Dear high school students,

Some of us have become consumed by our cellphones and this needs to stop. When I was in middle school, I was asking my dad what he enjoyed about high school and how difficult it would be. He told me it was infinitely better than middle school. You got to pick your own schedule, you would have classes with more of your friends, and the workload wasn’t as bad as middle school teachers pretended it would be. So far I think my dad was spot on. I’ve truly enjoyed high school, and all it’s had to offer for me in the last 2 years.

However, I feel like some people don’t enjoy it as much as I do strictly due to cell phones and some people’s inability to self-regulate their screen time. Cell phones and computers consume all our attention for multiple hours every day, and we end up losing sleep, not finishing assignments for school, quitting sports and clubs, or feeling stressed just because we have convinced ourselves that we don’t have time for these important life moments when in reality we don’t have time to scroll for 4 hours a day.

A Gallup poll shows that an average teenager uses social media for 4 hours and 45 minutes a day which is enough time to drive from Detroit to Mackinaw City, and If you think you aren’t one of those people you probably are. Another poll, from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, showed that 60% of people who thought they were on social media for less than 4 hours daily were actually on their phones for more than 5.5 hours per day. Us students should be concerned for ourselves and others who can’t self regulate as there are many health concerns to go along with the hours of wasted time. According to the scientists of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, overuse of screens can make sleeping more difficult which in turn weakens the immune system. Screens can also affect your emotional health causing mood swings or symptoms of depression.

Most importantly, these same screens that you scroll on for 5 hours a day can prevent the development of the cortex in your brain which processes information and helps you remember things. So please, help yourself and others, get off their phones. Now that you know the risks of cellphones, please take them more seriously, and don’t let them consume your whole life.

-Jacob Brant