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When I think of the last decade (starting in 2000), I think of it in comparison to previous decades. Being more or less a grownup, I can remember decades like the 80′s and 90′s quite well, and I’ve got some 70′s in there too. But what about kids who were born at the beginning of this decade? What’s their worldview like? Remember, these are kids who have been alive during a time when iPods, cell phones, and the internet were actually mature technologies. For me, all of those things are fairly recent miracles that have transformed the way I live. For these kids, it’s just how life works. Also, these kids have grown up in a country that has been involved in several foreign wars nearly their entire lives; 9/11 happened when they were toddlers. How does that experience shape their thinking?
Filmmaker Allison Louie-Garcia made the following short film by interviewing a series of nine-year-olds in 2009, to explore what they think. The first minute (in which the kids give their birth dates) is a bit bland, but if you get past that, the kids’ answers to various questions is fascinating — and often funny. (Example: when asked about their biggest fears, most of the kids cited “Bloody Mary” as one of the worst.)
Some of the questions asked:
Who is the biggest celebrity?
Have you heard this song (“Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears)?
How old were you when you first used a computer?
Can anyone tell me what Napster is?
Trying to figure out what the sound of a modem is
Explain global warming; Who is Barack Obama?
What was the biggest news story of your lifetime?
What can you tell me about 9/11?
What is a terrorist?
Do you know anyone who’s currently at war?
What are your biggest fears?
The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.
Comments (27)
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The part I got the biggest kick out of was 2 min, 29 sec in… AKA:
Trying to figure out what the sound of a modem is
Whenever my computer is slow now, I remember back to those days!
posted by Amy on 1-6-2010 at 4:57 pm
That stupid old modem was so loud it would wake my mom up after she went to bed and I tried to sneak onto the computer.
Bloody Mary was a big deal when I was nine…which was like….a long time ago…
posted by LT on 1-6-2010 at 5:28 pm
“I used to be scared of Bloody Mary but my mom told me it was just a drink”
classic
posted by Thom on 1-6-2010 at 5:36 pm
Informative, and the audio is entertaining; but, the visuals were horrible. The photos flashed on and off too quick, and didn’t seem to line-up with the child who was supposedly talking.
posted by Cory on 1-6-2010 at 7:01 pm
I was born in 1990 so I grew up with computers around and cell phones becoming increasingly small but it is intense to see these little guys with mature versions of the technologies that were born when I was their age. They’re in like 3rd grade and have cell phones and iPods. I didn’t have a phone until I was 16. And come on, kids! I can’t believe they didn’t know Baby One More Time! That was THE song when I was little. My first CD was Britney Spears.
posted by Anna on 1-6-2010 at 7:11 pm
I think I’m going to ask my 9-year-old sister these questions. We’re 16 years apart, and a lot of the “mature” technologies we have I introduced to my family when I was in high school (I badgered my parents for dial-up); so seeing how she perceives things would be interesting. hmmm…I wonder if she even realizes that 9/11 was the day before her first birthday?
posted by Mary on 1-6-2010 at 9:09 pm
Our 5400 baud modem was the size of a phonebook! I remember reserving books at the library with it, just classic!
posted by Drew on 1-6-2010 at 9:17 pm
I remember a couple of years ago, my then 11 year old daughter was trying to talk me into getting her a cell phone. It really cracked me up when she asked ‘oh yeah, well how old were you when you got your first cell phone????’ Sweetie, I was about 33….
posted by Vickey B on 1-6-2010 at 9:40 pm
The modem noise brings back horrible memories of my early dial up days.
posted by Keisuke on 1-7-2010 at 12:06 am
I would love to see this done with kids from different backgrounds. All of these kids appear to be form the same class so logically you can determine that they come from similar finical and social backgrounds.
@ Vickey B
I know how you feel. A friends kid could not for the life of him figure out how to roll down the windows in a car that had crank window rollers. I could excuse this if he had been like 4 or 5 and never been a car that wasn’t his parents but he was 12. He has just never seen anything like that before.
posted by chris on 1-7-2010 at 12:33 am
That is funny Vickey B. When my daughter asks me that (I know she will) I will get to say, “21, but I didn’t get a phone call until a month later. My friends didn’t have cellphones yet.”
posted by P. Esh on 1-7-2010 at 3:03 am
I miss the sound of the modem. Reminds me of my childhood before we had broadband internet.
posted by Karl on 1-7-2010 at 3:22 am
My son was born in 1999. I took him and his best friend to a library book sale, where his friend held up an lp and asked what it was. I told him it was a record. “What’s a record?”! I understood that he’s never seen a record, but to never have heard of one?? Then I realized that neither of them had ever used a casette tape either.
posted by Kate on 1-7-2010 at 10:28 am
The saddest part of this and the ensuing comments is that apparently children today have very little knowledge of recent history.
