Jón Nonni Friðriksson

Q: Tell me a little bit about yourself. Name/age/occupation/where you are currently living. How long have you been/were you in Iceland?

A: My name is JÛn Fririksson, called Nonni, I'm 28 years old, I work as a chef and assistant manager at my families restaurant Kaffi Borgir, Live in a place called M˝vatnssveit, it's the area around Lake M˝vatn. I've live all my life in Iceland and moved back and forth around there a few times.

 

Q: How do most people get their news/information in Iceland? Who controls the media?

A: We have a few news websites. VÌsir.is and MBL.is are the biggest ones. The younger people get most of the news from those

websites or links from them on facebook. The media is just self controlled for the most part.

 

Q: What social media is used most there? News outlet? How commonly do people use RUV?

A: We mostly use facebook, snapchat, twitter and instagram. Facebook probably most popular. Most news from VÌsir or MBL but

 there are a lot of different smaller news websites and some specialize in certain things like different sports or anything. RUV is mostly just used by older people, 50years old or more. Only thing RUV has are a few Icelandic shows like

 

 Gettu betur, ⁄tsvar and then just the general news time.

 

Q: How do you think people from other countries view Icelanders based on what they see in the media?

A: I'm not sure what they see but I would think that they see Iceland as a small, safe, beautiful but very expensive island haha

  Maybe our identity is the relaxed, helpful and laid back attitude. One good Icelandic saying is "fietta reddast" which would

  translate to "it will all work out okay in the end"

 

Q: How important is tourism in Iceland?

A: Extremely important, right now at least! It's pretty much already way too much for the summer season so we need to hire many people from other countries to help us and that leaves tourists meeting less and less Icelandic people on their trip around Iceland. So if the tourism would just fall right now the whole country would be in a big mess of trouble.

 

Q: Is the use of media increasing or decreasing? How can you tell?

A: Well more and more people have and use smartphones everyday now so probably increasing. You see people commenting and sharing news articles and posts all the time.

 

Q: What kind of television do you watch? Streaming services?

A: I download every show and movie from torrent. Most people I know that are under 30y old use Netflix and the older use the Icelandic tv station services. Stod2 has a streaming service for their entertainment.

 

Q: What kind of music do you listen to? (Please share specific songs - especially if they are in Icelandic!)

A: I mostly listen to rock or the 90's and 00's best songs. I'll share my spotify playlist and a friends Icelandic songs Spotify playlist so you can just look at what times of songs we like. My list - https://open.spotify.com/user/frimbo13/playlist/5Hh4iaYLg0uREg86Cwr5bJ?si=V-zKpliRSyugeRDK4PeXxg Icelandic music - https://open.spotify.com/user/1190361517/playlist/7fiO0VMkaeTUxNJaB4pp5f?si=GEYdx5wmR_6trLiyHXJZwg.

 

Q: What kind of food do you typically eat/ cook (what is your favorite meal/ what is most popular)?

A: Usually I eat fresh salad and chicken or skyr. Favorite is grilled lamb or beef with sauce, salad and sweet potatoes but my baked salmon with Geysir bread is a close second place. (just ask Molly ;)) Most popular in Iceland is fresh fish or lamb.

 

Q: What do Icelanders do for fun/recreation?

A: Well that really depends on a person. Lots of people go out to party every weekend. Most people have some sort of sport the play a few times a week. Play video games and watch TV on a basic evening is also very common.

 

Q: How does media and technology play a role in family life (children especially)? Work life?

A: Everyone is playing on the phone way more than they should be, both at work and family life. Don't think it effects us that much at all.

 

Q: How happy do you think Icelanders generally are? What is the cause of this?

A: I think most people living outside of ReykjavÌk area are very happy because they know how to be happy with what they have

and to just appreciate the joy and peacefulness of nature. In ReykjavÌk there are more people working a boring 9-5 jobs in

the dark all day in winter. I just think most Icelanders are not born to live in a city environment.

 

Q: How healthy do you think Icelanders are?

A: Most people are probably a bit over weight but still very healthy in a way. Most overweight issues here are caused from

eating too much food rather than eating unhealthy food.

 

Q: Are there any important cultural, economic, racial, or political rifts/tensions within the country? (These could be based on money, race, language, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, etc.)

A: I think we have the same issues as most nations do. We have issues with immigrants, refugees, rich vs poor, #metoo and

so much more. It's just too much and too hard to write down on such a big all around issue.

 

Q: Do you know of any other resources (people, books, online, social media, etc.) that would be useful to me?

A: Yes! Check out www.visir.is , www.mbl.is , www.reddit.com/r/Iceland/. We also have lots of different Facebook groups but

they are all in Icelandic.

 

Q: Do you have any photos, videos, maps, or other media from Iceland that you could send to me? If so, please do!

A: I have lots of photos and videos of the nature around here. Not sure what you are looking for but you can just add me on

Facebook through Molly and ask there and hopefully I can help :)

 

Q: Anything interesting to add?

A: Happy to help. Most Icelanders are always ready to help out but getting more and more scared of doing so because it has

been abused by tourists more and more the last few years. Sort of what happens when you have more and more coming every year. But any friend of Molly is a friend of mine so I'll help anyway I can. t8.