Episode 10: Student Takeover — “Our Lives and Tech”

We’ve handed the podcast over to the students of schools in Virginia, Johannesburg and London. They tell their own stories about how tech impacts their lives.

Artwork by Eden Brackenbury

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For this episode we worked closely with students from schools in Johannesburg in South Africa, Virginia in the United States, and London in the UK. The student were given a simple brief to produce a story about how technology has impacted their lives.

In the first story Hannah and Csarina abandon social media and get their news from a more ‘traditional’ method. They did something they’ve never done before. They bought a newspaper. Find out what surprised them and what they learned by flicking through the pages of a British daily newspaper.

The second story is a piece of fiction, written, acted and produced by Sophie, Justin and Ethan. Growing up under the shadow of a nuclear power plant, the students wanted a story that helped the listener get a sense of the fears they’ve lived with all their lives.

The final story comes from Tebogo, Amo, Tariq, Zewande, Lethabo and Zanele who speak to a teacher and students from their school about how technology has improved the way they learn and the way they communicate. They also discuss some of the ways technology has had a negative impact on their lives.

Featured Guests

Story 1 — School 21, Hackney, London, UK

• Hannah
• Csarina

Story 2 — Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School, Virginia, United States

• Sophie
• Justin
• Ethan

Story 3 — Nova Pioneer, Johannesburg, South Africa

• Tebogo
• Amo
• Tariq
• Zewande
• Lethabo
• Zanele

Quotes From the Episode

“So there used to be sales reps that went around with the Encyclopaedia Britannica books and if people could afford them, they’d buy them, but often, they’d have to pay for them monthly over several years because they were so expensive. Like I’ve got a really strong memory of them being in the bookshelf in our house, and you’d go and sit and you’d look stuff up.” — Ms Davey

“It literally click-baited us.” — Csarina (after buying a newspaper for the fist time)

“I checked into the hospital that evening with a dead friend in my passenger seat. They said I was lucky to have gotten away. They carried Elliot away in a bed sheet.” — Justin

“So the more technology advances, the more people get exploited, the more natural resources are used. So it has a very bad toll on the Earth and the environment that we live in.” — Jabu

Episode Credits

Written, produced, recorded and hosted by the students from School 21, Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School, and Nova Pioneer
Season Producer Renay Richardson
Exec Producer Nathan Martin
Exec Producer Anjali Ramachandran
Sound Design by Jason Oberholtzer and Michael Simonelli
Made by the team at Storythings

Transcript

Hannah: This episode of Nevertheless is going to be a little bit different from the others. The podcast has been handed over to us, the students of School 21 in London, UK.

Lethabo: Nova Pioneer in Johannesburg, South Africa…

Sophie: And Blue Ridge Virtual Governors School in Virginia, in the United States.

Ethan: In this episode we’ve written and produced three stories about technology, looking at how it has impacted our lives in different ways.

Lethabo: We look at how technology has made people, teachers, and parents lives easier.

Csarina: How it’s changed the way we understand the news.

Justin: And how it has made living in our own town quite terrifying.

Csarina: This is Nevertheless, a podcast about learning in the modern age.

Ethan: Each episode, we shine a light on an issue impacting education and young people, and speak to people creating transformative change.

Hannah: Supported by Pearson.

Story 1

Hannah: Hi, I’m Hannah.

Csarina: Hi, I’m Csarina.

Hannah: We’re from School 21. As two teenagers growing up on social media, we wanted to know what it was like to get news both on social media and outside world.

Hannah: Earlier this month, Csarina’s internet went out and couldn’t access anything online.

Csarina: So not being able to get any of the news, we wondered what it would be like to get the news back in the day when there was no social media.

Hannah: We spoke to some people who didn’t grow up with the internet and wanted to know how they got their news.

Csarina: Hi, Miss.

Ms. Davey: Hi.

Hannah: All right. So what world event had like the biggest impact to you, back in the day.

