Activity: Digital Teens

What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

Guidance, mentorship, and opportunity by the older generation who know the boundless opportunities in which technology can be used 

In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

When I was a teenager it was the rise of social media, which actually caused a lot of detriment to development and self esteem. Likes and friend count was more important than genuine connection and self esteem was derived from quantity. It was however useful to keep in touch as a group, make events, and long distance friends. I did still use the landline to call my friends every night until the age of 15 years old, and we continued to Skype when she moved to Dunedin to do her degree. 

1. Suzy Cox suggests that we can help adolescents use technology more consciously by teaching them to be mindful and intentional about their online habits, rather than just limiting screen time.

2. As a teenager, I found technology useful for learning, staying connected with friends, and exploring new interests. However, I sometimes struggled with distractions, comparing myself to others online, and spending too much time on social media.

Talk to teenagers and show them how to use technology to create, build, enquire and research.

We didn't have technology as a teenager except TV.  I learnt how to use a computer and mobile phone when I was an adult.

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

Teach them how to use it to create and learn, and also teach them how to disconnect and build relationships.

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

Technology was not a huge part of my life in my teens. Smartphones didn't exist, I did have a cellphone, with which I connected with my friends through and also an email. We had a computer too, which I sometimes played games on. Im pretty glad I didnt have social media in my teens.

She suggests that we, as adults should step back from controlling technology use and focus on modellling and guiding adolescents instead. 

I was the last of my peers to get a phone when I was 14. I bought it myself and paid to top it up with my pocket money too. 

It was useful in some ways. I was able to keep in contact with my parents better. 

It did become distracting during classes and at bedtime though. I would message my boyfriend and friends when i should have been learning and resting.

One way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use tech more consciously is to mentor them on the greater uses of tech, such as creating apps or solving social problems, rather than just using it for entertainment.  She encourages adults to learn with their adolescents if they don't know how to do this.

We didn't even have internet and only the very first ms dos computers were around when I was an adolescent!

1.  By using it for more than just entertainment, being a role model for them and doing that ourselves and also teaching them that it can be used for so much more! (eg. website development, creative ventures, researching, stock market, etc.)

2. I found it useful for learning how to do makeup! Also, a way to connect with my peers in school. Well, I was the first generation of smartphones; I had no supervision on social media and the internet from the age of 11. As you can imagine, that led to some problems with online bullying and having access to apps like Kik and Omegle, which were a hub for groomers/paedophiles.  

1. Suzy suggests that adolescents should use technology for more than just entertainment. They can use it to boost creativity, invent new things, and advocate for social causes by making videos or TikToks. It also helps improve communication and develop apps, just like Zuckerberg did with Facebook. Technology offers a chance to explore the world and discover where they fit in. With a blank canvas, it can inspire ideas to solve the world’s biggest problems. However, balancing technology use and life is the biggest challenge. The question is, where is the balance? The phrase "disconnect to connect" perfectly captures this idea.

2. When I was a teenager, technology meant a remote control for the TV. Now, as an older adult, my biggest challenge is keeping up with constantly changing technology—upgrades, new apps, and finding the ones that fit my needs effectively.

Suzy Cox suggests modeling the balance between technology use and real world experience. Of us personally engaging with them one-on-one and teaching them how to use technology for things beyond entertainment. Using technology as a tool of creativity, creation or scientific inquiry.

When I was using Technologies as teenager it was a mess! We had computer classes but limited access to the internet until I was in high school.  Social media was an online tool for people you knew. For strengthening existing connections. 

Those formative social media years did prove to be challenging as it's applied new ways of inclusion and exclusion. Myspace top five slots and custom Bebo profiles we're all new areas of social competence and competition.

She talked about teenagers using technology to be creative, develop apps. The teenagers who have created websites have built business's have been mentored by adults on how to do this.

Problems I had with technology as a teenager, as my parents and adults around me didn't know how to use tech and had the same mindset as Suzy mentioned, that I shouldn't be on it. I didn't have a mentor. Even after i watched this i need to change me mindset and be a mentor to my kids about how to use technology and not just for social media and entertainment 

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

Role modelling and encouraging our youth to use technology as a learning platform

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

Technology for me as a teenager looked a lot different. It was pressing buttons on a tape deck or listening to a portable CD player, clipped to my hip with headphones.

For me now, technology has become a big part of my life. I rely on my phone to send me reminders and notifications of important dates or things to do; it's my one and only channel of communication with my loved ones and a form of instant information and entertainment. I have, in the past, noticed that I would spend too much time on it, then feel like I was constantly at everyone else's fingertips, I was making myself available 24/7 and that in itself took a toll on my well-being. However, learning from this, I learnt to monitor my time and set some really healthy boundaries with it, creating an unofficial schedule starting with adapting more of an old school wired telephone mentality, limiting my entertainment uses to certain days and times of the week and only using it for educational purposes all other times.

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By modelling a conscious and balanced use ourselves. By engaging in tech for learning and creativity rather than for entertainment and passive "relaxation", then guiding and mentoring our kids into this use.

I didn't have to deal with social media and smart phones as a teenager in the 90s. I spend a lot of time on a landline phone, used a video8 handycam for creative expression and made mix tapes on cassettes... 

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future? 

