Upgrade Me Page #3

If you just clear the desks, thanks.

If you've brought a gadget or an electronic device with you today,

can you just get them out and put them on the table?

'I'm gob-smacked by the amount of stuff the children have brought in today to show me.

'Holland Park School is a diverse inner-city comprehensive

'and the pupils here come from every social background.'

- Is that a special cover for that?

- Yeah.

Oh, that's pretty cool.

- You can put music on it.

- Can you watch videos on it as well?

'These kids are 11 and 12, but a remarkable 49 out of 50 own a mobile phone.

'Only a handful don't have the latest MP3 player or games console.

'And every child here owns a digital camera.

'You can't help thinking that gadgets are actually part of their identities.'

Is it cool to be the same as everybody else or is it cool to be different?

Could you be really cool by NOT having a phone?

If you have a phone, it's cooler than not having a phone,

but it's also cool to have a different phone to your friends.

People like to compare their phones, for just like early on.

Me and Dan were just comparing our phones, comparing the different features

on our phones, such as the camera, the games, the downloading off the internet, and things like that.

What is the ultimate gadget? What is the best gadget to have?

- The iPhone. - iPhone. - Yeah.

- It's cool, it does everything.

- So even though nobody here's got an iPhone, you've all heard of it?

- Yeah.

You all know what one is and you all desire one?

- Yeah. - I don't think I really need one at this

stage in life. - Maybe you're in denial about it,

secretly it's the thing that you desire more than anything?

Um, not really.

'Toys have long been status symbols for kids.

'But for this generation, there seems to be a good deal

'of social pressure on them and their parents to acquire the latest gadgets and be part of the gang.'

It's also really interesting to see what a social tool they are.

Gadgets are often thought of as things that isolate people,

but watching them together here, it seems to me that they're often devices for bringing people together.

'I thought it would be fun to see how many of them could recognise a portable music device from MY youth.'

Has anybody got one of these?

No. What is it?

- What do you think it is? - A box. - I think

it's a computer. - Do you think it's a computer?

I think it's one of the first computers ever made,

inside the box.

It looks like it could be some big, chunky laptop, in its case.

I think it's a radio and it might be like you can sit in it while listening to music.

THEY LAUGH Very comfy! What do you think it is?

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