The rise of new technology has caused a wave of advanced electronics to fall into the hands of almost every teenager in the U.S. According to the Pew Research Center, approximately 95 percent of teenagers have access to a cell phone and roughly 45 percent of teenagers are reported to constantly use the internet and social media.
The impact of excessive phone use is an ongoing issue among screenagers, teens who are always looking at their screens and unable to look up from their phones for more than a minute. The impact of social media such as TikTok and YouTube have made it even more difficult to look away, as the short videos on these sites tailor to this generation’s short attention span, and apps like Twitter and Instagram make it easy to glimpse into other people’s lives with the simple tap of a button.
However, the question of whether or not social media is truly necessary, or in fact harmful for the body, remains controversial.
Although a high percentage of teens have access to social media, there are still many people who decide against it for various reasons.
Senior Christopher Monterrosa made the decision to delete Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitter off of his phone.
“I’ve decided to delete all those apps from my phone,” he said. “Although I’ve had social media since middle school, it just felt like a rabbit hole loop of toxicity. I found myself constantly not doing any work and procrastinating.”
He claims that turning off the pointless distractions helped him open up to new hobbies that he used to hate.
“I started getting my work which freed up a lot of time,” Monterrosa said. “I became practically infatuated with reading. Especially because I used to hate reading, it really shows how much of an impact that cutting out this negative force in your life can have on you.”
Without social media to influence his life, Monterrosa says that it helped him find peace and balance in his daily schedule. TikTok was the biggest issue for him, as the mindless scrolling made it hard to log off.
Junior Thomas Kim also fell into the wave of TikTok, but eventually grew out of it. He claims that the app is a large waste of time because it shortens people’s attention spans and lacks educational value.
“TikTok is pointless because I realized that I can live without it,” he said. “The only thing you gain is becoming more of a degenerate and getting an addiction to short videos, which are ultimately meaningless.”
Not only did Kim’s experience with TikTok lack value, but also made him feel worse mentally. When he first downloaded the app, there were many videos that depicted people making fun of and bullying each other.
“Some of the jokes that they made on the app were very crude,” he said. “I remember when I had TikTok, I came across this video of people making fun of a disabled person, and it made me feel horrible for the rest of the day.”
For junior Nadia Gruhkle, she often felt depressed after seeing models who set unrealistic beauty expectations for teenagers everywhere.
“Model’s especially make me feel negatively towards social media,” she said. “It’s harmful, hurtful and jarring to have to see it everyday. It’s almost like it’s trying to brainwash or engrave into your mind that this is what you have to look like.”
Social media, however, does have its benefits. Some students claim that TikTok videos can be tailored to your liking, and have educational benefits.
On the AP Psychology exam, then-senior Adrienne Mita was able to answer certain questions because she viewed a TikTok video the night before that went over the material in a short amount of time.
“On my exam, I knew how to answer questions because it was taught in those five seconds,” she said. “TikTok can be educational.”
She also claims that in order to not come across crude videos that Kim mentioned before, you can like certain videos to tell the algorithm that you enjoy watching certain content.
“It’s up to you to decide what is on your ‘for you’ page by what you interact with,” she said. “Personally, I don’t see crude TikToks. I mostly just see arts and crafts content.”
Certain apps can also be used to communicate with friends and family. There are approximately 375 million monthly Instagram Direct Message users. Using social media allows communication and a glimpse into the lives of friends or family who live far away.
Mita favors using Instagram to keep in touch with her best friend who moved away to Texas.
“I miss my friend a lot, and seeing her new posts on my page gives me an opportunity to catch up with her,” she said. “We mainly used social media to text each other. I plan on seeing her next month; all of this is connectivity and catching up is because of social media.”
