Look to your right, now look to your left, odds are there are at least one, if not multiple people on their phone. Phone addiction has been a rising problem in schools for a long time. Where kids think social media or the mindless games are more important than their work in class. Being a fellow student at Millikan helped me realize and experience this problem first hand, seeing it all stem from one central problem. That problem being that our phones have become less of a tool, and more of an addiction and we need to put a stop to it.

How did this become so problematic? The answer might be different from what you think. Many parents are too preoccupied with the “dangers” outside and not worried about the dangers that come from their own child’s phone. One distinguished author and psychologist claims “overprotection acted like [experience blockers], which made it difficult for children and also adolescents to get the embodied social experiences they needed most, from risky play and cultural apprenticeships to rites of passage and romantic attachments (haidt 11).” Overprotection from the outside is killing kids’ childhoods, forcing them to be indoors more, typically surrounded by screens. Kids aren’t getting proper social connections due to the drastic decrease in outdoor time making it harder for them to socialize later in life. I myself have even experienced this the other day, while swimming laps at my local public pool, a kid came up to his dad in the neighboring lane, made him stop swimming, just so that he could log into his tablet, even though he had full swim attire on. Parents are so willing to give into this technological world not knowing the added dangers and risks that come from it, only because it’s convenient. Along with being unaware of the dangers, kids are also missing out on interacting and developing social skills or basic physical fitness. Some experts on this crisis claim “They are disembodied, meaning that no body is needed, just language. Partners could be (and already are) artificial intelligences (Haidt 9).” THis further shows the added risk and danger to meeting someone online is that they can pretend to be whoever they want and you would never know. This adds even more risk and chance when it comes to being online because the younger generation is a lot less keen to see if someone has malicious intentions. People may think that technology improvements are good for us, quality of life improvements, better connectivity, nothing but benefits overall, yet continuing this will only lead us further in the opposite direction.

Not stopping this trend will only lead to more harm and further destroy the upcoming generations. Multiple sources and experts in the field state “I have seen the rising levels of anxiety and device addiction as my students have changed from millennials using flip phones to Gen Z using smartphones. I have learned from their candor in discussing their mental health challenges and their complex relationships with technology (Haidt 12).” This easily shows the rising trend/pattern that an increase in technology is potentially causing a decrease in mental health and stability. If we continue to only focus on “bettering” our phones and technology, we will only continue to dig ourselves and the next generation a deeper grave. Me and almost all students at Millikan see this addiction first hand in the classroom. Whether there is a substitute, a long project or even just a basic lecture, there are multiple kids buried in their phones rather than paying attention, because they feel their phones are more important than their classwork. Kids at all schools, not just Millikan are too preoccupied by the garbage their phones offer, because it holds their attention much longer and much better than any assignment or teacher possibly could. This is just furthering the fact that phone companies and social media platforms care more about using the younger generation and taking their attention hostage rather than having them better themselves in school. Studies and sources show and state “Online social networks, which can be useful for helping adults achieve their goals, may not be effective substitutes for real-world communities within which children have been rooted, shaped and raised for hundreds of thousands of years (Haidt 3).” These trends are clearly showing that even with all of this ease of connection between each other is overall hurting the development of social groups for adolescents. This just further proves that the innovation in technology is destroying hundreds of thousands of years of social connections and development patterns in the younger generation. People are too blindsided by the connectivity and integration of technology that they aren’t seeing the destruction of social patterns and connections in the new generation.

A lot of concerned parents wonder how we can put an end to this, and the answer is quite simple. Add limits to the technology. People in favor of this change claim “Do your best to ensure that your child’s school issued device has social media sites blocked. Talk to school officials to ensure this (Kersting 153).” This simple precaution prevents numerous distractions from you or your peers while completing your homework. If we aren’t limiting or getting rid of social media and the effect it has on us, we are simply feeding into what the multi-billion dollar industry wants us to do, mindlessly scrolling and feeding them our attention. I myself have limited myself to an hour limit on social media platforms so that I can overall leave it in the past and stop letting it control me. Ever since I’ve begun that rule, after I got over the initial pain of not being able to scroll endlessly, I’ve felt so much more connected and in touch with the people and environment around me. Even without my phone and social media it has felt so relieving and I’ve enjoyed being outside and being around people so much more now that I’m not glued to my phone. People who are disconnected and try to stay away from phones say “roads free of drive-ins and billboards are better, roads where groves and meadows and orchards and lawns come almost to the shoulder (Pirsig par 2).” We always are so wrapped up in this metropolis lifestyle that we fail to see the beauty outside of the bustling cities we live in. People these days care mostly about advancing and moving forwards with technology and AI but they never take the time to stop and look around at all the beauty that surrounds them in life. When kids or peers are bored or have “nothing” to do, they often fill this empty space or break in time with social media or other apps, but all this does is harm them.

It’s important to stop social media usage and overall phone usage because we need to embrace boredom and the benefits that come with it. Experts who study the benefits of boredom claim “By stopping ourselves from ever being bored, we risk feeding our curiosity with constant tidbits of intellectual junk food and blunt its appetite for the sustained curiosity which is the lifeblood of great literature, science and innovation (Robertson 2).” When we fill the empty parts of our day with our phone we are only hurting our curiosity rather than fulfilling that bored feeling. If we can limit and ultimately get rid of the excessive social media use, it will only lead to more curiosity and more innovations in the long run. Something very apparent in many students whenever the teacher is lecturing or giving big assignments, or there is a substitute, such a huge proportion of kids instantly snap to their phones and start scrolling. This is due to how whatever their phone has on it, they feel is more important and more captivating than anything the teacher is telling them. All because kids are “bored” in class they choose to fill that gap in engagement with the drug that is their phone, completely  killing their curiosity or desire to work or think critically. Distinguished physiotherapist Thomas Kersting states “They take so much longer to complete their work because they are multitasking while doing homework. Thats rights, kids are posting, texting, listening to music, watching Youtube and doing homework simultaneously and for some strange reason we ignore this (1).” THis just further proves the growing trends and correlation between the increase in cell phone usage and the decrease in work done by adolescents. If we don’t put an end to this increasing trend then it will only continue to harm more and more generations down the line, we must stop this while we can by helping and stepping in for the future generation. Just because all the benefits of improving technology may look good on the surface, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at the underlying issues and do something to change and revert the damages that it causes.

We need to jump on this train of change as soon as possible. The sooner we can shut down this addiction the sooner our generation and coming generations will prosper from this change. It may seem counterintuitive to push technology in the opposite direction, but ultimately the new coming generations will be happy we put an end to the addiction before it became something we couldn’t control.

Works cited 

• Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. Vintage Books, 2014, pp. 1-3.
• Kersting, Thomas. Disconnected. Baker Books, 4 Aug. 2020.
• Haidt, Jonathan. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penguin Press, 26 Mar. 2024.
• Robertson, Ian H. “Embrace Boredom to Become More Creative.” Psychology Today, 20 Jan. 2014, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-winner-effect/201401/embrace-boredom-become-more-creative. Accessed 8 Mar. 2020.