Ms. Davey: Okay so one of the most significant world events that I remember happening was 9/11. So it happened when I was in year 12, and I was in an English Literature lesson when it happened. I remember one of the English teachers bursting into the room and telling the other English teacher that some planes had hit the Twin Towers. I’m not really convinced any of us knew what the Twin Towers were, but we knew that planes crashing into buildings did not sound good and we just knew that it was this huge thing.

Ms. Davey: Yeah, so when we went home it was really interesting because at this point in time, you got home and it was just news on every channel, like the BBC and ITV, at least, it was just rolling news coverage and it was just picture after picture or videos.

Ms. Davey: My friends, like everyone had mobile phones, but didn’t really have the internet on our phones back then.

Hannah: Oh wow.

Ms. Davey: So people were kind of like texting each other and stuff. You could get the internet, but it was quite convoluted and it wasn’t really like coloured screens and stuff. So a lot of it was from the TV-

Csarina: What about newspapers?

Ms. Davey: Yeah, newspapers. So like we used to have a newspaper delivered every day, which most people did.

Hannah: How did you know that that information was accurate? Did you have any idea it was accurate or did you just take that information from the people you knew and was just like, oh yeah, that happened?

Ms. Davey: Well I think my main source of information was probably the BBC and I would consider them to be a trustworthy source. Over the next few days with all the conspiracy theories started to come out. So in terms of working out they why’s of the event, as opposed to the what, that was quite difficult to find useful or trustworthy information on. ’Cause even things like Wikipedia didn’t exist at that point in time.

Hannah: Wikipedia didn’t exist?

Ms. Davey: When I was in primary school, we used to have a set of physical encyclopaedias at home, and if we had homework then we would go-

Hannah: So how big were those books? They’re like that big.

Ms. Davey: Oh so they were like-

Hannah: Oh, no.

Ms. Davey: They were almost like giant cookery book size, if you’re trying to visualize it, and they had black covers and then the first one was like the letter A. And then there was the letter B.

Hannah: That must’ve been really time consuming. So do you think like the way we get information now is better than how you did it before?

Ms. Davey: Oh, it’s so much more accessible because those books were really expensive as well. So there used to be sales reps that went around with the Encyclopaedia Britannica books and if people could afford them, they’d buy them, but often, they’d have to pay for them monthly over several years because they were so expensive. Like I’ve got a really strong memory of them being in the bookshelf in our house, and you’d go and sit and you’d look stuff up.

Hannah: Oh my gosh. That is so time consuming.

Ms. Davey: Yeah. But now you can find anything out really quickly, but you need to be bit more savvy about whether it’s reliable. Can I actually trust this? Is this fact? Is it opinion?

Hannah: So, when Ms. Davey was talking about the fact that she had newspapers delivered to her house, we’re like, “Oh, that is really weird.” So we decided to have a go and buy a newspaper ourselves.

Csarina: We’ve never bought a newspaper before and we wanted to know what the experience was like.

Hannah: And the experience was very interesting, indeed.

Hannah: So what are we getting? One pound-sixty, though seems a bit extortionate.

Csarina: Okay. Why is the Times one pound-sixty? I can get two Suns for that.

Hannah: The Guardian is two pounds.

Csarina: Okay. The Daily Star.

Hannah: Okay, that’s brilliant. Shrek dwarf six-foot-tall, right? The Morning Star. What do you think about The Morning Star?

Csarina: No.

Hannah: No? It looks a bit boring.

Csarina: Yeah, it does look a bit boring.

Hannah: What about The New Recorder?

Csarina: Well that would just be the local news.

Hannah: Is it free? A pound? No, I’m good. And The Sun is just boring. Oh, here’s The Guardian.

Csarina: Yeah, but it was like two pounds.

Hannah: Why is it so expensive? This is why people can’t get news, ’cause no one’s gonna pay two pounds for that. Yeah, do you want The Financial Times? Imagine buying The Financial Times.

Csarina: Nah, it’s too big.

Hannah: It’s a bit too big. Fair enough.

