Students and Their Phones

It’s a common thing to see on Chinese streets: people being so fixated on their phone games, conversations, or videos that they run into others or end up blocking the traffic. But it seems that this is not only happening in the outside world but in our school community as well. Could this become a problem? If so, what could be done?

Technology has taken over our lives. There is not one moment when we are not catching up on our friends’ stories on Instagram or saving Streaks on Snapchat; there is always something to see or do on social media. An example of people being non-stop on their phones would be China where 95% of the people you see will be on their phones. There have been a few times where there have been 2 people sitting on a table in front of each other and have not spoken one word, instead, they have been checking social media apps on their phones and watching TV Shows online. Many people have admitted to spending a total amount of 6 hours on their phone each day, some even more. Some institutions have banned the use of electronic devices as they prevent students from focusing on what they are being told. In our school, technically students are not allowed to use their phones for purposes such as checking social media or watching YouTube videos. However, like Ms. Elliott said “Most of those students do those things anyway” and there is nothing wrong with that…yet.

From what I have seen, reasons as to why students spend so much time on their phones might be (in some cases) to avoid saying “hi” to teachers in the hallways (which tends to happen quite often), or avoid communication with someone by acting as if they were texting or looking up something on their phones. Most of the times, the strategy does work; however, it has reached the point where students will do this when they go out with their friends (even outside of school). Although technology is quite useful, socializing can be way more fun and a good form of establishing new friendships. I personally am guilty of using my phone quite a lot, however, I do believe that we all should make an effort to try to limit the amount of time we dedicate to our devices and simply…enjoy life.