Music.

Wir sind Klaas Eizzi vom Wagenburg Gymnasium in Stuttgart. Heute werden wir Ihnen die Buch Die Disconnect, das war geschrieben von Kieran David und geschrieben von der Klett Verlag in Stuttgart. Das ist wie wir uns strukturieren unseren Podcast. Erstens, wir werden die Hauptsache über den Buch diskutieren. Dann werden wir ein Text-Extracts von dem Buch. Dann werden wir ein Text-Extracts von der Buch. Dann werden wir ein Text-Extracts von unserer Interview mit dem Autor Kieran David. At last werden wir eine Diskussion über Smartphones und was wir haben mit ihnen erlebt. But before that, you will hear a brief overview of the text. We are Matisse, Kimia, Lazisa, Luisa, Jule and Felicia. We are very excited to do this and we hope you'll enjoy it.

Esther and her friends are presented with a challenge. To give up their smartphones for six weeks. Everybody who successfully managed the disconnect will be given 1000 pounds as a reward. Seriously? Can you even survive a day without chatting to your friends, getting likes and knowing what other people are saying about each other? And what are the ultimative motives of the billionaire Dame Irene Irvine, who has started this challenge? Is she truly interested in doing something about the kids' media addiction? Or is she only driven by economic interests? Esther is going to find it out. Now we will present you the main characters. Esther is the first main character. Shakila, Natalie and Sophie are Esther's friends Mom and Dad are Esther's parents, which are divorced Evie is Mom's boyfriend and Lucille is her dad's girlfriend Rosa is Esther's sister, Carlos is Rosa's boyfriend and Zach is Rosa's and Carla's child and there are also many other characters The book's main topic is what life is like when you don't use your phone Our first impressions were that you think at the beginning you know how the book will end but at some point you realize the story doesn't turn out that way after all.

The book The Disconnect is about a girl called Esther who gets a challenge proposed to give up her phone for six weeks. At first she struggles to leave her phone, but then she tries to accept it and meets new people from her school who take part in The Disconnect 2. In chapter 11 she starts to realize what she missed of her life while looking at her phone. When Isa called her best friend Natalie cheating on the challenge with a boy Isa realized how much mobile phones influence the people's life and how easily you can get addicted to them She finally gets to tell her mother how much she is on her phone and she managed to tell Natalie to be honest Now we will discuss about phone using So I think that the disconnect is not good, was not a good idea And I think that phones are really important, for example, for social interaction, if you want to talk with your friends, for example.

But if you're always on your phone, then you don't take the time to talk to your friends. So it's like it stops you from socializing. Yeah, this could be a case. But for example, phones are sometimes the keys to communication because if your family or your friends live far away and you don't always have the chance to visit them or talk to them face-to-face and you can, for example, chat on WhatsApp or phone or something like that. But most people who are on their phones, they are always on social media like Instagram or YouTube and so they don't take the time to talk to other people. Yes, that's not good to be always on social media, but it's not always the case because sometimes I think that, yeah, it's not good to always be on social media, but take the phone away completely, I think is also not an option because it will not really help. They won't be suddenly, oh, now I won't use my phone ever again or something like that. So I still think it's a good key to communication. And the solution is not by taking the phone away completely.

I think it's like when people live far away from you, then it's a good solution. But if people live near you, like three blocks away, then you can just walk there and ask them personally if they want to do something with you. You don't need your phone. Usually like a hundred years ago, they did it without phones. Yeah, of course. When your friends live near, then you can come visit them. But still not all your friends or family live like two streets away from you some friends live like two hours and then you don't always take the time to I don't know drive with the bus and the subway like two hours or something for example you don't always have the time or the opportunity to do this sometimes you just need your phone to keep up or something like that I think that's true but many people have social anxiety because of their phones because for example if you're on Instagram and you post a picture then people write hate comments and then you have the fear of going out and talking to other people socializing with them because you have the fear that they could hate you and think you're ugly or dumb or something yeah that's also a good point but I think that it's not always like this social media can also have like good points for example you can inform yourself.

Or something for example if something bad is happening no one today reads like um newspaper anymore except like the old grown men or something and you can for example inform yourself on social media and yeah sometimes there's like a bit hate or something but it doesn't always have to be like that so it's just one case and it doesn't speak for everyone i think that's true but um often when you are informing yourself on social media then it's it's wrong and um you are you are reading things that are not true and often the people just believe it you know like for example with with skincare videos and they tell you just put like mud on your face and post a dann wird es in einem Tag geheilt, aber das ist nicht wahr und du bist einfach für die Leute, die lieben Sie. Und dann, wie die usualen Nachbarn, ist die bessere Option, weil sie die richtigen Dinge schreiben.