To wit: Slide rules were before my time, but I know what they look like. The Rat Pack were from a bygone era, but I can name them all and recognize their faces. Elvis died when I was very young, but I know his music.
Seriously, a 12-year-old that can’t manually roll down a window? Has technology made us unable to think for ourselves?
posted by 8rustystaples on 1-7-2010 at 10:38 am
@8rustystaples, I know what you mean. Though, in all fairness, did you know that stuff when you were 9? I didn’t learn about slide rules until I was in junior high, and I was a math geek. I’m pretty sure most of the people I went to college with wouldn’t have recognized one, and certainly couldn’t have used one.
Similarly, when I was 9 (1980, FTR), I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have told you what the TET Offensive was, even in vague terms. I knew that there had been a war in Vietnam, but that came close to exhausting my knowledge.
Of course, I’m also trying to think of common technologies that were in wide use in the ’50′s and ’60′s, but had vanished by 1980. I can’t really think of any. Lots of new technologies had entered the market, but there hadn’t been the widescale obsolescence of entire industries that we’ve seen in the last 20 years.
posted by Lugh on 1-7-2010 at 1:10 pm
I think Lugh makes a good point. There are a lot of things that I didn’t really become aware of until I was older than these kids too.
My daughter was born in 2001. She started using the computer when she was only 18 months. It was amazing how fast she caught on to the mouse and keyboard.
That modem sound gives me flashbacks to the old AOL connection screen. It was so annoying when you’d lose the connection, like when some one would start making a call while you were online!
And it’s amazing how some things never change – like Bloody Mary.
posted by Nerak on 1-7-2010 at 1:33 pm
When I was 9:
I had used an Apple computer, but not a Mac. I a fan of NASCAR and the PPG IndyCar World Series. I watched the first space shuttle launch and saw the inauguration of President Reagan. I regularly played with my Atari 2600 and Magnavox Odyssey2. I read Dick Tracy in the newspaper. I knew Chrysler needed help. I fully knew Sadat was assassinated. I knew about KISS and the Sex Pistols, The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean, but not the Beatles or Led Zepplin or Fleetwood Mac.
I think what anyone might know at 9 comes from the famlily they are around and what they are exposed to.
If you haven’t figured it out, I turned 9 in November of 1981.
posted by Wayne on 1-7-2010 at 1:43 pm
i wasn’t able to watch the video since i’m at work, but my sister just turned 9 back in november. i distinctly remember a day about 2 years ago when she wanted to watch an old disney movie i have, it’s a vhs. she tried to put it in the dvd player and it, of course, wouldn’t work, so she asked me how to play it. i told to her to put it in the vcr and she looked at me with a bewildered expression and said “what’s a vcr?”
i’ve never felt so old and i’m only 20.
posted by Kayla on 1-7-2010 at 1:44 pm
Another thing I noticed was it seemed like at least half the kids were heavy. I don’t recall that many heavy kids when I was nine.
But goodness yes, the dialup sound gives me flashbacks, and I don’t *think* I’m that old?
posted by Merinda on 1-7-2010 at 1:51 pm
I loved the one kid’s response to global warming. I never knew global warming caused a water shortage and lack of jobs.
Another thing, these kids have cell phones. I am 15, and I don’t have a cell phone!
posted by Carli on 1-7-2010 at 4:23 pm
Demographics have nothing to do with these response…yea, nothing.
posted by Neuro on 1-7-2010 at 7:49 pm
Wow. Just wow. I feel really old right now.
posted by Jayme on 1-8-2010 at 2:10 am
wow. so hw ironic is this…im watchin the plague. every kid in the world under tha age of 9 goes into a coma. they wake up 10 yrs later n attempt to kill everyone. im online & i press stumble. n this website pops up. ima lil freaked out lol
posted by Lorenza on 1-8-2010 at 11:56 am
I would love tell them that when I was growing up along with the modem sound you also had to choose between using the internet or the phone! The director should have also shown them an old school gameboy!
posted by Rachel* on 1-8-2010 at 5:47 pm
@Rachel
omg yes, i remember my 10th birthday, getting a Gameboy Pocket, one screen, black-and-white, tiny graphics and buttons, and had never been more excited!
posted by Jon on 1-9-2010 at 10:54 am
It’s really sad that they think Michael Jackson’s death is the biggest story of their lifetime; yet they don’t properly know what a terrorist is like I did when I was nine. I suppose it’s just the way you’re raised.
posted by this is not my name on 1-9-2010 at 10:32 pm
My EIGHT-year-old cousin has a cell phone. I’m 26, 27 in March, and I don’t have a cell phone.
posted by Sara in AL on 1-10-2010 at 11:51 pm