Screen Time Too Much?

With Quarantine still in place, teenagers around the world, especially in the United States, are now using their phones more at an alarming rate. With more time to sit at home, people, not only teenagers, are more prone to waste their time wandering on the apps that are easy to obtain.

Apps, such as TikTok, are made so that you will keep your attention to the content. These apps have what we call, algorithms, to continue to give you different content in order to understand you more as a person. That content is then analyzed into knowing your personal likings and to get you to watch ads designed for your needs so developers get paid.

“On the other side of the screen, it’s almost as if they had this avatar voodoo doll-like model of us," says Google’s former design ethicist Tristian Harris. "All of the thing we’ve ever done all of the clicks we’ve made, all the videos we’ve watched, all the likes, that all get brought back into building a more and more accurate model."

Because of Covid-19, the world is now revolved around our devices to keep our jobs and education going.

"Social media, apps and games have proven convenient places for teachers to share insights into their classroom practice, while students can quickly show teachers and classmates what they have been working on," Monash University's Research Professor Neil Selwyn.

Carver students are not immune to these changes. Because of virtual learning and isolation as a result of Covid, they are spending more time on their devices. Some don’t realize how much time though.

Almost 100 Carver students responded to a survey about phone usage. The survey asked students to guess the amount of time they spent on their phones and then compare that to the actual usage that their phones recorded. More than half of the people who responded said predicted that they spent less time on their phone than the actual average. For example, they would say they spent 5 hours on their phone when really they spent 9 hours average per day. Other people were able to recognize the time they use each day on their phone and realize if they use it too much, three hours to none, or about average of 4-6 hours. Is this time increase negatively impacting students?

On the first day of this project, I noticed how I was always looking at the time and forgetting that most of my apps were shut down. The four hours felt really long as I failed to find anything besides homework to keep me occupied. I was worried that I could be missing important information or messages from people so I waited until 7:00pm sharp to go through everything.

In the middle of the week, I was able to look at my phone less and find ways to be less reliant on it. My mood had started to shift, as if I was relieved from all the pressure from social media.

Finally on the last day, I felt that there was no need for my phone unless I needed to contact someone or use it for work. I really found joy in doing other things than sit on my phone and scroll through different videos all day long.

When this pandemic ends, parents don’t know if their kids will ever go back to spending less time online.

"All screen use is not equal, especially at a time when other avenues of connection and learning are shut off," said Michael Robb, an author of the report and senior director of research at Common Sense Media.