Yeah, of course, that newspaper is, for example, better because there is no hate or something. But I think that it would be really hard to convince the young people today, teenagers or 20-year-olds or something like that, to buy newspaper and read them. Because I think that for a lot more people it's easier to read things on the phone. And I think that there are more, they will more do that than get a newspaper from the kiosk or something, buy it and read it entirely. Because I just think that we are so used to the phone that they just won't change it that quick and they can't just change your habits that quick. So, yeah, I think sometimes that is true. But many young people don't even read any journal or any news on their phones. They just they watch TikToks or they watch YouTube and then they scroll and scroll. And then maybe some AI made video says, oh, no, the world is going to explode in two days. And then they believe it because it's just that we are so used to our phones and to everything they say that we won't.

Even think about things that are true or not true. And for example, young people, they use their phones to post pictures of themselves or to try to be an influencer. And many people who use social media, they will use these pictures for no good things. Maybe like AI can also, it can change pictures every time that you just have some false pictures and you just believe that it happened like that because you're just so used to it. But I think that then the problem is, yeah, I, of course, is a big problem, but I don't think that, still, I'm not, I don't think that you could just take the phone away immediately and then suppose that every world problem is, like, over, you know. I think social media, yeah, you, a lot of people just scroll, Aber ich denke, dass.

It's there for, like, it can also have a good thing. For example, there are a lot of dating apps, for example, on the phone. Or, like, you can just get to know people on the phone. Because today we have a lot of different opportunities with a lot of different apps. And then you can, like, get to know someone, for example, for people who are more shy or something. Or the problem with social media, for example. if you have had a bad day yeah of course you don't always have to go on your phone or on social media or something but for some people it's like it's like, they just are.

It just helps them sometimes when they're down and then you just because on social media it's not just AI or bad things or something they're also good things like people can build up a community people can like for example influencers yeah of course there are bad influencers or something but there are also good influencers who just want to share their knowledge or help other people for example with their problems or something like that and i think that that's one of the good things of social media i think that is true but it's very difficult to know who is a good influencer who wants to help you to share just his life and his good things with you are the people who are doing things that are fake and who just fake videos and act like they were nice to just like make people believe wrong things I think that is yeah it's like a big problem on social media and I think that dass viele Menschen, die aufgrund des Social Media sind, weil auf Social Media gibt es sehr viel Hade. Viele Menschen suchen jemanden, die sie sagen, was sie tun müssen, oder dass sie gut sehen. Aber viele Menschen geben Hade-Comments und so etwas anderes.

Yeah, I think that now we discuss a lot of things and we want to like prove a little point about the discussion while reading a little part of the book that we are talking about. So, yeah.

I've run a bit, but not for ages, I tell him. Why not? I used to be busy all the time, but now I realize that a lot of being busy involves keeping up with stuff on my phone. And also, running was something that Rosa and I did together, and she's not here anymore. Wir will now discuss about the questions we asked our classmates about their phone using so the first question we asked in our class was the average of their phone using and most people, said that they use their phones two to four hours and one person said that she uses her phone one to two hours. I think that's pretty much. Yeah, but I have to admit that I was also one of the persons who said two to four hours because I don't know, I'm just used to my phone so much that maybe I'm a bit addicted. Yeah, me too. I just, I don't know. I just, I can't, I don't realize when I'm using it. I just, I just do it. Yeah, so the problem is sometimes I'm just on social media and And I squelze so much that I just lose myself. Yeah, I just forget the time.

And the second question was, how well do people feel after using their phone?

Yeah, so most of the people said that they feel worse than before. Three people said they feel just the same. Und ich denke, es war eine der Leute, die sie fühlen, die sie auch fühlen, ist diejenige, die sie benutzen sie einfach nur zwei Stunden. Ich denke, viele Leute, die ihre iPhone sehr viel benutzen, fühlen sich schlecht darüber, weil sie wissen, dass sie ihre Zeit auf ihrem Handy auf dem Telefon scrollen und durch ein Kind von Trash, während sie etwas mehr Produktionsleiter machen. I think that sometimes I just use my phone a lot when I'm in my room and it's dark in my room and then my eyes kind of hurt afterwards. I don't know, I think that that's normal and it's not good, of course, but my eyes just feel like that and it's just not a good feeling. And yeah, I definitely don't feel better after using my phone for like three hours or something. Yeah, for me it's sometimes even like this that I feel worse after using my phone, But I just restart using it to feel better and to forget this feeling. And it's like very addictive feeling. Yeah. So the second question is, how well do you feel without your phone? So one person answered they feel well.

And the rest said that they feel like middle, so not so well, but also not that bad. So I have to admit that I do not feel well so I there is no difference when I don't have my phone for like quite a time but if I don't have it for like a longer time period then I don't feel that good because there's something missing in it so before I got my phone then it was like just normal but now that I've been having my phone for like three years or something like that I don't know exactly, but now if I don't have it for a longer time period then I just feel so bored and something, I don't know Yeah, I know what you mean and sometimes I do feel like I'm lost without my phone for example if I'm out shopping or something and I don't know where I am, then usually I would first grab my phone and look for, the way and so I feel kind of.

