Mixed Boy Observation Report

Observation At the 125th stop of the 1 subway train line, four young boys no older than 13 enter the car. It is Thursday, February 15th at 3:30pm and the boys seem to be coming from school, as they are all wearing backpacks. The group consists of two black boys, one white boy, and one perceived to be of mixed race. They are all dressed in similar clothing: pants, T-shirts, and jackets. Additionally, they all interact with their cell phones at least once during the observation.
As the train continues its path uptown, one of the black boys shakes his head and says, “Yo man, these girls are crazy.”
They all laugh and the mixed boy replies, “If you like her, you gotta like crazy.” They all laugh again and then fall silent as they all check their phones for about two minutes. At this time, they are minimally interacting with one another by directing others’ attention to the phones and occasionally laughing.

The second black boy says “Got family stuff, ya know. Sorry.” His tone seems regretful, as if it was his own choice, he wouldn’t spend time with his family.
The mixed boy looks up from his phone to say “Yeah, me too, man.”
They return to their cell phones silently until more people enter the train and the boys are blocked from the observer.