Growing Up Online, Hosted by Learning Lab Kids

Think kids are glued to their phones with no understanding of the risks of being online? Think again.

As part of our Creators and Changemakers Week, Aleeya, Piper, Gunnar, Reagan and Rhys share their favorite creators, debate the pros and cons of today's digital world and offer thoughtful perspectives on what kids should know about navigating life online. On our first student-created and hosted podcast episode, these kids shared examples and perspectives.

Listen to this week's episode of Let's Get Personal, and hear real talk about social media right from the subject matter experts' mouths.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Hi, let's get personal audience. This is Kristen. This week we are going to be sharing our first student-hosted and student created podcast. We had a group of elementary and middle school students in for our creators and changemakers camp, and they hosted a discussion about digital literacy and social media. We always have so much to learn from students, and I think you'll find their insights really valuable. So I hope you'll stick around and listen to our kids talk this week on Let's Get Personal.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Hi everyone. Welcome to Let's Get Personal, real talk about reimagining education, Learning Lab Wichita's podcast. My name is Aaliyah and I am 11 years old. I go to Sunflower Elementary and I like to do art and politics. I'm here at Creators and Changemakers Camp at the lab.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Hi, I'm Piper. Hi, I'm Reagan and I am 11 years old. Hi, I'm Louise and I'm 11 years old.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

We are here today to talk about technology and social media and its effect on young people. First, let's talk about which social media networks we use and how much. What networks do you guys use and how often are you on social media?

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Um, I'm usually on YouTube, but not on social media. Same. I'm on YouTube too, but I don't have like TikTok or Instagram or Facebook and nothing like that. Um mostly on YouTube.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yeah, me too. I like YouTube, but um, yeah, I'm on YouTube. What is your favorite social media app right now and watch? YouTube. YouTube for me also. What do you guys think are some of the benefits of using social media?

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Um, you get to share your your interests with the world. Um, you get to like like if friends they have a account like on YouTube or something, they can send you a video that they thought was really funny. And it's kind of like you can bond with uh your friends even if you're not at home.

SPEAKER_06 2:36

Um it can help you with different things from like sports to like educational stuff.

SPEAKER_04 2:45

It can help you well, I already said it can help you share your interests. What about the drawbacks? Drawbacks is that if you get bad comments, you try to do it again, and then you just keep getting depressed over the bad comments and keep uh keep uh over drag keep overcompensating every little thing. So like my mom won't let me have an account because uh social media if you have an account and you're posting videos, people can make really mean comments and it can make you depressed and it can make you like compare yourself, which isn't good for people at that at a young age. So I can't like make any videos or so I guess I could consider that as a drawback.

SPEAKER_06 3:35

Yeah. What about you, Reese? Um, pretty much the same thing. It can make people uh sad and feel uncomfortable about themselves.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Do you think social media should be regulated?

SPEAKER_04 3:46

Like do you? Absolutely, 100%. Only good comments are allowed on social media. If there's any bad comments and they detect as bad comments, they should be deleted immediately. I agree. Yeah, I would agree with Piper, like if there are bad comments, like they should be able, like when you send a comment, it doesn't it like uh have the person's account of who sent that comment? And if it does, like they should be able to like get on that person's account and like send them a warning, like uh stop sending mean comments to this person and yada yada.

unknown 4:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Should our parents sh like should our parents or the social media sites put limits on what kids can access or what we can see?

SPEAKER_04 4:37

Uh yeah, 100%. 100%. Because uh, you know, it's dangerous. They should limit it to like if you're below thirteen, you're only allowed on kids.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Like, should it be our parents or the social media sites?

SPEAKER_04 4:53

It should be our parents because they decide things for us. I think they should have like regulations on like for kids. Like they should make like a kid's Instagram like they have a YouTube kids and like a regular YouTube. But like on like Instagram for kids, they could the parents can make like limits, like a time limit, or like they can block the comments so the kids don't see the comments that they get. And like they can't send any any comments to a video that they saw.

SPEAKER_06 5:30

Um I agree with that because um I think that parents should put limits on what we can what we should see on social media because uh some of it's like not appropriate.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Me too. I think both because they should have restrictions very much, but our parents should also our parents are also our parents and it's their responsibility to look after us. Why do we all think this?

SPEAKER_04 5:59

Because our parents raised us.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

And why do you think there should be regulations?

