Are you embarrassed to check your screen time every day? You’re not alone. Many teens spend most of their free time on their phone, leading to the epidemic of Phone addiction. 

According to Pew Research Data, 96% of teens in the U.S. have a phone and 46% of them say they use the internet constantly. Which is also a very common stat here in Fairfield Ludlowe High School (FLHS) where we put a phone ban in place for the problem. 

Many kids at Ludlowe do agree with the fact that they are on their phone too long, “It’s very addictive… I feel like it’s too long but I do like looking at it.” Said FLHS freshmen Bradley Fish. Although believes he is on his phone too much, he says there should not be a phone ban. However, some kids like Thomas Koester think that, “Doomscrolling can cause anxiety and can get you off track.”

The problems of doomscrolling and phone addiction are very common among teens here in Fairfield, including 12 year old Avery Anastasio who is a student in Fairfield. Anastasio agreed to do an experiment on phone addiction, restricting him from going on his phone for two days to see how his mood and his opinion on phones change.

“My screen time last week was five hours and two minutes on average.” Anastasio said, Which is less than the nation’s average of seven  hours and 22 minutes for teens according to the Exploding Topics trend charts, also reporting that teen boys spend 6 hours 11 minutes exclusively on the phone.

Anastasio stated, “I think it impacts my attitude but I don’t think it impacts my attention span because I can do long form activities without a phone. But I have been bored more than I used to be.” 

Even though Anastasio said he doesn’t believe to have a bad attention span, phones heavily impact the attitude and the focus of a kid during and out of school. According to Butler Hospital, phones cause teens to have a loss of interest in many activities along with an increase in anxiety for getting text messages and the need to always be with the cell phone, which is why Anatasio has the tendency to do less activities.

It is also very common for kids like Anasasio to deny they have a long screen time as only 38% of kids say they use their phone too much According to Exploding Topic’s Data.

“I snap back easier or quicker… I constantly say no in an annoyed mood. The phone has made me more annoyed at things,”Anastasio said.  Phones are one of the main reasons teens get aggravated and according to the Butler Hospital, phones cause other feelings like sadness and depression when you don’t do other activities.

However, Anastasio said, “In the future I think they should make an age ban for kids under sixth grade and I think there should be a screen time limit.” 

Once Anastasio started his experiment his dad, Scott  Anastasio, also gave some information on his opinions about teens and the phone epidemic. “I agree with the mental health issues because the phones do give you a loss of attention and focus.”

He also gave his opinions on his son’s screen time, “I think the biggest problem is his screen time is increasing. Before the phone he would do things intellectually to stimulate with legos or science kits,  a lot on his own but instead his stimulus has been filled with the phone and uninspiring videos.” 

However, kids aren’t the only problem with the epidemic. According to Exploding Topics, 47% of parents let their kids have more than three hours of screen time a day. “You should spend only one hour on your phone  if you are already watching tv or videos.” Said Mr. Anastasio.

After two days without his phone, Anastasio gave his thoughts on the phone epidemic and how changing his screen time helped in with school and outdoor activities. 

“I have been able to do other activities, but my mood has actually felt worse since I couldn’t text my friends.” Said Anastasio, “But I realize that you could get off of social media and go on less and limit your doomscrolling because it affects your mental health.”

Even though he wanted to text his friends, he ultimately realized that social media does affect teens and this even inspired him to keep going,  “Going forward I am going to set a limit in settings for screen time for me.” 

This is what every teen needs to help solve the epidemic of phone addiction. It is ok to text their friends for a while but ultimately to put down the phone and go play with them in real life. Everybody needs less stress and anxiety and looking at the results of the experiment, putting off doomscrolling or looking at random videos would solve the problem.

Considering that Anastasio has committed to taking a step away from his phone think to yourself: should you put down the phone too?