We can start by identifying the interests of our children, then look to support and guide them with this passion.  And if we are unsure, we can learn alongside our child. 

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

As a teenager, the most useful items of technology that I owned was a calculator, I loved it!  Now that technology entwined in our lives, I resent it.  I resent the way we no longer interact as we did, or the way that we rely on it to such a huge extent. Yes there are huge benefits, but socially I wish that it was a smaller part of our lives.  

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future? By using technology for purposes other than social media. Using it more creatively for good with guidance from adults in fields they are interested in. 

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology? When I was a teenager, we had very limited technology. Our household had a TV and a landline. I guess one problem was communication wasn't instantaneous. If you had to tell multiple friends something, you would have to call one after the other and hope no one had their phone off the hook.

Help them learn how to use the technology for more than just social media and stop criticising them

It was cool having computers to help with study and you can make heaps of stuff, creatively. It was definitely challenging to put down I was already bad at going to sleep so I would be up til sunrise on the internet just looking at crap for a very long time. 

Suzy Cox suggests that we can help adolescents with the use of technology by getting off our own technology and engaging in a conversation with them. Talk to them about things they are interested in.

adult mentors, guiding them through solving problems with technology. Giving them the opportunity to engage and learn new skills. and most importantly stop criticising them

technology was useful to contact caregivers after sports or being with friends on weekends. having some independence and communicating with my friends while at home. It became challenging when I experienced online bullying for the first time on an anonymous website or when my phone would be removed as a consequence for other things

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1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?
Instead of criticizing teenagers because we don’t understand their technology use, it’s better to try to understand their stage of learning and encourage them to use technology in positive and constructive ways.

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?
Technology became a powerful tool for learning and creating more than ever before. The technology itself isn’t the problem—it’s how we use it and for what purpose. Overuse can lead to addiction and affect other important parts of life, so it’s important to balance its use to bring out the positive outcomes. 

I used technology to talk to more varied kinds of people online and play games. It was less accepted when i was young and it was considered kind of weird, especially for a girl.It helped me learn alot more about the world though and the multitudes of different kinds of people and perspectives there are. There were definite down sides though, with the exposure of people came the exposure of less good things a bit of a de-sensitization too it as well.

Professor Suzy Cox suggests teaching teens to use technology thoughtfully, not just mindlessly. As a teenager. I found it useful for learning and staying in touch with friends, but it was also distracting and sometimes stressful because of social media. 

1- Suzy Cox suggests we should actually sit and talk to adolescents about technology and the positive ways it can be used such as making healthy, impactful changes to society, such as using technology to explore climate change. 

2- I really did not use a lot of technology as a teenager, I remember having a cell phone to text at age 13 but you could not text all day like you can now as it cost around 20 cents a text! I remember using the computer to download music and burn CDS but I was not really into talking online ect. So I did not appear to have any problems with technology and I feel as though today I am still really good at not letting social media or technology consume me, again I probably mostly use my phone for basic communication and music. 

What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

Guidance and opportunity- by allowing to see the full potential 

In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

I naturally leaned more towards technology usage because it was the solution to everything. In my high school years technology was vastly used in all areas of learning which prompted young minds to participate more actively rather than using pen and paper. I haven't had issues any issues when it comes to using technology because it was presented to me from a young age in school.

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future? To use it purposefully so it developed learning and creativity. 

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology? I did not grow up much around technologies. We got internet when I was 17 and I never used it because I didn't understand the sense of it. Waiting too long to be connected and then I didn't know what to do in the www. I had my first computer with age 22 when I studied and just had word to type my assignments. I started to use it later in adulthood much more. When I moved to Namibia age 23, I used internet to email my family and friends. That was it really..

The further away we get from the adolescent years, the easier it becomes to lose understanding of what it is like to be in that age group - the stressors, the anxiety, the formation of identity. Suzy encourages us to recognise the greatness of young minds, and how with guidance and support around social media, they can flourish and add so much value to the world. She gently challenges us to draw the boundaries of social media, and what connected and disconnected means, the importance of putting the phone down and engaging in conversation together, and how the internet can be a tool used for educational purposes, of furthering your thinking and understanding of the world, not just a source of entertainment. She stresses it's no longer enough to sit in a space of ignorance with technology - it's a part of our lives and its usage is only growing. Rather we should take the time to learn alongside adolescents, because at this rate, the effects of social media on young minds is damning.

I struggled both then and now with social media addiction. Along with this came comparison. These are huge issues that youth are facing, and without parental support and boundaries put in place at an early age, this can be a difficult thing to shake. 

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

By modeling a technology life balance. By using technology to engage in learning and higher order thinking, and if we cannot, as adults, do this ourselves then to learn together alongside our teens.

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

Coming from a low economic background I didn't have a lot of access to technology until I left home and bought it myself. This did leave me slightly disadvantaged compared to some of my peers, especially when I got to university and others had skills that I had to take the extra time to learn.

1. What is one way Suzy Cox suggests we can help adolescents use technology more consciously in the future?

Creatively, by mentoring, modelling balance.

2. In what ways did you find technology useful as a teenager? What problems or challenges did you have with technology?

I found it useful as it opened up new ways for communication, problems were it started to created worry and antisipation if someone took a while, didn't repond or offended in response.