Teens on screens face consequences

Grade 9 students in the Collective Voice program at Aden Bowman Collegiate share their lives and opinions through columns. Selected columns run each Monday in The Saskatoon Starphoenix.

“A lot of smartphone use seems to be habitual, automatic behaviours that we have no awareness of.” So says Dr. Sally Andrews.

How many hours a days do you think you spend on your phone? Two? Four? According to a new study by the Family Technology Education Nonprofit Group, and reported in the Washington Post, the average teen spends nearly nine hours on screens every day. That’s more than one third of the day.

How many times do you think you check your phone in a day? Fifty? Sixty? Try doubling that, and maybe you’ll be close.

When I was researching this topic, I was stunned at the answers I found. It just proves how much time we actually spend on our phones.

Is it bad to go on your phone that much? Are there negative effects? Many people may have these questions.

Technology can diminish our attention, cause memory lapses, keep us from being productive, damage our creativity, stress us out, wreck our sleep, and even cause us to forget meetings, homework, and bump into people by accident.

When I got my first phone last year, I wasn’t bumping into people, yet ... But I was on it all the time. Whenever I could be on it, I was. I slowly noticed I wasn’t spending as much time with my family at home anymore and when I would hang out with my friends we’d just be on our phones.

I think a lot of teens, at least once in their life, have felt this.

Phones are a very important part in a lot of teen’s lives. Since I got my phone I would always be checking it for texts or any other notifications. If there weren’t any notifications on my lock screen I would feel a bit disappointed.

I know other people have a similar need to check their phones, but it bothers me if they check their phones when we’re in the middle of a conversation. It’s almost like their phone is more important than what’s happening in real life.

When my grandpa and I were at the Broadway Café eating supper, four girls my age came in and sat at a table near us. As I was eating and talking with my grandpa, I noticed they were all on their phones; I didn’t once see them talk to each other aside from ordering. I thought at first it was rude, but after I thought about it for a while I realized it may just be the way life is now, and if so, that is unfortunate.