If you don’t have a device, you’re stranded. This much is clear from what Callie, a student at the College of Charleston, had to say about hers and her peers’ relationships with digital technology. We already know that the use of digital technology has become much more prevalent and widespread since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic nearly a year ago, but exactly how people are using digital tech and their attitudes towards it still remain foggy. There is, of course, no one uniform story regarding modern digital literacy habits, but through the following interview with Callie, we gain some insight into the practices and attitudes of college students during this highly digital era.
Drawing from Callie’s responses, we get a narrative of gradually increasing reliance and responsibility, multimodality, and a loss of choice. Like many her age, Callie did not grow up severely influenced by digital technology. It was not until she moved on to high school and acquired her first laptop, that digital technology became a significant actor in her daily life. With this immediate access to the online world came not only increased freedom, but increased responsibility. Perhaps this technology-induced responsibility goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility one gains as they grow older, but there’s no doubt that having access to digital tools and resources creates higher expectations in terms of what one can accomplish and how fast they can accomplish it. Now, years later, Callie’s reliance on digital technology has only grown. Already using it pre-COVID for much of her college schoolwork and as a means of communication with friends, family, and coworkers, she is now taking many classes that are mostly or entirely online. At this point, exams, class meetings and updates, discussions, conferences with professors, turning in assignments, and readings are all done digitally.
Callie does what she can to create balance. In her free time, she chooses to do things that do not involve digital technology. She does what she can in her approach to schoolwork as well. Not everything is best done on a device. For Callie, this means taking handwritten notes. If she has the choice of typing her notes or handwriting them, she chooses the latter because it is more effective for comprehension. Even so, this is one of the few moments that Callie does have a choice. Even when there are things that Callie could potentially do with pen and paper, such as writing discussion posts, she doesn’t. In this case, it’s not worth it to her to slow down the process.
Callie’s interactions with digital technology are also usually multimodal. She uses multiple digital platforms for school, such as Oaks and Zoom, and moves between multiple social media platforms when she has free time, often including right when she wakes up. This tells us that college students are hopping between platforms, or using them simultaneously, for a variety of different purposes, from taking classes to communicating with friends. Much of life, as Callie states, is digital at this point, and neither she, nor others she knows, necessarily like it that way. It’s dominating and nobody really gets much of a choice—at least in regards to school— about the role that digital technology plays in their lives. But the reality is that, although students like Callie might wish for a life less reliant on digital technology, there’s not really another option. If students like Callie don’t have access to a device with which to communicate and complete work, then they’re wholly unable to participate in school. They’re simply left behind.
The following interview transcript has been edited for clarity:
When I say the words digital technology, what comes to mind?
Callie said that mainly aspects of communication are what she thinks of first, like email, social media, and stuff for school and personal use.
What did your interactions with digital technology—as you’ve defined it— look like when you were younger?
She said that she had more limited interactions with technology as a kid than she does now. Her older siblings would get priority with laptops, computers, and TV. Occasionally she would play video games too. She would go weeks without interacting with technology without much consequence; now she doesn’t go hours. She was not nearly as reliant on digital technology back then.
At what point and how did you see digital technology becoming a significant actor in your daily life?
Callie said that it was her freshman year of high school; it was almost like a switch. This was when she got a laptop, the first piece of digital technology that she owned for herself. High school brought with it more rigorous schoolwork and more responsibility. The laptop also gave her more responsibility. She said that though digital technology provides an aspect of freedom, it also has an aspect of responsibility because now she had the means to accomplish more, as well as taking care of an expensive piece of equipment.
How big of a role does digital technology play in your life today? What about pre-Covid vs now?
She said that digital technology now plays a major role in her life. She said that she was less reliant of digital technology pre-Covid when there were more face to face interactions. The only time she goes a few hours or more without interacting with digital technology is when she is working or asleep. She works at the College of Charleston’s Early Childhood Development Center. There, they do not let the kids interact with a lot of digital media—there’s a large disconnect between these practices and those at the college just adjacent. Callie remarks that this center is not like all centers, for example, some schools use iPads in the classroom.
What digital media have you used today? Is this what an average day looks like? If not, how is it different?
Callie said that on an average day she mostly uses her laptop for schoolwork and her phone for personal use. She uses social when she wakes up and has free time, as well as texting. For school, the main platforms she uses are Zoom and Oaks.
You mentioned in one of your journals that you prefer to take handwritten notes. What makes it more appealing than typing?
She said that she likes how handwritten notes slow down the process of comprehending information. Rather than mindlessly typing everything during a lecture, you have to stop and prioritize what you’re writing, what is actually important to write down. She said it’s almost a completely separate process mentally from that involved with typing notes.
Is this true of all situations? If not, how do you decide how to take notes?
Callie said that she is always inclined towards handwriting notes during lectures because she is able to absorb the material better and so is best for memorization. However, when she is producing content, like an assignment or discussion post, she does the whole thing digitally because it’s faster.
What other activities could you do digitally that you prefer not to?
She said that she likes to disconnect from technology when she can. She read a bunch of novels over the summer and likes having a physical book. She could have an iPad or Kindle but prefers to physically turn pages and see her progress through the book.
What about the opposite; what activities do you prefer to do digitally even though you don’t have to?
Callie said that this was a hard question because so much of life is digital at this point; there are not many parts of life that aren’t reliant on digital technology. Therefore, she doesn’t want to include ore of life with digital technology than she has to, because there’s already so much.
How do you feel about the extent to which digital technology plays a role in your life? Do you try to find balance? What does that decision-making process look like?
She said she wants a life that is less involved with digital technology. It is harder to build relationships with professors this semester since everything is online. Now, her free time is spent off digital technology whereas in high school it was the opposite; she used to spend her free time online in high school after a full day of being offline at school. Now it’s completely flipped.
How do you compare to your peers in this respect? Do you think most people are this way or not?
Callie said definitely, everyone’s taking online classes. Callie said a roommate’s laptop broke recently and she was stranded. If you don’t have a device, you’re stranded because everything is so reliant on digital technology, especially with the pandemic. A lot of people have a larger reliance than they want or would expect.