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CAMERON: In today's edition of the podcast, I'll be speaking with a Junior at CU Boulder. And we're going to talk a lot about how their experience over the past two years has changed compared to what they're looking at this year, and they're going to tell me a little bit about what the normal day looked like last year and what their normal day looks like this year, and we're going to talk about those changes.

CAMERON: If you just want to introduce yourself with your age, major, year, anything you want to share.

STUDENT 1: Hi, yeah, so I’m 20, and I’m a Junior studying sociology with a Math minor.

CAMERON: Okay, great! And then, so, I’m just going to be asking a couple of questions just to try and get a feel for your experience...

STUDENT 1: Yeah...

CAMERON: So the first thing I am kind of wondering is, how did you spend your free time before the pandemic?

STUDENT 1: Um yeah, so basically I spent a lot of my time hanging out with my friends and watching a lot of movies, I guess, or like tv shows—especially a lot on my, like, phone; I’d have a lot of phone screen time especially after my classes. So yeah.

CAMERON: Have you noticed a huge shift um between after the pandemic started and how your technology use changed?

STUDENT 1: Yeah definitely, I feel like now that I’m, like, on my computer literally 24/7, um watching just zoom lectures it's made me really want to stop being so much on my screen just because, like, I’ve been getting a lot of headaches and stuff like that. So like, especially like after classes, I’ll try to, like, do something else like go outside or something, which is super different because I used to never do that.

CAMERON: Yeah, of course! And then this is a bit of a similar question, but if you want to describe like a normal school day last year, like a Monday or whatever, and kind of take us through your day.

STUDENT 1: Yeah, okay, so basically I mean I would go to class, and then afterward I would usually like hang out with some friends...probably watch a movie or some show for a while, maybe like do some homework, and then just like back to some screen time.

CAMERON: Yeah, absolutely! And then a normal school day this year; I imagine it looks a lot different...

STUDENT 1: Yeah...

CAMERON: Are there any, like, key differences or anything you want to take us through that?

STUDENT 1: Yeah, I would say it's kind of reverse because I feel like I would spend a lot of my time like last year in the school day not on my phone, and then like as soon as I get out of classes I would be like on my phone or computer a lot and now I feel like it's almost completely the opposite. Because like, I’ll be in class on my phone or like computer for so long and then after I’ll just want like a break.

CAMERON: Yeah, absolutely, I totally feel that. And then the next kind of topic I want to touch on is how this has affected you, how the increased technology use variation in technologies has affected you?

STUDENT 1: Um...basically for that I would say that I feel like I’ve gotten a lot more sad and lonely. I feel like I used to spend a lot of time with people, and now of course I like can't do that anymore, so I felt a lot more like isolated I feel like.

CAMERON: And so then um, what about, is there anything with regard to your physical health, of course if you feel comfortable sharing?

STUDENT 1: No um I would say honestly I feel like I eat a lot more, and I guess I do spend more time outside but um, I also don't think that I exercise as much as I used to.

CAMERON: Yeah no, that makes a lot of sense especially with the changes in the website, I imagine it's hard to get back into it. And then the other thing I was, uh, curious about, and of course only if you want to share/feel comfortable, is with your grades have you noticed um, you're struggling more in class with everything being online, or how’s that?

STUDENT 1: Yeah, so at the beginning I feel like I actually was doing a lot better because I could just like focus on them...but I feel like slowly they've gotten a lot worse because of my motivation, just especially like this semester. It's just like so bad that my grades are definitely taking a big blow, so yeah. 

CAMERON: Especially without the Spring Break...

STUDENT 1: Yeah, exactly, Spring Break really hit me hard.

CAMERON: And then are there any big drawbacks you've noticed that have affected you greatly?

STUDENT 1: Um, I feel like the biggest one has definitely been my mental health. Um, I'd say that took a pretty big blow when all this happened, just being so isolated and not being able to get out and see my friends as much anymore, so yeah.

CAMERON: No, of course! And I do not think you're alone in that feeling.

STUDENT 1: Yeah...

CAMERON: And so then, the next thing I wanted to touch on, or the kind of the last topic we're gonna go over, is if there's any tricks that you've kind of acquired or anything you've done to try and lower your screen time? Or have you even tried lowering your screen time?

STUDENT 1: Um well, I started tracking it because I was actually really interested in it...didn't go very well though because I honestly couldn't figure out how to track it on my computer and I feel like I spend most of my screen time on my computer now. So I did try tracking on my phone and then from there trying to get it down a little bit, but it didn't work very well because I feel like I don't really have anything else to be doing right now, so.

CAMERON: Yeah absolutely. And then is there anything you've done to try and lower your screen time particularly?

STUDENT 1: Um yeah, one thing I feel like I did start trying to read some more books. I feel like I used to really love reading and I just kind of got out of it, so I started getting back into it, so I feel like that really helped.

CAMERON: Yeah, do you have any favorites or favorite genres?

STUDENT 1: Um yeah typically I’d say I really like romance books but um...recently I just read The Book Thief and that's honestly one of my favorite ones yet, so yeah.

CAMERON: I had to read that in high school, and I also really enjoyed it.

STUDENT 1: Yeah no it's super cool, I can't believe I haven't read it before.

CAMERON: Yeah, and then do you have any other new hobbies you've picked up or just reading?

STUDENT 1: Um yeah I definitely started going on a lot more walks. I started walking my dog like every day to just try to get outside and move a little bit, so um, that's one.

CAMERON: Yeah no, that's a really good one. And then the last thing I kind of wanted to ask: if you have any specific anecdote that kind of sums up your experience as a COVID student studying online?

STUDENT 1: Yeah, um one thing that stands out to me is like a lot of the time I feel like I’ll be talking to like my roommates and realize that I’m not on mute on Zoom and it will be really bad. Like one time, one of my roommates like her boyfriend just cheated on her and we were talking about it, and I wasn't on mute and her boyfriend was in the class and it was...oh it was really bad...

CAMERON: Oh my god...

STUDENT 1: Yeah...like the teacher was like, "Hey you're not on mute, just so you know!" and that was like the worst thing I’ve ever done.

CAMERON: Yeah...god, I...that is not something that would have happened in person...

STUDENT 1: Definitely not, definitely not...

CAMERON: Well, unless there's anything else you want to share or talk about, thank you so much for your time today!

STUDENT 1: Yeah, of course! 

CAMERON: And I hope uh things get better for you in the next semester. I know you'll be a senior next year, so hopefully one last normal year.

STUDENT 1: One last one, yeah.