So the third question is, on what apps are you the most? Most people said Insta, Youtube, TikTok, Social Media. Three people said Spotify. And one person said they play games a lot.

And I think this shows that social media is a really big part of the life of the people, of the young people, because they just use it very much. And I think they have the feeling like they need it and that they will miss something out if they don't look on their phone on social media. So the final, last question was, if you would take part of the Disconnect, so the experience from them are vine. Six people said yes, five people said no, so it was nearly a tie. And yeah, I would clearly not take part of it because I don't want to have my phone for six months because I think that that's way too much. Even if it's for 1,000 pounds, it's not worth it, I think. I said that I would do it because I think it won't be that hard like we think because we would have the other phone, the little phone with which you can call people. And I think because of that, I won't feel that lost and that it will be quite easy without a phone. So to sum it all up, our class answers were not always that different. They were mostly the same but the last question if you would take part of the disconnect was like really.

Split up and I think the question shows how much our classmates are addicted to their phones or how much they are using it and it just shows the feeling that the phone does make us feel, it's just that we sometimes feel bad mit es, ohne es. Und ich denke, das ist ein Problem.

Hey guys, today we are going to interview Esther from the book. Hi Esther! Hi! So today I will be going to ask you a few questions. Why did you decide to take part in the competition? I honestly did it because of the money, because I wanted to visit my family in the USA. And what was the hardest in the first few days without a smartphone? The sudden distance from my friends. I was used to being constantly in contact. Without a phone, I felt totally insulated at first. Did you learn something about you through time without social media? Yes, definitely. I notice that I enjoy things more when I'm not distracted. Conversation, walks, even thinking. I'm more independent than I thought. Yeah, that's cool. How has your relationship with your friends changed? It was not always easy. Some friendships were put to the test. But I recognized who's really there for me. mit oder ohne Likes. Would you do the experiment again? Yes, definitely. It changed my life. I use my phone more consecutively now and that feels good. Yeah, that's cool. Thank you.

Now we're going to read chapter 16, Delayed and Reset. In chapter 16, Natalie makes up with Maura and says sorry for bullying her in the past. Then she confesses that she cheated on the disconnect. River catches up with Esther and they talk about the newest things which happened in her life.

Come on, she says. You can do this. I can't, Natalie says. I said I would, but I'm just too embarrassed. Esther leans on her crutches and leads her between-the-break-time crowds to Mora's corner. Mora is eating an apple and reading a book. Hi, Mora, she says. Mora looks up and sees Natalie. Her eyes narrow, just a bit, but it makes Esther certain she knows very well that Natalie was among her bullies. Natalie's got something to say, haven't you? She says and gives Natalie a nudge. I just want to say, Natalie pauses, that I've said and done some stupid things in the past and bullying you was one of them. I'm really sorry. If you ever decide to go back on social media, I've totally got your back. Maura just looks at her and for a minute Esther can't breathe, worrying that Maura's going to refuse to accept Natalie's apology. Then Maura says, Okay, well, thanks for saying that. And Esther jumps in and asks what she's reading. They have a slightly awkward conversation about their favorite authors, which warms up a bit when Maura and Natalie discover a shared love for romance stories. And then Rivers spots Esther and comes charging over. I've done it, he says. I've stopped doing the disconnect. I told Miss Chen that I was taking a stand against manipulation by big business. How about you?

Uh, no, she says and looks at her shoes. I'm still going on with it. River's eyebrows go up and he rubs his nose and the smile disappears from his face Oh, he says Shame, oh well, how did you hurt your food by the way? I fell and broke my fifth meter whistle Oh, classic football injury River says David Beckham And Wayne Rooney, she interrupts I know, that's what everyone says How did you fall over? River asks.

Esther hesitates, Natalie answers for her. We were mocked, a guy on a moped snatched my phone from Esther. How did you fall over? River asks. Esther hesitates, Natalie answers for her. We were mocked, a guy on a moped snatched my phone from Esther. But you weren't meant to have a phone, Maura says, open mouthed. I was cheating, Natalie says. And I'm sorry about that, and I'm going to miss Jen to confess. There is a bit of a crowd around them now, and Esther can hear their voices buzzing away. Natalie, Esther, phone, phone, phone. She can only imagine the messages that will be sent about them this afternoon. But she doesn't care. Let them say what they want. Esther gathers her crutches together. Come on, she tells Natalie. Let's get it over with. Musik Musik Musik Musik Musik, Thank you so much for listening to our podcast about the disconnect We hope you found it interesting and maybe even feel inspired to read the book yourself If you enjoyed this episode feel free to leave a good rating or share with others See you next time Musik.

Music.