Adolescent Interview

 

I interviewed my eleven (11) year old niece Kayla.  She is a 6th grader in middle school in East Flatbush Brooklyn, NY. Kayla visits me often and at times I feel as if she uses me for my gadgets.  As soon as she walks through the door she says hey auntie and heads for the first electronic device she can get her hands on.  Yesterday during a celebratory lunch (98% average on report card), I asked her what's her fascination with technology?  Why she spends so much time on the internet and instagram.  She stated that she needed to stay in the now.  She said that she researches stuff for her hw (don’t believe her because some way some how she always ends up on YouTube), gets to see new dance moves and chat with her friends. 

My niece doesn’t own a pc, tablet or laptop – so she is constantly on her cellphone. Her cellphone is monitored by me (I installed spyware) so my sister and I are able to track what she does. She's 11….I was 11 once…she cant be trusted. She stated that if she had a tablet she would read books on them. She is proficient with all technology – she takes photos and video wherever we go. She said she just uses Instagram for photos, to comment on her friends pictures – it’s a tiny snapshot of her friends lives when they aren’t available (can you believe her). She is not allowed to have a Facebook account.  She has seen her classmates get bullied, fights started from the comments people have made on Facebook.  She said she isn't interested.

Her school doesn’t offer computer classes for 6th graders so she doesn’t use any technology at school.  She sees it in the classrooms because her teachers have used smart boards and laptops for presentations.  Nothing surprised me with this interview – she said she's 11 and she's not satisfied if she doesn’t go on the internet – at 11 she allowed to say what satisfies her and what doesn’t. Luckily for her, all of my devices have a browser specially designed for her – if she wanders off to a website that isn't child friendly the gadget barks…she keeps saying something's wrong with my stuff…I keep telling her I will look into it .