SPEAKER_04 6:04

Because we should uh we should grow normally, like uh have a good development in our brain. Yeah. Reagan, why do you think there should be regulations? Because it can make a bad influence on your like experience with Instagram and then it could make you feel uncomfortable when you get on other apps. So you might because you might not trust everybody on the app.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

And why do you think? Um because there's some stuff that we're not supposed to be seeing at the age that we're at, so I I think because um, as I said, our parents are it's their responsibility to look after us, but also they should have regulations because, well, it's their app. And I mean if I were them, I wouldn't want to get sued. But that's just my personal opinion. How much do you guys think are how much do you guys think that kids our age should be on our phones or iPads?

SPEAKER_04 7:07

Uh I think that they should be a little bit older to about 17 because in shot Australia they don't allow their kids until they're 17 to have phones for good development.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

Yeah, but like how much do you how much time do you think they should be on it?

SPEAKER_04 7:23

Only about like one hour. Uh so my mom basically she has a time limit set on my phone for like if it's YouTube I only have like 30 minutes on it, and then like if I stay on it for the whole 30 minutes, I only have 30 minutes on all the other apps that I have. And like if you want to get a phone at like 13, it's fine, but like if I was your parent, I would set regulations on it. Like I would set limits.

SPEAKER_03 7:55

And do you agree with your mom's uh r limits?

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Most of the time, like sometimes I might get angry, uh, because uh she gives me like a low amount of time on it, and I don't know. Because half the time I'm outside doing sports and I don't really I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 8:19

Um I think that we should have like a limit to how much uh time we should be on our phones. Uh I think we should have like 45 minutes for um.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

I think that I I agree with that. I agree with Piper's one hour, but my parents they make me do chores to earn screen time and whatever screen I want to use my screen time on, I can. But I mostly use my iPad. What do you think about schools banning cell phones? Is this a good or bad thing?

SPEAKER_04 8:56

This is a good thing because well, it's a good and bad thing. Good thing. Good part is you don't have to get distracted by your phone. Bad thing is if there's an emergency, you can't call your parents to take you home. Well, my mom, like, she has a set time limit on like apps, but texting, like, there's a limit where I can text my friends, or but there's not a limit where I can text my mom or my dad.

SPEAKER_06 9:22

I think schools, I don't think they should have band schools. I mean band phones because uh you need your phones in emergencies and to contact uh your guardian.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Why not just use the school phone?

SPEAKER_03 9:38

I mean, I get use the school phone, but like what if someone is already using the school phone or you have this really mean teacher? I think that it should be where you just it's a policy that you have to set your uh devices in school mode or work mode or whatever, you know, instead of banning the device itself. If your phone disappeared for a week, what would you miss most?

SPEAKER_04 10:11

The cute animal videos. Cute animal videos and being able to text and call my friends.

SPEAKER_06 10:18

Oh yeah, probably not being able to contact friends.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

I don't have a phone, so I'm just going to imagine it's my iPad. And I would mostly miss being able to play games on it, because it's mostly what I do.

unknown 10:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

What's one thing adults don't understand about kids in technology?

SPEAKER_04 10:43

Is that uh it gives us joy and like some of us, aka me, want to be entertained all the time, or else we'll get bored and we hate boredom. That's what they don't understand. Yeah, like they'll tell us to get off of our phones and go touch scratch or anything, and they're just sitting on their phones while while they while they tell us to do it.

SPEAKER_06 11:07

They're hypocrites. That's so good. Um I think that they don't understand that there's not only bad on uh social media, there's also some good that social media can do to us.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

I feel as though um they uh yes, they're on their phones while we're while we're not allowed to be on our devices, but also I feel as though they always say that it's good to be bored or boredom's okay for you. But boredom makes me feel more moods than just bored. And those moods are like I don't like them because they're not the prettiest. They're not good moods for me.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

Hold on.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Okay, I think it what how do you know when you need a screen break?

SPEAKER_04 12:02

When you're really tired and you're you have a headache and you have eye strain. Yeah, I'd agree with Piper. Like when you're really tired, you're starting to get a small headache, or like if you're on a car ride and it's like a long car ride and you've just been on your phone for the whole time, I will mostly like just set my phone down, uh open a window and maybe start reading one of my books. Yeah, you kind of feel nauseous if you've been too much on it. Especially in the car, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:30

Uh I agree with uh Pipo and Regan. And how about you?

SPEAKER_05 12:39

Uh oh. I'm in here. Um, yeah, I agree with everyone.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Okay. Um would you like to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_05 12:50

Hello everyone. Um, I'm Gunner, you know, Sophie's old, and I love playing volleyball.

SPEAKER_03 12:57

Have you ever used chat GPT for school or other purposes?

SPEAKER_04 13:04

Uh I usually use it to copy and paste, but I usually say that it's from Chat PGGPT because uh I um I can't design things on my own because it's too hard and I have to pay for a lot of stuff. Like, I've never used Chat GPT for school, but like sometimes I'll just purposely get on it and try to crash the website by regulating it, and it's pretty easy.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Um, Piper, so what do you copy and paste for?

