ENG 307 Workshop Podcast Intro Outro music

The podcast project is about the use of technology in children's homes and the use of rhetoric in the classroom. The speakers discuss the positive and negative aspects of technology in children's lives, including social media's impact on mental health. They also talk about the importance of teaching children how to use technology responsibly. The speakers mention that technology played a crucial role in learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, but also highlight the potential disadvantages for lower-income families who may not have access to reliable internet or devices. They share their opinions on the extent to which technology should be used in the classroom and discuss their own experiences with technology. They also touch on the topic of whether children should have iPads and share their personal perspectives on the matter. Okay, hey class! So this is going to be our project podcast. My name is Aleah, I am Mina, and I'm Sean. For our podcast project, we're going to be talking about the use of technology in children's homes. And later on, we'll discuss the use of rhetoric in the classroom. Alright, so let's just dive right into it. Okay, so we've all been talking about technology, because obviously in our class and stuff. We talked about it in our last Tuesday class, but what do you guys think, personally? Do you guys think that teachers should be teaching using technology, or to what extent? What do you guys think? Honestly, I feel like the use of technology in children can have its positives, but it also definitely has its negatives. Because in the same sense, children can be more adaptive and hands-on with online learning. But at the same time, there's a lot of negative aspects that come alongside using technology. Yeah, I definitely agree. I thought about the concerns as well, for the children, because they're not mature enough to control themselves. Because the reason we should avoid to let them become kind of submissive to any content from digital media, is because, what I've just said, they're not mature enough to have their own identity and also values. I see what you mean. I definitely think how social media and stuff can play into that. Some kids have Instagram and TikTok. Everyone has TikTok. So I definitely see how you said some of them aren't mature enough to know their own identity. Because there have been studies that have shown that social media is really bad on people's mental health. And like you said, kids should be mature when they are using social media and stuff. On the other hand, I also thought it applies to all of us as well. Not only the children, because the way that digital media attracts people is in a very unconscious way. It is really hard to realize that we're being attracted to it in a certain way, even for adults. I don't think it's a problem for only children. It's kind of a general concern. That's true. Back on the topic of technology being used in school, I feel like it definitely had its place. And we saw that during COVID. Without the use of technology and learning, we could have never gotten over that hurdle. Oh yeah. What would we do? I don't even know what we would do. That's true, yeah. I guess maybe we would just be on the break if there were no zooms and stuff. But at the same time, with all those kids staying home being on technology all day, how did that affect them as well? I was definitely on technology every day. But the thing about it is, I feel like it's not as bad for our minds as it is for developing young minds. That's true. I feel like it also shapes their mindsets too. But I also feel like technology can definitely be beneficial to classroom students. I feel like when I think about one of the more fun classes that I had when I was back in high school, it always involves Kahoot. I swear in all my classes I talk about Kahoot. I love Kahoot. I feel like it really does help students engage more in class. But at the same time, I can also hinder it. Because if there's a laptop in front of you and the teacher is having a boring lesson, then you're kind of like, oh let me play 2048. Or like the Snake Games. I've done it. I think everyone's done it at one point. You can speak on the relevancy of this, but an article published in 2020 said that it interrupted their sleep, memory, reading ability, concentration, and the ability to communicate in person. As well as having anxiety symptoms when children were away from their cell phones. And I really feel like regardless of it being a 2020 study or not, it still applies to children today. And if not, probably worse with TikTok and Instagram Reels and everything. YouTube Reels or YouTube Shorts. Yeah, we really need to come up with some ideas on how the children can control themselves or help them to use the technology in a very healthy way. I definitely agree. Like everything, honestly, there's always the good and the bad. But especially with children, they don't really know yet what's a good... They're still distinguishing between good and bad. So I feel like as adults and stuff, we kind of have to set the example. Well, to be honest, my dad, he's on Facebook. I mean, in a way, I feel like it does kind of sound hypocritical. Because I'm not going to lie, I'm on my phone a lot too. If I'm not in class, if I'm at home, I'm scrolling on TikTok or Instagram and stuff. So I mean, it is hard, but I feel like it's important to acknowledge that it's not always the healthiest option. From your point, what I want to bring up is how teachers can teach them from the basic of digital media to the end, I guess. Because in order to help the students to control themselves from that kind of discrimination of digital media, they have to know why they should avoid that temptation. What it costs and what kind of bad effect they can experience from that. Yeah, I feel like there's just definitely an under-realization of how bad spending so much time online can be, especially for children. Yeah, I feel like it's just so normalized now. To what extent do you guys think technology should be used in the classroom and stuff? I think there should be a happy medium. I feel like there should be hands-on things. And there can be some activities that keep them on their toes, keep them engaged. But to what extent or at what age do you guys think teachers can even use technology with kids? I honestly feel like if technology is not a necessity to get the work done, then it shouldn't have to be used. I don't think we should just use technology just for the sake of using technology. I agree. Let's say a kindergartener. You don't want them to learn how to write a letter A or spell using a laptop. You have to write it out. I definitely think it depends on the curriculum, too. In some instances, I guess if we're in college and we're typing a thousand-word essay, obviously I think using a laptop is better, but it's definitely situational, I feel like. Over the summer, I worked for a grade school, and every single classroom