Screen and phone addictions are perhaps the biggest challenges and issues any high school across America is facing, students not paying attention in class and how much they can hurt their academics. I talked with Ms. Gregg, a teacher at Overland High School on the issue.

“The pandemic was perhaps one of the biggest reasons why students got addicted to their phone,” explained Gregg. Students had to stay home during the Pandemic and their phone was the only place they could run to. They wanted to stay in contact with their friends, they wanted to stay up to date with the news. That’s when social media apps like TikTok got super popular. They did this as long as they were staying home and when schools opened their gates again. Nothing was normal anymore, Students were consistently on their phones.

Inside the school itself, loneliness could be one of the reasons why students are on their phones. Students who don’t have many friends have their phones out to not feel lonely. And killing this addiction is hard, our brain has gotten used to what we do.

Gregg continues,  “The brain loves to do things that it feels are enjoyable, it tells us we need to do it again and again because it is good for us”. Students are not only addicted to their phones but also music, social media, and the content on their phones. “They say we can’t concentrate on lessons if we don’t have our music in our ears. Which is not true, the brain is not capable of doing 2 things at the same time”. It always chooses one thing to fully focus on and that is usually the thing we like.

Yondr pouches are a huge help for the students to focus in class and concentrate. If even they do not have their phones in their pouches, they do not take them out, which leads to being more focused in class and learning. Apart from something physical that can keep students away from their digital devices, there is the help of an adult who they can trust to talk to. And finding such an adult is not so easy, teenagers usually try to keep things to themselves and have their privacy. But a trusted adult is always the key to overcoming conflicts in our childhood days. It always feels good to talk to someone.

The content on our smartphones is terrible, especially for teenagers whose brains are still developing even in the most basic stages. Apps like TikTok and Instagram, which are very popular among teenagers, have the vilest content. Some teenagers across America, especially teenage girls, have been motivated to hurt themselves because of the content that they have seen on social media.

But are teenagers really to blame for what they do? Are kids to blame for constantly wanting to have their iPads or watch TV? The answer is NO. Adults are as addicted to their phones as teenagers and kids are. We as teenagers and kids learn a lot of things from our parents and adults around us. And when we see them having their phone, we never really try to do something different, we think it’s a good thing to have it and do it. Being a parent is hard, and being an older sibling is hard because they’re always being watched by the younger members of the family, they are the idols of kids who are growing up every day.