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Oh, just schoolwork.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

Hmm.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Piper, I I I I uh gather some information. And then you just copy it. I type it from the internet? I type it in, and then I ask for AI to improve it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, then that's yeah, that's good, but not like just taking it screen off chat GPT. That's called pirate. That's called pirating.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

And um do you like uh do you um make sure that it's not false?

SPEAKER_04 14:06

Yeah, I'll make sure it's not false.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

And unless it's fiction. I also try to rage bait it, but most of the time it ends up rage baiting me.

SPEAKER_06 14:16

How about you?

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Uh sometimes I use it for school.

SPEAKER_06 14:20

But uh sometimes. But uh not much, mostly for other purposes. What other purposes is are they? Um just asking random questions to see like what it knows. What are those random questions?

SPEAKER_05 14:39

Alright, alright.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Um yeah, I do use it for school a lot.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

Um if I have like a writing, I ask for feedback. That's uh that's better than that's better when what mystery, what mystery boy over here has.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Uh okay. Um, well, I had a friend who she uh didn't like to do her homework. It was just like the answers were quite literally in the passage, but she just used chat GPT for the answers anyways. But um I'll just use ChatGPT to try and rage bait it, or if I'm bored, or if I just want to um if I just want to like prove it wrong.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

If you do that, then AI's gonna turn on you, and that's why you're not very good with technology.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

I don't think that. I think I just get rage baited by it, anyways.

SPEAKER_04 15:35

Uh I think everybody gets rage-bated by AI or chat GBT or whatever. You know what? What why is it fake? Why do you need to be? What was your experience like with the AI? AI is ChatGBT. Uh ChatGBT. Um, it's pretty good. Sometimes it makes some spelling errors. Like uh your AI, how did you make spelling errors? And then it makes it a whole thing. Oh. What's wrong? Um, yeah, it makes it a whole thing. Yeah. Um, basically, I'm not a big fan of ChatGBT because half of the t not a big fan because like half of the time it'll like mess up and like I'll ask it to put in like a fifth grader's words or sixth graders' words, and it'll put it in like a college level like sentence and it'll like get me a bad grade, but half the time I don't even I barely even use ChatGPT.

SPEAKER_06 16:40

Uh same thing pretty much for me. I don't really use half ch Chat GPT half of the time. Um so I rarely use it. Uh huh.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Like you told us earlier. Uh-huh. Um, Gunnar, what was your experience like?

SPEAKER_05 17:01

My experience, um sometimes it has been good, sometimes it has not. Like I mean, I guess most of the time it's been okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

I will admit I don't exactly use Chat GPT, but I do use Google on AI mode, so it's basically the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

I use that a lot too.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Do you copy and paste it? Um, I I do sometimes, but only when I'm like but only when it's not for school and it's just like for fun. Uh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Or like to make like a slideshow not for school or just for fun.

SPEAKER_03 17:41

Yeah. How do you feel about AI in general?

SPEAKER_04 17:45

It's fake. It's I it can help us, but on YouTube, it's like, why are you making that thing? I want it to be real, not fake. Artificial.

SPEAKER_05 17:55

I don't like it. I mean, right now it's kind of like okay, but I feel like in the future it can be like really good.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

Okay, don't make fun of me, but I do feel like there's gonna be this giant war and AI is gonna take over the world.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

100%. I agree with that. 100%. Turn the Wi-Fi off.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

And um I just and I asked um Google, and it was like, I'm not gonna take over the world because I don't have a mind, and yada yada yada.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

And I'm like, then how are you so smart about digital intelligence?

SPEAKER_03 18:31

But but it's that like in like such technical stuff that I could not understand it, so I'm like, you just don't want to admit you're t gonna take over the world. AI uh it doesn't reason like humans reason. Yeah, and um I like that it doesn't talk back, but sometimes I like a good argument. Do you have a favorite influencer? I do. Unspeakable!

SPEAKER_04 18:58

I used to like that person, but now that's kind of like my brother. What's unspeakable? He's a YouTuber that doesn't cuss, like say words like Um Okay. Reagan! I guess mine's either Brick Monk or uh Salish Matter. Uh Kyson.

SPEAKER_03 19:21

Who's Kysen?

SPEAKER_04 19:22

Tyson.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Tyson. Mike Kaizen. Kaizen it. Who's Kyson? It's kind of a given with if he's an influencer, but like what does he stream? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:32

Uh he streams boards and videos.

unknown 19:34

Whoa.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Oh, okay. I just I don't really know. I just like random streamers. Yeah. All right, here's the right.

