My So-Called Digital Life: 2,000 Teenagers, 300 Cameras, and 30 Days to Document Their World [Paperback]

Bob Pletka EdD (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Inspired by photography books such as Rick Smolan's America 24/7 (2003), which records moments in a single day across the country, Pletka, a director of technology for Southern California's Covina-Valley School District, organized a similar project with high-school students in his region. The students'charge was to capture, with words and images, their lives during a month at school. Grouped into categories, the powerful student essays and photos address the trip to and from school, learning and the ways students play after school. The intimate images reach far beyond the headlines and hype about teen trends and emphasize the enormous pressures students face, beginning with their grueling schedules--many pictures show the predawn commute to school. Equally affecting are the students'frank critiques of the "dull, lifeless" teaching methods and the joy they find in dynamic classrooms. Adults and teens will come away stirred and enlightened by this raw, impressive student collaboration and by Pletka's moving introduction, which challenges administrators to rethink how school is taught. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"An ambitious project, an attempt to map from the inside the daily experience of adolescence."  —Los Angeles Times Book Review
 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Santa Monica Press (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595800050
• ISBN-13: 978-1595800053
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #168,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book, April 4, 2006

By	Food Fan (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My So-Called Digital Life: 2,000 Teenagers, 300 Cameras, and 30 Days to Document Their World (Paperback)

This book is likable for several different reasons....It provides a social anthropology of children and teens and allows readers to peer into the lives of diverse teens. Some quotes are eye opening and others are confirming of my perceptions of teens. The photos selected are very good and stand on their own merit. I like how this book is written and photographed by teens, so it's not like those dense theses by ivory tower scholars writing about what they think teens arelike.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How insightful!, October 27, 2005

By	Ritter H. Hernandez Vonali "chaiselounge" (dallas, tx usa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: My So-Called Digital Life: 2,000 Teenagers, 300 Cameras, and 30 Days to Document Their World (Paperback)

I never realized how much life has changed for teens....this is a must read for anyone on marketing to teens.

5.0 out of 5 stars Digital life revisited, January 6, 2009

By	Fred A. Jaramillo "FredJara" (Lancaster, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: My So-Called Digital Life: 2,000 Teenagers, 300 Cameras, and 30 Days to Document Their World (Paperback)

When my class was selected to particitpate in this project, I wondered how it would turn out. During our prep training, I met some of the best educators in the State of California. Bod Pletka did an awesome job of compiling work from some dozens of schools, riding heard on some of us who were procrastinators, and compiling this awesome work. If you want to see California's finest working to show you what school life is like, this is the extensive photo essay you want to purchase. Well worth the price!