Now more than ever, it seems students can’t take their eyes off screens, especially in school. Due to this reliance on technology, the question of a student’s social balance comes into question. Are phones distracting students from the other important aspects of life?
While phones offer convenience, connection and education their presence in classrooms may raise concerns about their impact on student focus and learning ability. Regarding outside the classroom, people are always on their phones, it’s seemingly become integrated into day to day living. Even just a walk down the street, you’ll see dozens of people on their phones. Something that’s become more common than phones, headphones and airpods. Many people wear headphones or airpods to listen to music on a daily basis, and it has become a normal sight to see people with something in their ears. Does this show a possible risk for addiction to technology? To gain input, students at MRHS were asked various questions that would relate to students’ use of phones. After interviewing multiple students, most averaged around six hours on screens. Students seemed almost surprised that their screen time was so high.
“I should be locking in for school more instead of scrolling,” sophomore Prerena Bandaru shared.
Most students also reported that they wanted to reduce their screen time to focus on other things such as school work or sports. When asked what most of their screen time was spent on, most students answered with a single response; social media.
Social media is extremely addictive and is clearly designed that way to capture the attention of people. With the endless scrolling, and algorithm tailored to one’s own taste, social media keeps users engaged for hours longer than they may even realize. This addiction brings up the question of whether it is the students’ fault or is technology and its addictive nature controlling students who are too young to know how to change? Many students expressed their desire to cut back on social media and screen time, but also realized just how difficult it may be. The accessibility of social media along with the simple pleasure that comes with it makes it inherently difficult to cut back on. This is especially true because school in itself is already stressful enough, and most students would rather scroll than have to complete yet another assignment. This reliance on technology, and more importantly dopamine, has been referenced in books before. Novels such as Fahrenheit 451 have gone into the dangers of addiction to that rush of technology, showing readers the dangers of being too addicted to the dopamine rush of tech. Since social media and phones seem so dangerous, should they be seen as an immediate danger to younger people? Yes and no. Yes, social media can be dangerous because of its addictive nature and potential to influence younger minds; but if controlled and moderated, technology can be both helpful and teach students new hobbies, and show them new interests they may have never found otherwise.