Csarina: Okay.

Hannah: The Daily Mail seems good. So MPT. Is The Daily Mail …

Csarina: But it’s cheap and it looks-

Hannah: Yeah, it’s cheap. It looks good. Yeah, let’s get it.

Csarina: We ended up choosing The Daily Mail, brought it back to school and spent some time looking at it.

Hannah: Can Meghan really be filming a Scottish Widow ad-

Csarina: I think it’s talking about how Meghan’s meant to be like a princess of sorts, or a Duchess, now and she was meant to give up acting. So it’s a bit weird for her to be playing such a role in an ad for-

Hannah: Right. And then second page, “Babies are still not safe at scandal-hit NHS maternity unit.”

Csarina: Just an observation, it’s a lot of information.

Hannah: Yeah, it’s a bit of a mess. It’s not really pleasant to read.

Csarina: It is very overwhelming. From something you can look at on your phone that is a couple of paragraphs and easy to read, to this, which is a double-page spread.

Csarina: And they typed it vertically. I need to read across the page. I have to read down, and there’s a gap, and then it’s down, and it’s a gap, and then … I’m not gonna read any of those columns. It’s so long. What do you think, Hannah?

Hannah: 18 is too many for a story that could probably be condensed into a single page.

Csarina: Okay. All right. So there’s adverts right in the middle of our story.

Hannah: But I suppose you’d get that on your phone, as well if you’re on a website. There’s always adverts.

Csarina: But this is taking up like more than a quarter of the first page. And then there’s another advert on the next page.

Hannah: And there’s also kind of… It takes away from the story.

Csarina: Yeah, so something interesting I noticed is whenever there was a point they wanted to make about the story, they would use very strong and opinionated words. Like talking about Brexit, they used words like “doomsday,” or “apocalyptic.” You know, it’s like stuff out of a movie. It’s very opinionated. Most of the news is very opinionated. There you go again, another example of dramatic language. So this page headline is “The Final Betrayal.” Oh, just the layout of the page. Oh my gosh.

Csarina: So, the front cover is suggesting that she’s breaking the rules somehow, going against her role because she’s not supposed to be acting.

Hannah: And just the way… where it says, “Can Meghan REALLY …”

Csarina: Really.

Hannah: Really is capitalized.

Csarina: Yeah, really is capitalized.

Hannah: It’s like they’re outraged that she’s doing it.

Csarina: And then the moment we turn to the spread, it changes to, “Remind you of someone? Meghan, the hooded beauty.” And the first sentence is, “she looks like the iconic hooded figure from the Scottish Widows adverts.”

Csarina: Wow.

Hannah: And even the line underneath it, “Meghan Markle is not shooting a commercial here.” So they just completely-

Csarina: Online equivalent, the physical equivalent of click-bait.

Hannah: Yeah.

Csarina: It literally click-baited us.

Hannah: From 2015!

Csarina: 2015! So it’s completely misleading. That’s amazing.

Hannah: Crazy.

Csarina: That’s why we pay seventy five pence. If I have to, pay two pounds for The Guardian to get accurate news.

Hannah: It is.

Csarina: It is. That was on the front page. It says the female section. They have a section for-

Hannah: A lot of fashion. A lot about being a mother.

Csarina: Childcare and stuff like that.

Hannah: Home.

Csarina: Budgeting.

Hannah: Buying stuff.

Csarina: Cleaning products.

Hannah: A set of gorgeous gifts-

Csarina: Gifts for under five pounds.

Hannah: So after doing this experiment of going out and finding a newspaper, buying it, and reading it together, how do you feel about it?

Csarina: I’ve learned I’m not going to buy Daily Mail. That’s bit biased, but I’d rather just stick to online news. Headlines were too big. They were really obnoxious, as well.

Hannah: Just being overloaded with information. There’s too much.

Csarina: Yeah. It’s a big pile of adverts in between the stories. It’s not really pleasing to the eye, and it’s expensive. I would not spend 70p on that, I’m sorry.