from kindergarten to fifth grade had iPads and or laptops, and most of the time, both. That's crazy. And that's the larger one they're learning. What I can see from that situation is I feel like the whole community tries to teach them how to use technology very early because now, without technology, we can't really do much things. That's true. I think they just try to help them to be used to it. I totally see that, too, because in my education class, we were talking about how teachers should use it. They were kind of boring, teachers using technology, because if we don't, in a way, it'll hinder students' abilities. You know how adults—I gave the example in class when my auntie and them were scammed and stuff, but because they weren't used to the technology. If teachers don't use any technology whatsoever, then the student won't really be aware or understand it because they weren't taught it. You definitely got to show them a little bit, but not too much, but to a way where you don't hinder their abilities. Technology definitely has its place as a tool in learning, but at the same time, is there any disadvantage in comparison to lower-income families and moderate-income families in terms of using technology? I definitely knew a couple friends back in middle school. I grew up in Southern California and a couple cities down where I went to high school at. I definitely knew a couple friends out there that were underprivileged and didn't have a lot of money, couldn't afford Wi-Fi, so they had to do schoolwork at school on campus. I feel like it's kind of a disadvantaged system in a sense sometimes with the lower class. That is really another critical problem. I can always just go home and do my homework whenever because I have Wi-Fi, but they're spending all this extra time at school. I definitely think it does. I feel like it could even isolate students too because people know, right? So then it kind of isolates them. I would feel like it could bring them down too because they're like, oh, they got all of this and I can't. I remember during the pandemic time, they did give laptops. I don't know if you guys remember. They did give away, like if you applied to have this form or something, the school would provide a laptop for you to use. I think that's good. It does help the situation a little bit, but I do see how there's Wi-Fi. Is the school going to give you Wi-Fi? That's the thing too. It's cool that my high school is in an underprivileged neighborhood because the laptop I use right now was provided from my high school. It was a smaller school and they even provided portable hotspots to all the students because it was underprivileged there. At least I feel like it's good that the schools are acknowledging that. It is a privilege to have technology and stuff because that's it. I mean, that is not the key. Sorry, what was it? I said a bad word. Maybe you should bleep it. That would be funny. That would be funny. Sorry, professor. You can add the sound effect. That's funny. The creative mind. Technology is not cheap. The second question was should children be seeing? Oh, I know. I know what question. This is a random question. When you guys have children, or if you guys have children, or let's say hypothetically you guys get children in the future, would you let them have an iPad? No. No? No. I've always thought about this question. I think I want to say yes, but at least for me, I would. Honestly, realistically, I feel like I would give them the privilege of it if I do have the money for it. But I would say I would have ground rules for it because family time and spending time is super important to me. One of the rules that I 100% will go on is that you cannot have any screens at the table because that's our time. I think in a way, I just feel like they can have it to a certain extent. They are going to familiarize themselves with it, but I don't think I'm going to give it to them when they're in kindergarten or something. You've got to think, a lot of these app developers or researchers, they study children. They know what gets them, what makes them tick. You can't get them to just sit there and scroll forever and want to buy this and want to have this. I think that's really a critical point because the developers know how to control all the basic psychology of people. That's why it's so easy to get attracted to something for us. Before we use all this kind of stuff, we should be aware of what we are watching, what we are reading. How influential do you think technology is on children or even us nowadays? It influences the way you dress, the way you think. That's a good question. I feel like, what is it called? I feel like what you like, they kind of know what you like. If you search up something, I use tampons or something, tampon brands, then there might be ads for tampons or something. Sorry, Sean. Sorry for that. No, it's a way of life. I'm going back to TikTok because it's honestly the app that I use the most. It's kind of an addiction. I feel like the things that you like will pop up more. I feel like it kind of is a confirmation bias in a way too. I'm going to get political for a second. I feel like if you are more on the, I don't even know left or right, but let's just say left. If you are more on the left and you like stuff that is confirming what you believe, then obviously more things are going to have more people just like you confirming your bias. It kind of feeds into your beliefs. Sometimes they may even push you even more to the left. Do you know what I mean? I feel like with social media, it is very high and cold too. It's like you're either here or you're here. I feel like a lot of the times people do influence what you think. What are the trends? How are people dressing? What are the terms? The more you watch it, I feel like the more you do it. I feel like I'm kind of guilty of it too. I say like, oh period. Because I watch it all the time and I see people do it all the time. Okay, but how different is that from somebody growing up in the 90s or the early 2000s reading magazines or watching MTV? The difference between all the TV or magazines and also the digital media we see is that the TV programs or magazines are what we choose. About the social media stuff, once we open it, it shows us a video that we didn't choose. We don't have to put extra effort to find what we like, what we want to see. If you open YouTube, it just directly shows you a video and you just watch it. So that's why I'm saying digital media or social media can make us really submissive. I think to go off of that too, information spreads within a second too. So a lot of things get out there a lot faster than if it was through magazines and stuff. Yeah, that was a good conversation guys. Okay guys, thank you guys for listening. Even though you didn't have a choice to our project podcast. My name is Aleah. I'm Yujeong. I'm Sean. And thank you guys for listening. We love you guys and you'll listen to us in our How We Edited This. Bye! How We Edited This