Interview 1:

Marisa: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and discuss your opinions about sharing

information online. Can I record this conversation and you'll be completely anonymous?

B: Yes, of course.

Marisa: Yippee. Okay, first, how would you characterize your own use of social media?

B: Um, I use social media to message people and to scroll. And just see what people are up to.

Marisa: Um, what platforms do you use and how often?

B: Um, Instagram about everyday. Um, YouTube and TikTok occasionally.

Marisa: And then which is your favorite and why?

B: Probably YouTube, because there's just a lot of, like, content, short form, and long form, and

you can find a lot of people discussing a lot of different things.

Marisa: Um... What are your opinions in general on YouTube, specifically? Do you trust this

site? B: Um, YouTube is unique in that it's all user created content. And so, I think trust is based

on, like, user to user credibility.

Marisa: And then what about Instagram and TikTok?

B: Instagram has preferences that you can set, so I feel like that helps its credibility, although

with the new features, It is making me nervous, like with the map feature that they have now.

Um, And I think TikTok is pretty similar.

Marisa: Um, do you do anything to protect yourself online in terms of privacy?

B: Um, nothing out of the ordinary. Oh, yeah, I do make sure to check preferences.

Marisa: And then do you do anything else to, like, protect your reputation, avoid scams, or

misinformation, or to preserve your mental health?

me. Um, And what were some of the other ones?

Marisa: Um, how do you avoid- do you do anything to avoid scams or misinformation?

B: Hmm. Yeah, I feel like controlling who follows me helps me avoid scams and information.

Marisa: And then do you do anything to preserve your mental health in regards to social media?

B: Um... I recently got a screen time app. It will tell me when I was spending too much time,

which I feel like helps.

Marisa: Uh-huh. How do your friends use social media? And then, is there anything you'd

recommend they not do to avoid negative consequences?

B: Um... I feel like we all use it about the same. If not better than me. Um, And yeah, just as long

as they're watching the preferences, I think we should- it’ll be secure.

Marisa: Do you have any thoughts in general on what people choose to post or not post on social

media?

B: Um, I think as long as everyone in the post is, like, informed and consents to being posted. I

think that's important.

Marisa: What are your feelings about how people use social media today?

B: Hmm... I think they're using it, how it's designed to be used, and so I think if there are flaws in

social media, it's in the design.

Marisa: And then I just have to ask you some demographic questions, and then we're done.

B: Mm hmm.

Marisa: Gender.

B: Non-biney [non-binary].

Marisa: Year of birth.

Marisa: Current city of residence.

B: In Northridge.

Marisa: How long have you been using social media for? In terms of years?

B: Four years.

Marisa: Any college?

B: Nope.

Marisa: Um, how many hours or minutes per day do you spend on social media?

B: Um... Uh, probably, like, 2 to 3 hours. Average?

Marisa: Okay. That's it. Thank you.

B: You're welcome, of course.

Interview 2:

Marisa: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and discussing your opinions about

sharing information online. Can I record this conversation, your name will not be associated with

it? It’ll be anonymous.

W: Yeah, that's fine

Marisa: Cool. How would you characterize your own use of social media?

W: Um, I think I definitely, like, consume more than I post and I, like, try with varying success

to, like, limit my social media time. Um, The most that I use it for posting is I have a couple of

jobs, um, and positions that require me to, like, use social media and, um, post, like, promotional

things. But in terms of my own personal use, I post very infrequently and it's mostly just

consuming other content.

W: Um, just Instagram and Facebook, um, Facebook very infrequently. I only use that for

posting for the apparition jobs. Instagram, I also use both for work and posting and then just for

my own personal use. And Instagram, I use daily.

Marisa: Um, is there one you prefer to use and why? Um, Instagram, I think just because I am in

the demographic that like Instagram was like promoted to and it was like, you know, made, um,

and I'm not old. Um, and then, yeah, I just, Instagram's the only social media that I, like, really

use for liking them, just my own, like, consumption and then, like, you know, keeping up with

friends. So I don't follow anyone. I know on Facebook. I don't ever post. So I just use Instagram

more likely.

Marisa: Awesome sauce. Um, what are your opinion of the opinions of these sites? Do you trust

them?

W: Um, What do you mean, why?

Marisa: Do you trust them? Like, if you see, like, a piece of information on, like, let's say

Instagram, would you trust that information?