SPEAKER_05 19:46

You know what? I like Rakai. Rakai stuff. Who's Rakai? Um a streamer like like Calcinet. And who is Cal Sanet? He's a streamer that streams random stuff with his friend group.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Okay, and what what streamer were you talking about?

SPEAKER_05 20:06

Oh, Rakai.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

What does he also stream?

SPEAKER_05 20:09

Like yeah, he's with Kyl Sanet. He's a part of the group.

SPEAKER_03 20:12

Oh, okay. Have you ever wanted to be an influencer? Nope.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

Yes. I want to be a park ranger.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Why have you wanted to be an influencer?

SPEAKER_04 20:24

I don't know, to help people out with like whatever they're going through. Like I I would like to be a supportive, like I don't want to argue with people. Like I want to be kind of a an agreeable person with them to help them out with like stuff that they're going through.

SPEAKER_06 20:43

No. Uh I don't want to be an influencer. You've never wanted to be an influencer? Maybe not when I was like five, but Okay, how about you, Gunner?

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Yeah, I agree with the reason.

SPEAKER_05 20:54

I'm I'm not sure I want to be an influencer.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

Okay, but have you wanted to be an influencer?

SPEAKER_05 21:01

No, never. Never?

unknown 21:03

Never.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

I know I have once wanted to be an influencer, but just as a side job. And then I realized that it's like it takes all of your time, and then I'm like, no thanks. I'm busy with my other job that takes all of my time that I don't have yet, but I'll get one. What makes a social media account appealing for someone your age to follow? Entertaining.

SPEAKER_04 21:28

Like um. What makes me want to follow them? Um like they have to be like a nice person. Like, if they're not a nice person, I guess I wouldn't like it has to be like funny for me to follow it.

SPEAKER_06 21:46

If it's not funny, then I get bullied easily, and then I just won't watch it.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

How about you, Gunner?

SPEAKER_05 21:52

Yeah, I agree with Reese. Um funny. And maybe um Yeah, funny. That's all it takes for you.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

Funny. Okay. Well, I feel like I agree with Regan that they have to be um a good person, or else I'm most definitely not gonna follow them. Also, if I believe in something different than what they believe in, like, not like not like religiously, because I don't care about it religiously, but like uh yeah, you know what I mean. Um, then I'm not gonna follow them. Also, I don't really follow people.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

I just I don't I don't follow racists nor homophobics.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

Okay, um are you careful about who you're allowing to influence you?

SPEAKER_04 22:44

Yes, yes, I am careful. Because like I've the people I watch Brooke Monk, she's kind of newer. Like I kind of just started watching her, but I've been watching her a lot on YouTube and I've kind of like I think she's a good person, and she can be pretty funny. But Salish Matter, I've been watching her since I was like six or five. I I watch good guys like Cory X Kinchin.

SPEAKER_06 23:14

Is that I'm pretty careful about who I follow to make sure that they're like appropriate, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

Appropriate.

SPEAKER_06 23:23

Yeah, yeah. What do you mean by appropriate um have your BGG in the language and uh about like what they're doing?

SPEAKER_05 23:33

And how about you, Gunnar? Um, yes, I'm very, very um careful about what like how who influences me. Because, you know, I don't want to be um a bad person when I grow up.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

What is one piece of advice you'd give kids before they get their first phone or a social media account?

SPEAKER_04 23:55

You need to think. I have a limited TV time so they can get ready. Okay. Uh mine would be like advice to give my kid if I had one, and I guess uh be careful of who you watch, and like if you post a video, you need to show me before you post it to make sure it's appropriate.

unknown 24:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:25

We're talking about random kids though. Random kids? Oh. Um, some people have had a very bad experience with social media, so just be careful on the websites that you choose to use.

SPEAKER_06 24:40

Uh my advice should just be to set boundaries to like uh limit your screen time and to uh make sure like what you're watching is age appropriate.

SPEAKER_05 24:52

Yeah, I kind of agree with Reese. Um for your first phone, probably like some apps you shouldn't go on because they're wild. And um oh, screen time limits.

unknown 25:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

For your first phone, my advice would be don't download an app that costs money. Because yes, it may look interesting, but if it costs money, it's not what it looks like in the app. What if it's an educational app? Especially if it costs money in the if it's an educational app, it really shouldn't cost money. And if it's an educational app, maybe ask your parents. And for an social media account, just don't have one. Unless it's like encouraging people or like doing good things. I guess I mean not don't have one, just be careful and don't let people get to you.

SPEAKER_04 25:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

I'd agree. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

The end.