The glow of cellphones illuminates the faces of teens as they stand in the darkness waiting for the school bus. The students all know each other; they are neighbors and friends, yet at this bus stop in Naples, they stand apart, heads bent down to their screens.
Later, a family sits at a table enjoying their cold treat at a local ice cream shop. The two boys hold their ice cream in one hand while moving their fingers on their tablets, playing a game. Across the table, their parents are busy scrolling on their phones. No one is talking.
Cellphones have been around since at least 1990, but it wasn’t until recent years that they became such a significant part of the fabric of many lives, especially teens.
Catherine Saadeh, a Gulf Coast High School sophomore, spends about three hours a day on her phone. She scrolls through Instagram and posts photos. She finds both the positive and the challenges of being surrounded by social media.
“You can interact with people you don’t live near,” she began. “It can increase connections, but it can also be used negatively, like with online bullying. A lot of people are on social media, and social media can be fake. They will see something fake, and then they will try to change their lives to do something that is not real.”
Avery Black, a junior at Naples High School, spends three to four hours a day on her phone, mainly on Instagram or Spotify.
Social media “provides another way to communicate with friends and family no matter where they are,” she said. On the negative side, Avery said that some people spend their time on their phones instead of talking to others.
Avery tries to find a balance in her life and enjoys weightlifting and lacrosse. She also puts her phone aside to talk to her friends. “Most of the time, we are talking to each other, but if the conversation is not going anywhere, we will go to our phones,” she said.
Other teens go right to their phones and don’t even bother with conversation. Larry Olmedo, an Aubrey Rogers High School freshman, wishes his friends would talk to each other at lunch, but all they do is look at their phones.
Ilormise Sirenord, a Lorenzo Walker Technical High School sophomore, says it is often easier to be on her phone than to have a face-to-face conversation. She said her cellphone helps her connect and feel more comfortable communicating.
“I am more of an introvert, so having a screen helps me think through my thoughts,” she admitted. “I don’t have the pressure to say things right away.”
Using a phone to communicate does give teens a way to avoid social awkwardness, but it is not always beneficial. Sapien Labs, a nonprofit that has done extensive research on media usage, issued a recent report that noted, “Social behavior is complex; it involves reading and decoding nuances in facial expression, body language, tone of voice, touch, and even olfactory cues to infer intent, establish connection, and build trust.” Much of that gets lost on social media.
Ilormise loves to read and said she would be reading all the time if she didn’t have a phone. But, the teen spends about four hours daily on her cellphone, mainly on TikTok and Instagram.
Sarah Lindo, a sophomore at Immokalee High School, loves fashion and finds an outlet for this hobby on her phone. She spends two to three hours a day on Pinterest and Instagram.
Sarah also uses Instagram to advocate for a variety of issues. “I am a believer in using social media for different causes,” she stressed.
For many teens, phones are a vital part of their daily routine, and their relationship with their devices can be complicated. A Pew Institute study showed that 95 percent of teens in the U.S. have access to a smartphone. The study found that teens use their phones to connect with others and avoid face-to-face interactions.
“There are so many ways you can use your phone,” said Siri Kolli, an Aubrey Rogers High School sophomore. She enjoys communicating with friends and family but says her phone makes procrastinating easy.
Siri spends three to four hours on her phone daily, mainly on Instagram and TikTok. “There is a need to find a balance,” she stressed. “My friends and I usually talk. We find a balance between communicating with each other and being on our phones.”
Siri said it is easy for her to lose track of time because the apps can be so entertaining, but she lures herself away to play volleyball or spend time with her sisters.
Julian De Leon and Nolan Colebrooke, both sophomores at Aubrey Rogers High School, are best friends who say they prefer to socialize in person, but because they don’t live near each other, they spend five to six hours a day on their phones.
“We would rather be hanging out with each other, 100%,” Julian said. “But none of us have cars, so we can only hang out on weekends.”
Yet Nolan said he would trade all the time watching funny videos to be a little kid without a phone.
“When we are at lunch at school, everybody has their phones,” Nolan said. “They have no personality. When I was a little kid, I was outside all day playing with friends. I would rather be doing that.”
THE EXPERTS WEIGH IN
Like the teens interviewed, experts agree that there are both benefits and drawbacks to cellphones and social media. Stacey Brown, a licensed mental health counselor and trauma specialist in Fort Myers, says it is all about what you use the phone for and how much time you spend with it.
“The technology has the shadow side and the bright side,” Brown began. “Inherently, it is not a problem, but you need to stay in the light and keep your balance.”
She said sites like Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok have highly stimulating visuals. Brown compared it to MTV, which was popular in the 1980s. “We all like splashy things and quick edits, which is why those videos are popular,” she explained. “We all get a dopamine boost when we look at this stuff, which is not a problem unless you become dependent on it.”
Brown said during the pandemic and after Hurricane Ian, given the isolation and fewer things to do, many adults and kids became dependent on social media.
According to Nancy Dauphinais, chief operating officer and licensed mental health counselor at the David Lawrence Centers for Behavioral Health in Naples, much about cellphones’ effect on children and teens is unknown. “This is really a hot-button topic,” she began. “We are in a great experiment.”
Dauphinais has seen the stormy side of social media and excessive cellphone usage, such as cyberbullying, eating disorders, and exposure to inappropriate content.
She has also seen the benefits, such as teens connecting with friends far away, online support groups, and access to others with the same interests.
The key to keeping teens safe online, Dauphinais says, is to teach them how to find a balance between their phones and other parts of their lives. She advised parents to model balanced use of their cellphones.
Dauphinais drew a comparison to cars, which cause many fatalities but also provide many benefits. “The answer is not to eliminate phones, but like airbags and seat belts, we need ways to make cellphones safer,” she explained.
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