W: Um, not as, like, fact. I mean, I am a bit guilty of, like, you know, 1st news source being

Instagram sometimes just by, like, you know, eye open Instagram and just a world event has

happened and everyone's talked about it. But I don't generally like trust that. I think that because,

like, there's no requirements for Instagram to be, like, peer reviewed or, like, sourced before

posted. If I see something on there, I typically go and like, you know, try to find actual articles

written about it.

Marisa: Real. Um, do you do anything to protect your privacy online?

feature, I just, like, turn that off. Um, I teach middle and high schoolers, so I have my accounts at

the private, like just because of that, I don't want them finding me and like following me. Um,

and then I just, I try to limit the amount of information in my bio. Um, like, if you found my

Instagram account and like, no, you'd only be able to tell my name, and then, um, like, the school

I go to, I figure CSUN’s big enough, that's probably okay if, like, people are aware that I go here,

but, like, I don't have anything about, like, you know, my age, my hometown, and then, yeah,

everything's private, so I have to, like, you know, approve you to see, like, the things I actually

post.

Marisa: Oh, do you do anything to protect your reputation, avoid scams or misinformation, or

preserve your mental health?

W: Um... I think I'll try to remember all that and go in order.

Marisa: First one is you already kind of touched on it, so I don't know if you have anything to

add, but to protect your reputation.

W: Um, not, not really other than, like, you know, I just kind of, um, I don’t post, like, very

often, and so I try not to, like, you know, especially with things like Instagram notes and stories,

try not to do the, like, you know, just knee jerk, something upset me. I'm gonna, like, make posts

about it. But, yeah, that's kind of it. Just, like, you know, limit what I post and, like, the

information out there. Um, the next thing is avoiding scams and misinformation. Um, I mean, I...

I feel kind of at this point, I just know, like, what the scam DMs look like. I just don't interact

with them. Um, and then avoiding this information, kind of, like I said, like, I just, you know,

tend not to just blanket trust, what I see online, especially Instagram. If there's, like, a post made

about, like, the important topic, I'll just try to verify it. And then to preserve your mental health. I
mean, I just try to limit the amount of time I'm on Instagram. Um, again, the varying success,

depending on the day.

Marisa: Real. How do your friends use social media? Is there anything you'd recommend they

not do?

W: I think, um, most of my friends use social media, the, like, kind of same amount I do in the

same ways that I do. Um, and I don't know about what I'd recommend they not do, because all of

it would be a little bit hypocritical, um, but probably recommend spending less time scrolling,

um, that there's probably just, you know, more productive hobbies, or there's, like, you know,

other things you can need to unwind that aren't, like, you know, just an endless, like, cycle.

Marisa: Do you have any thoughts in general on what people choose to post or not post?

W: Um, for the most part, not really, because I know for me, it's kind of like I post like two to

three times a year like normally just after each semester and then, um, like over summer. In

general, I tend not to think much about what people are posting. So, yeah, I just, I know I post

less than the average person, but yeah, I don't really have thoughts with how other people post.

Marisa: And then what are your feelings in general about how people use social media today?

W: Um.. I don't know how much I have. I mean, I think, in general, I think we do use it too

much, especially as like, in terms of like hobbies, I think, like, too many people just use social

media as their hobby and like things falling and like, things like that. But, um, Yeah, it's trying

to, I think that, um, I don't know how many people use social media as their like primary news

source. I don't really know if I know anybody who like does that. Um, but, I, I feel like because

there's just so many accounts that post the news, there is a problem, there are probably people

who use it as, like, their only primary or only news source wouldn't really recommend that.
Marisa: Real. Um, then the last thing is demographic questions, and then we can be done.

Gender?

W: All right, no, no. Uh, non binary.

Marisa: Year of birth?

W: 2005.

Marisa: Current city of residence?

W: Northridge.

Marisa: How long have you been using social media? in terms of years?

W: Uh, since I was 13, so... a little under 8 years, I think.

Marisa: Um, any college?

W: I'm almost done with my undergraduate. Bachelor's of art degree. Fourth year of music

education.

Marisa: Well, and then what is your average, like, hours per day spent on social media?

W: Um, probably two to three. Uh, when I'm on, like, a good streak of stopping doom scrolling,

I'm on it for about, like, under an hour a day, but then after, like, a week of that, I go back to,

right, close to two.

Marisa: Awesome sauce. Thank you.