The Kids are Alright?!?!

Teens and cell phone use in today’s society is a trending issue. Cell phone use among teens (and adults) has become increasingly prevalent in today’s society. The majority of most cell phone holders are connected to them quite a bit. There is societal concern for cellphone use and the impact it has on students’ mental health, social interactions and academic performance. Cell phones have positive and negative benefits. Cell phones provide connection, access to information and the ability to have a greater global perspective. Conversely, we are so connected we have become disconnected. There is a lot of bravery behind a keyboard where you don’t have to see people’s faces and recognize their feelings. Finding a healthy media balance and using phones for their positive purposes present a whole generation (or more) with a new set of challenges. 

As a mom to a 12, 14 and 15 year old I am in the thick of it with parenting. Cell phones certainly come with a lot of parenting pressure. I have often said to my parents “you don’t know how easy you had it” in regards to parenting and the struggles cell phones can present. The online space is where teens make friends or grow friendships. “The most common spots for meeting friends online are social media sites like Facebook or Instagram followed by playing networked video games. Girls who have met new friends online are more likely to meet them via social media, while boys are substantially more likely to meet new friends while playing games online” (Pew, 2015). This is the norm in my space and many of my peers’ spaces as well.The teen boys often turn to gaming for the majority of their social time. 

Cell phones have become an additional person in a social group. I see it with my teens, but also with my colleagues and friends.I occasionally do a little social experiment when connecting socially where I see how long it takes for one person in the group (including myself) to pick up their phone. They may pick up their phone for a variety of reasons: Google a fact, check to see if their child texted them, share a product link, etc. Phones are easy to turn to when there’s silence, awkward moments or just plain boredom. I find myself doing it as much as a teen, maybe even more sometimes. Silence, awkward moments and boredom occur frequently through the teen years. I often find myself wondering what I used to turn to when those moments came along. In our current landscape technology is such an ingrained part of lives that it is hard to recall life before. 

An additional factor to note in reading the articles and the research is that teens today have no comparison to a life without phones. They are digital natives. They don’t know a world where cell phones, gaming modules, laptops, tablets, etc. do not exist. They’ve seen it at every turn since birth; out to dinner, a big box store, in their homes, in their schools. When we say to teens “when I was your age we couldn’t Google everything”, it is the equivalent of my parents telling me they remember gathering around the radio to listen to their programs. I have no real frame of reference for that lifestyle unless I’ve seen it on tv or in movies. As the adults leading our next generation I believe it’s important to acknowledge that teens today do not know any different. This is their childhood. This is how they are growing up. This is how they will connect and make friendships. Just because it may look very different from ours doesn’t make it worse. 

That said, TWO of the articles and data presented were from the mid 2010s (Pew and Dell'Antonia). The overarching theme throughout them was that “the kids are alright.. I would be interested to see with ten more years of technology, additional social media platforms and the rise and fall of Covid how the data would present now. I personally flip and flop to both sides of the fence. In my own home I see the positives and negatives and try to make real human connection a priority. In summary, cell phone use yields a combination of favorable and undesirable outcomes. As cliche as it may be “time will tell” regarding the effects of technology on our society. 

Lenhart, A., Smith, A., Anderson, M., Duggan, M., Perrin, A., “Teens, Technology and Friendships.” 

Pew Research Center, August, 2015. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/06/teens-technology-

and-friendships/.

Dell'Antonia, KJ.,”Teenagers Leading Happy, Connected Lives Online.”August, 2015.