Every day, 34 million TikToks, 100 million photos and reels on Instagram, and 720,000 hours of Youtube videos are uploaded online for the world to see. But what effect does this really have on students? As Douglas Rushkoff called them in his book, “Playing for the Future”, “screenagers” and their habits may be taking its toll on their minds and social relationships.
One of the biggest challenges with cell phones is the constant distraction the cell phone offers. When someone go to pick up their phone, they are immediately greeted with the notifications on their lock screen and are enticed to open the phone and forget the task they were doing previously. As Hannah Krause, freshman, said, “When your phone lights up, you reach.”
The distraction of cell phones at school is extremely problematic to the learning environment. To combat this problem, the school created a practice where students would put their phones in the mandated cell phone caddy until the end of the period. Effective? Maybe.
However the problem does not disappear when it is time for homework or to study for an exam. When a student goes home, distractions can be endless. Students can often procrastinate on their homework because of their screens, or will pick their phone back up in the middle for a break that never ends.
“I definitely find myself distracted. Sometimes I’ll have my phone next to me and I’ll be doing homework, and I’ll be like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna go on TikTok, watch 10 videos, and continue,’ and then 10 videos ends up being an hour of watching TikTok because it just keeps going,” Krause said.
Throughout social media platforms, there is an overwhelming amount of content on each. The over abundance of content on each platform can lead to high levels of screen time among teenagers. Having a practically unlimited amount of content on any topic you could imagine, can be a good tool in theory; but in practice, it creates an endless loop of scrolling. “Doom scrolling” – a term that was created on TikTok for hours non stop scrolling on video after video. While we see this as a negative thing, it is exactly what TikTok’s algorithm wants the users to do.
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to scroll on short form video social media apps in comparison to finding a YouTube video? According to research done by the University of British Columbia, TikTok takes away your choice in order to keep you on the platform longer. When you open TikTok you are presented a video on your for you page. It is also extremely easy to explore on TikTok. Swiping your finger to scroll, double clicking to like, and clicking a easily accessible button to follow the creator. This keeps you on the site longer because of the ease of scrolling.
If it takes less energy to scroll to the next video then to close the app and start another activity, people will usually, even subconsciously, do the easier task. But that is not the only way TikTok keeps users hooked. TikTok’s algorithm is extremely intuitive and meticulously personalized for every user’s For You page to show personalized content. From the topic, to the creator, to the video length, it is personalized to keep you watching for longer. However, TikTok is not the only platform with a predatory algorithm. Almost every single social media platform uses a very similar algorithm as TikTok, usually for a couple reasons. 1. Ensure that the user is interested and engaged in the topic being shown and 2. To keep you on the app longer so they can make more ad revenue. But what are these hours spent scrolling away really doing to the average teenagers brain?
The most commonly discussed effect of cell phone use is the impact on the attention span. Based on research done by the National Library of Medicine, in a published study, researchers found that exposure to cell phone notifications significantly decreased performance on a concurrent attention based task. The researchers also found that notifications from a cell phone immediately distracted the participants and decreased their ability to focus on the task at hand. Studies have shown that smartphone addictions can cause a reduced ability to be self regulated learners and achieve a flow state of concentration.
“I think [My phone] decreased my attention span because I used to be very focused on my homework, and then I downloaded Tik Tok. My attention span is still good, but I feel like it’s decreased from Tiktok,” Krause said.
Unfortunately, the negative impacts of cell phones go further than just the attention span. There are mental and physical negatives that come with the overuse of a cell phone. The National library of medicine also found when people spend much time on electronics, from computers, to phones to ipads, the blue light used can cause dry eyes, headaches and sleep disturbances. A screen addiction can in extreme cases can impact weight, gaining and losing. Past physical effects, the mental and emotional effects are even more damaging. According to Compass.Uk.org when a screen addiction is developed it can cause negative effects on your mental health such as anxiety and depression. Social media can take an emotional toll on an individual from the content they see. Comparing themselves to people seen on Instagram or TikTok is common for teenagers, and can be extremely detrimental to teenagers mental health.
As society scrolls further and further down the Tiktok rabbit hole they begin to lose themselves more and more in the media we consume. It is an extremely common problem that threatens to spiral out of control with the new age of media we are witnessing. Screen addictions threatens to be extremely destructive to lives and relationships that aren’t screen based. However, this does not mean all “screenagers” are doomed to scroll their lives away. According to Krause, the effect of phones on one’s life is all about intention, “[… it just] matters how you use it.”