Hannah: Difficult to read, as well. I mean you go from story to story and nothing is really in any type of organized way. The biggest issue we had was the Meghan Markle story.

Csarina: Online, if I see something that’s click-bait, I know it’s click-bait because it’s from an unreliable source. Like it’s usually from like this really small, independent news companies, or those companies that when you click on them you get a virus or something. This is The Daily Mail. Like it’s so widely recognized, I wouldn’t expect that to be click-bait.

Story 2

Ethan: My name is Ethan and I’m from Louisa County High School and the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School.

Justin: My name is Justin. I’m also from Louisa County and the Blue Ridge Governor’s School Program.

Sophie: And I’m Sophie, also from Louisa County High School, the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School.

Ethan: This is a realistic, hypothetical story about what could happen in the event of a nuclear power plant meltdown.

Justin: We chose this topic for the story because in the community that we live in, we’re actually quite close to a nuclear power plant that provides electricity and that sort of thing for our town. So the possibility of like a meltdown actually happening is something that we all kind of relate to and we could experience sometime.

Justin: Another Wednesday. The sirens have become more routine the longer I’ve lived here.

Ethan: A real house test.

Justin: Doing all right. That stupid alarm is really distracting, though.

Ethan: I feel that. You know what’s for lunch?

Justin: No idea. Let’s find out. Oh, Chinese food.

Ethan: Easton, it’s not even good.

Justin: This was weird. They never test twice on the same day.

Ethan: What’s going on?

Sophie: Easton, Elliott, do you know why the alarm is going off again?

Speaker: Students and staff, implement Protocol 21–4. The buses will arrive momentarily.

Justin: Protocol 21–4 only meant one thing.

Sophie: So the alarm is real then?

Ethan: I don’t need a second invitation to go home.

Justin: This is real, bro. Let’s go. Euna, do you need a ride home?

Sophie: You have a car?

Justin: Yeah. It’s not much, but it will work.

Ethan: Yo, dibs on aux.

Sophie: Yeah. You can have it.

Justin: Do y’all think this is real? Like is driving home even enough?

Sophie: I don’t know. I heard that nuclear fallout would reach something like 18 miles within the first few hours.

Ethan: Yeah, and where’d you hear that?

Sophie: Reddit. But, I also heard that we need to be inside. Nuclear fallout can kill. Being outside means you absorb more.

Ethan: You can’t believe anything you read on the internet, anymore.

Justin: Let’s just go home then.

Ethan: Yeah, let’s do that.

Justin: There’s so much traffic.

Sophie: To be fair, everyone is leaving at once.

Ethan: Do either of you have service? I’m out of data and I need to know if this is real.

Justin: Yeah, here you go.

Ethan: Well, it’s real and it’s everywhere. All of the news sites are reporting it.

Sophie: What are they saying?

Ethan: Nuclear explosion in rural United States believed to be next Chernobyl. No way. Well I guess that means no school.

Justin: Perfect. What do we do now?

Sophie: Did you actually just crash the car?

Justin: It’s not my fault. He slammed on his brakes.

Sophie: Idiot.

Ethan: Hey, calm down. It’s not like there’s a massive nuclear fallout chasing … oh, wait. There is.

Justin: Shut up. We’ll figure this out.

Driver: Hey kid, what’s wrong with you? You just smashed into my car.

Justin: Hey, calm down, man. There’s a lot of traffic.

Driver: I don’t care that you’re sorry. Do you know what’s happening right now?

Justin: Yep. And that’s why I’m done talking to him.

Sophie: So what’s the plan, now?

Ethan: I mean, my house is like a mile away from here so maybe we could go stay there for a bit.

Justin: I’m not leaving my car here.

Sophie: You might have to, Ethan. I mean, this is no joke.

Justin: Dude, my mom would absolutely kill me if I left it here.

Ethan: I mean, can it still drive?

Justin: We can try. Okay. Seems like we’re good to go.

