Three Question Interview

Article: Three Question Interview

Writer and Interviewer: Nayleen Vue

Trends are being created every day and so are the changes in society. According to Pew Research Center, 95% of U.S. teens now have access to a smartphone and less than 10 years ago the percentage was down to 75%. From Lululemon, to TikTok, and electronics like airpods , have you ever wondered what teachers think about these things? 

• What are your thoughts on lululemon? Do you believe that it should be as popular as it is?

Geiger: I think it's a really great high quality brand. But it's definitely overpriced. I own some lululemon things. It's very high quality stuff, but it's just very pricey. 

Loney: I don’t know too much about lululemon but I see a lot of it in garage sales so I didn’t even know it was popular. I don’t really understand the hype, I don’t see it. But then again I didn't notice a dude wearing a red bowtie at a concert so…

Birenbaum: Boy, I know it’s tough for parents to buy that kind of stuff. 

(takes out his phone)

I’ve seen that symbol before....$80 for a pair of pants..really? Unfortunately if you don't want to buy that stuff for your kid, they kind of get “looked down on '' which I think is dumb. My wife bought some pants from Costco that were like $12. I have a son, I’m not too sure if lululemon is popular with boys but he usually wants to buy stuff like baseball bats and it’s really expensive for bats, there was one that was $150. We didn’t buy that one!

• Since TikTok is one of the biggest teenage platforms as of right now, what do you think about it? Is it bad? Is it good? 

Bausch: I watch tiktok all the time. I think some parts are good but it depends on what you watch. Some parts of tiktok are really funny. I can’t even divulge the amount of minutes I watch tiktok. I DO NOT WATCH IT ON SCHOOL HOURS THOUGH!

Geiger: I've never actually had tiktok, so I don't know much about it but I also think teenagers use it too much. I really like how teenagers use it to communicate and find out about new stuff but there's always bad things that come with that.

Birenbaum: I’ve seen it, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I don’t like how kids kinda flip through. It gets addicting. My kids have tiktok and text friends. The only thing I don’t like is that it seems to be shrinking people's attention spans. As long as they do other active things other than just using tiktok, it doesn’t really bother me. 

• Would you say that society has changed A LOT since you were a teenager? If so, what are the big changes?

Geiger: I wouldn’t say it’s changed too much. Iphones were created when I was in middle school so I experienced having social media in high school. Facebook has definitely taken a decline in popularity, it was way more popular back then. I would say that one big difference is the creation of airpods. I like to listen to music too but now, teenagers constantly use it all the time.

Goihl: The biggest changes are definitely social media, second are cell phones. Those are the biggest changes. Instant communication can create a society of people who expect things to happen right now and it hurts curiosity. In my opinion, I really wish the idea of spending quality time with family and having more family connections was still very important as it was before. 

Birenbaum: Yeah it has. I was born in 1975, so the only phones people had were attached to houses. Getting people's attention and not being side tracked by other communication devices are really bad now. The worst things right now are apple watches, those things you can’t even put away. I think short, quick communications are ruining people the most. When I was a teenager I felt like I was way less distracted because I didn't have phones. You just understand your environment a lot more. 

Picture by Nayleen Vue