Gen Z and Gen Alpha Interviews, Winter 2022
In the Winter of 2022, approaching the two year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, students enrolled in Psych 167 at UCLA conducted interviews with children and adolescents about their media habits and how they have shifted over time.
Looking back through the CSS archive of Gen Z and Gen Alpha interviews from Summer 2020 to Winter 2022, trends emerge in terms of excessive use of media, particularly social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Students have described endless scrolling, loss of sleep, misinformation, and in this particular round of interviews, encounters with cyberbullying.
“I don’t like how apps like TikTok are toxic and negative. There’s a lot of cyberbullying on social media and people say a lot of things online that they wouldn’t say in person. Sometimes the hate comments on other people’s videos can make me feel bad about myself. ”
However, in spite of the drawbacks of these platforms, each of our adolescent interview subjects has relied on apps and social gaming platforms to stay connected to friends and family members in meaningful ways throughout the pandemic. Many students have also begun to use their TikTok and Instagram feeds as primary sources of news, seeking out and sharing content from users dedicated to making topical videos and eye-catching graphics.
“I get most of my information from TikTok. On my For You Page (FYP), I get TikToks about mostly Minecraft or funny videos, but sometimes I’ll get news about COVID.”
“I get my news through infographics on Instagram and short videos on TikTok. People post a lot of those things and talk about current events, so it’s easy to keep up with everything that way.”
Having been born into a digital age that is rapidly changing and upgrading, the issues that these students are currently encountering with moderating their technology use is sure to be a lifelong struggle. However, the diversions presented by media platforms and access to entertaining storytelling have surely provided much needed mental health breaks from numerous external stressors, allowing these young people to find comforting moments of escapism in trying times.
“I guess my favorite and least favorite part about media is the same. My favorite part about media is that I get to stay focused and forget everything else. However, if I don’t pay attention, I waste a lot of time. It is time-consuming but entertaining.”
Click on the pictures below to read the full interviews
Edited and Published by Annie Meyers.