Sophie: Are you sure?

Justin: Yep. Thing hasn’t failed me yet, right?

Ethan: Yeah, but you did just plow it into the back of a pickup truck.

Justin: Elliot, forget about that.

Bob Hope: Friends, this Bob Hope. If an atom bomb were to hit your home city, would you know what to do?

Justin: Guys, what if there’s nothing left?

Sophie: What do you mean?

Justin: Like we’re going home, but what if it’s already too late? This whole area could be affected too much.

Sophie: Don’t think like that.

Justin: No, I’m serious. Everything that we know is gonna change. We’re gonna have to leave. There’s no way we can stay here.

Ethan: Yeah. And everybody’s not going to survive.

Justin: Don’t remind us, please.

Ethan: I don’t feel so good.

Sophie: Whoa. Elliot, your nose is bleeding.

Ethan: Is it really?

Sophie: Yeah. Like how did you not … it’s really bad.

Ethan: Does that mean?

Justin: No, you’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out.

Ethan: Yeah. Let’s figure it out fast.

Sophie: Yeah. Here, I’ll check online. I found a website that says spontaneous bleeding is a symptom of “acute radiation syndrome”.

Ethan: That doesn’t sound good.

Sophie: No, it really doesn’t. We need to get you to a hospital.

Ethan: Yeah, what hospital? Everyone is gone, and even if we did get to the hospital, there would be nobody there.

Justin: Well we have to try.

Sophie: Guys, my shoulder.

Ethan: Oh my gosh, it’s so red. Are you sunburnt or something?

Sophie: No. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I mean it can’t be good.

Justin: We don’t have time. Just look it up online real quick. We need to hurry.

Sophie: Well, on the same website, it’s talking about radiation poisoning and …

Ethan: And?

Sophie: Easton’s the only one of us who hasn’t shown symptoms yet. The page says that Elliott and I are probably gonna die within the next two weeks.

Justin: What? No. We’re gonna get you guys fixed up. We’ll stop at my house, grab some stuff and then we’ll get straight to the hospital. All right, Euna. Run upstairs, grab some blankets and pillows from the closet. We’re probably gonna need those. Elliot and I will grab some of the emergency gas, get the to the hospital. All right. Let’s go. I’m gonna grab some grub, bring it along. Euna, make sure you’ve got everything. Elliot, you wait in the car.

Ethan: Okay.

Justin: Euna? Euna, are you okay? Euna. She isn’t breathing. She can’t be. Euna, I’m sorry. We weren’t fast enough and now I can’t bring you with us.

Ethan: Easton, where’s Euna? Did she get the blankets?

Justin: She just saw her parents. We’re gonna head up to the hospital and get you fixed up.

Ethan: Okay. I think I’m gonna take another nap.

Justin: Elliot, you can not, under any circumstances fall asleep again. Remember, Euna said it was a symptom of radiation. Just hold out, we’ll get to the hospital, you can sleep all you’d like.

Ethan: Okay.

Justin: Elliot. Elliot, wake up. Elliot, I swear to God if you die. No, I will kill you. Elliot. No, I didn’t mean it. Elliot, please. No. Man, come back. Dude, no. Don’t be dead.

Justin: I checked into the hospital that evening with a dead friend in my passenger seat. They said I was lucky to have gotten away. They carried Elliot away in a bed sheet. For hours, they told me everything would be all right. They released me the next morning and I thought everything would be fine. I woke up two weeks later with a killer headache and a bright burst of blood coming out of my nose.

Ethan: So we knew this topic, itself, it’s very difficult to bring humor into a topic so dark as this, and we definitely wanted to leave an impact on the listener about how real this possibility is and what the consequences could be. But I think we also are all aware that humor can bring any story, no matter how dark, humor always augments that story and makes it more enjoyable for both the actors, the writers, and the listener. So we definitely wanted to add humor and to make it more enjoyable around the board.

