaming, your phone, texting, checking messages, and social sites-everything, he thought long and hard about that and decided it was probably closer to 3 or 4 hours every day, maybe more.  Between classes, after school, evenings, waiting after extracurricular activities, he always had a connection to others, and was always using it when he reflected a bit more on it.

He directly stated that he communicates with his friends regularly via text.  When I was growing up, we used to write notes among friends, and pass them in the hall or in classes.  Today, this has evolved to teenagers having phones of their own and texting to each other both in and outside of class.  Very little communication is done by calling a friend anymore.  Hanging out is now a text, asking each other what is up or want to hang out; it is not calling to see if you want to come over.

Digital media seems to be a part of his life in so many ways-from availability of homework assignments online, to re-cap of lesson plans, to sports schedules and safety communications, media has started to govern his life.   In school, teachers are using the internet to make their lessons and assignment readily available to the students, as well as due dates and areas to communicate with the teachers.  Both students and parents have the ability to go online and track the progress of their children in specific classes, no longer having to wait for the mid marking period reports, or until notification is made to a parent for ongoing issues.  In addition to reporting, activities involving the internet, blogs, writing activities, and publishing to sites is readily available to students.   Some of the students dislike this, as they feel their every move is being watched, but at the same token, they use it as a tool to gauge their own progress, and address their work accordingly.    

While he certainly does use it for entertainment, but he also uses media for reference.  It isn’t all about games and fun, it is about informing and being informed. From the school related tasks to the social part of it, it has become the best way to inform of cancellation, get feedback from friends (sometimes family too).  While he is not much of an official blogger, commenting with his friends and actively posting assignments while creating dialogues in learning forums are requirements.