Throughout the 2010s, screens and social media have developed and increasingly had a big impact on people’s lives. A study from Common Sense Media shows that 53% of students under 11 have a phone in the United States. Other studies state that most kids spend 4-6 hours on their screens each day. That’s one-quarter of each day! Screens are having a negative impact on students and it’s only going to get worse over time.
When kids are on their screens, it is primarily to use social media, a place that can provide news and entertainment. The average age most kids get on social media is 12. One thing that social media damages is kids’ attention spans. Most social media platforms involve scrolling. Most TikToks are 21 to 34 seconds long with the average being a minute and kids spending at least 4 hours on screen each day. This decreases the attention span of kids. The amount of time kids are spending on social media correlates with a greater loss in attention span.
Furthermore, due to the fact that kids spend so much time on social media, they are using it as their learning source as well as their entertainment. However, social media is one of the worst places to try and learn something. The people who post on social media rarely fact-check what they’re saying, a particularly dangerous fact for impressionable kids. The danger is that when kids see and hear something on social media, they automatically assume it’s true, damaging learning and productivity. It’s important for kids to question what they learn and not just take it in. Asking questions is what makes great students.
On average, kids spend at least 4 hours on screens each day. But it’s not only social media they’re on; they’re also playing games and texting their friends. Being on screens constantly is hurting kids’ levels of productivity. They are so invested in their screens that they don’t want to do things such as sports, homework, reading, or even just going outside. They are neglecting their duties just to scroll through thousands of videos. This is bad as over time the kids will need the phone with them all the time and won’t be able to function without it. It’s easy to get on social media platforms and hard to get off them.
Once these kids step into college or a job, they’ll realize there is no time for screens. Colleges don’t care what the story is; they just want the work done. They set a due date and keep it that way regardless of what happens. Unlike high school, college professors normally won’t take assignments late, and even if they do, there will be a deduction of points in the grade you get. Also, they won’t be afraid to fail you, and at a lot of colleges, you will get kicked out for low grades. Finally, college isn’t free; if you get kicked out, you will have wasted thousands of dollars. A job is even more stressful. After college, you need a job, but with how bad students’ attention spans are, they may not be able to focus and do their duties.
It may be hard, but if students want to succeed and have a good life, they must limit the amount of time they spend on screens for non-school-related activities. Students need to know that while they may be able to overuse their devices in high school and middle school and move forward, in college or a job, if they don’t do what they need to because they’re too addicted to a screen, they’re not going to be able to keep up. You fail your classes; you don’t do what you need to do at your job. In the real world, you don’t get endless chances. It’s up to you how you want to take that one shot.

Now, like a lot of things, there’s a way to ruin it, but there’s also a way to fix it. One idea you could try is putting a time limit on your phone. Time limits help people use their phones less because if they can’t use the apps they like, they most likely won’t want to use their phones. To add to this, it would be a good idea to have someone other than yourself set the password so you aren’t tempted to remove the limits. Next, just try to find new hobbies if you’re really that bored; try to find something new to do. Time is everything. While it may seem like a lot, you’ll come back and really wish you would’ve used it better. So try doing something new or studying more in your classes.
Screens aren’t all bad, they can certainly help us, whether it be in school or for general knowledge. It is how much time we spend on them that is bad. For something to be good, it must have a negative downside. So what we need to do is try to spend less time on screens.