Ethan: We all play videogames and one of our favorite games is actually the Fallout series, so living so close to a nuclear power plant and being fans of this game, our minds just jump easily to the topic of nuclear power and energy, especially when granted with a possible negative impact of technology. So I think it was pretty clear from the beginning what we really wanted to do. We just had to figure out how we wanted to go about doing that.

Sophie: So in the story, we were trying to show how technology can let you down in more ways than one. Of course, the main way we were showing this was with the nuclear meltdown, but we also tried to show this in little other ways throughout the story like when the car crashed and broke down, or when the phone couldn’t get service, and when they were trying to find symptoms of radiation and what was going on, and how they didn’t know if that information was entirely reliable.

Justin: So we chose everybody to end up dying in the end just because I feel like that death of a character really makes you think more about it. Because as the story goes on, you can become attached to a character, especially like a humorous character, such as Elliot. That kind of humor kind of ties you to that character and you usually turn to them for comedic relief. But once you get towards the end of the story and he passes, then you don’t really have that to turn to so it kind of leaves that void that makes you feel that something has definitely gone wrong.

Ethan: Merry Christmas, guys.

Justin: Merry Christmas, everybody.

Story 3

Sophie: This next story comes from the students of Nova Pioneer in South Africa. They speak to a teacher and students about how technology has changed their lives in different ways

Lethabo: So how you doing, man?

Teacher: I’m good, and you?

Lethabo: One of the first questions was like how has technology helped you with teaching or like benefited you?

Teacher: Well I’ve discovered a lot more things than what my 90-year old English teacher would’ve discovered. It’s made it a lot easier to sort of facilitate a lesson and it sort of does the lesson for you. The lesson writes itself with technology.

Lethabo: So okay. So it kind of makes it like fun in a way or something like that.

Teacher: Mm-hmm. And more interesting. People are more engaged in the lesson than they would be if there’s a textbook right in front of you and just flipping through it.

Lethabo: Makes sense.

Lethabo: And so would you say that if you were born in the time that you were born in, you would prefer it if you were taught with technology rather than the way you were taught before?

Miss Jiji: Yes. But I wouldn’t like to take off all the methods, but definitely it would have benefited me a lot more.

Lethabo: So in class you know, you have your students, obviously students. So I need to ask, does it increase the bond between you and the students or …

Miss Jiji: I feel like not necessarily. I think technology is like a wall between you and a person. And to be very honest, it sort of dumbs down relationships, especially between you guys. It does. Like you guys are always face down and your personalities are fantastic on the phone and when you’re using technology, and chatting. And next thing, you meet the person, they’re as bland as a Pro Vita biscuit. So like, for me, it doesn’t help in that way. It doesn’t help you build your personality, and it doesn’t help build bonds, but it does help you get information.

Lethabo: Okay. So like I know I was born in the 2000s. You were probably born in like … I don’t know. Has a student tried to outsmart you using technology-

Miss Jiji: Definitely. Not a student, but my 10-year-old cousin. I guess, yeah because we use Chromebooks, and the technology of Chromebooks themselves are very limited, so there’s not much really outsmarting I can speak of. But my cousin, he’s 10, and it feels a little bit like- Yeah. I’m very behind.

Lethabo: Okay. Thank you. I think I’m gonna hand it over to Amo.

Zewande: All right. Amo is going to be interviewing students and we’re going to be getting a totally different perspective from what our teacher just said. So I hope you guys actually gained some insight on what the teacher thinks.

Tariq: So here we are. Please introduce yourself and the person you interviewed.

Amo: Hi guys. So I am Amo and I will be interviewing Jabu, here. He’s my friend. So Jabu, how are you today?

Jabu: I’m great.

Amo: That’s good. So technology has changed the way we live, the way we shop, the way we go to school, and the way we interact with our family and friends. How can you use technology more effectively?

Jabu: I mean I think the most crucial thing is that we use technology for the right reasons, you know? In everything that we do, if that’s communicating or doing your schoolwork that most of us do. I think the most effective way now we can use technology is if we use it in the right ways and for the right reasons, and also at the right time.

