The Influences of Media Consumption on Student Identities

 

The Influences of Media Consumption on Student Identities

 

Do you remember being popular or a wallflower in middle and high school? How much did your access to technology affect this evaluation of your social life? I remember being overly grateful to my God sister for passing down her old Apple iPhone 3G to me when we were in high school because her parents bought her the next model for Christmas that year. Until then I had only been allowed to use a Nokia “brick” cell phone, as I referred to it back then. That’s when my obsession with Apple products started. “Why?” you ask. Because back then, having an iPhone meant an increase in social status and popularity.

 

Today the ongoing debate still exists, but now the technological contenders are Android phone models and, still, the Apple iPhone. And if you happen to come across someone who doesn’t have either type of model, it’s likely that they will be in for uninvited criticism by anyone who notices. But what makes access to technology so important to one’s status. What brings along the feeling of confidence in individual media users within various environments?

 

The answer is the ability to negotiate and confirm a certain level of power relations between people in various settings, like students in middle and high school, like I was about 17 years ago. Having the most popular and updated technology allows for the management of friendships and popularity, whether it is person-to-person contact via phone calls and text messages or interactions with the world on social media.

 

This idea of access to technology even translates to the expectations of student achievement, on the individual level as well as the organizational level, which is probably why school districts across the US and other countries such as the UK and other economically- and technologically-advanced regions invest in technology to integrate into curriculum. Teachers are even evaluated on how well they use technology in their lessons to engage students by presenting information beyond textbooks, worksheets and dry erase boards.

As a former educator, I remember cell phone confiscation being an expectation of classroom management, but I’m looking forward to the days when students are expected to bring and use their phones, laptops and other media devices as a means of academic success.