Tariq: So what would be the right reasons and the right time? Like give an example. Spice it up.

Jabu: What I mean by right reasons is I think technology has brought up an issue called cyberbullying. So when I mean right reasons, it’s talking good things, spreading good energy and good vibes to people, not bullying people online, which is something technology has brought about. But despite all that, I think there have been effective measures that have been used for technology. But if we can spice it up even more, I think, it’s being more appropriate with technological platforms.

Amo: Okay. So like what are the three ways that technological dividers can play a role in forming or maintaining a relationship?

Jabu: First and foremost, I think it’s communication. Technology has allowed us the opportunity of speaking to people even if we’re not with them in person. So I think that’s one way it does maintain relationships. And also, technology helps us to send money to each other. You know, e-wallets, and whatever.

Lethabo: So, as a teenager, what are the effects of technology on you?

Jabu: First and foremost, I think a negative effect that it’s had on me is that it’s taken my time. It’s very time consuming. Second being, you get a lot of influences on social platforms and apps like Twitter, Instagram. People end up going through a lot of things like depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and all those bad mental diseases because of seeing other people on these technological platforms being better than them or just aspiring them to be someone else. So I think the influence that it brings in a young person’s life may not be as good as different things.

Tariq: And any positive effects? I know you mentioned the negative, but any positive?

Jabu: Positive effects is simply because it makes life easier. Without technology, we would be living in the last hundred years. It wasn’t things that could make like-

Jabu: Transportation, like communication. Like technology has just made everything faster. So I think it would be slowed down a lot if we didn’t have technology. So I think a positive thing is that it makes things faster and also, it just helps us communicate to people easily is what I think is very important in life.

Amo: Okay. So Jabu, do you think technology can eliminate poverty? If yes, how? If not, what are the alternatives?

Jabu: That’s a really good question. I don’t see any direct links between technology and poverty. However, I don’t think it can eliminate poverty because I think poverty is … it’s more deeper than any type of technology. So the more technology advances, the more people get exploited, the more natural resources are used. So it has a very bad toll on the Earth and the environment that we live in. So no, I don’t think technology can eliminate poverty, probably even worsens it. But, yeah.

Tariq: I get you.

Amo: Okay. So like this is the last question. The last but not least. How can technology be used for learning?

Jabu: For learning?

Abo: Yes.

Jabu: At Nova Pioneer, we’ve got apps such as Google Classroom at our disposal. Apps such as Google Slides, Google Docs, Khan Academy.

Jabu: Exactly. It just makes more sense for young people to engage it, technology in that way, in their learning. Because I think it makes things more fun. See, it makes things more fun. People tend to learn quicker when using technology. It’s more engaging than just having a book and a pen at your disposal. It makes things more interesting, and also shares more information. So I think in that way, they can use technology in education. I also think they should be more improvements though, in the way that some of these technology apps used in education. However, I think at the rate that it’s being used at the moment, in that sector, it’s quite good. And with the smart people that we have in this continent, in this country, this whole world, it will just get better.

Tariq: I get you. Most definitely. Yeah. So I just want to thank both of you. Amo and Javu. Really appreciate your opinions. Really awesome to hear like the teacher’s opinion and the student’s opinion. So I really appreciate that.

Amo: Thank you.

Csarina: Nevertheless is a Storythings production.

Ethan: Series producer is Renay Richardson.

Csarina: Executive Producers are Nathan Martin and Anjali Ramachandran

Hannah: This episode was produced and written by the students of School 21

Lethabo: Nova Pioneer

Ethan: And Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School.

Csarina: Additional sound design by Jason Oberholtzer and Michael Simonelli.

Hannah: Supported by Pearson.

Justin: If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast to subscribe and leave us a review.

Hannah: For more information, go to Neverthelesspodcast.com

Nevertheless is a a podcast celebrating the women transforming teaching and learning through technology. Supported by Pearson. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, TuneIn or RadioPublic.