Open Letter About Phones
Dear Parents, Schools, and Children,
Imagine, a beautiful blue sky, luscious green grass, the sun shining onto your skin. Running around outside playing with your family, your neighbors, or any other kid in your neighborhood who is free. Now imagine that you can’t find any other kids anywhere in your neighborhood because they are all busy inside on their phones. Then, imagine that you don’t even make an effort to play because you are scrolling through TikTok and Instagram. Kids are on their phones way more than necessary and they are missing the world around them. I would really love to see kids learning how to balance screen time usage with spending time in the real world around them.
Phones for teens and tweens can be harmful to your mental health. About 59% of youth have experienced harmful things on social media (Alaimo). Some examples of that could be inappropriate content, misinformation, or online bullying. That is more than half of all of the youth online. For older kids, when you are driving with a phone there is a 3-4 times greater chance of an accident (Naeem). This can mean more accidents and many more injuries or deaths. Phones can also do things to your mental health. They can create FOMO because of photos friends or classmates are posting about what they are doing. If you saw photos of all of your friends out for ice cream, and you had not been invited, how would you feel? I know I would feel really sad and left out. So, in conclusion, staying away from social media can free you from social pressure and anxiety.
Too much screen time can detach you from society and you will miss out on the important moments that matter most. According to a 2023 Common Sense Media study, 90% of 11-17 year olds are on their phones for 43 minutes during the school day. If they are on their phones during free time, they won’t interact with peers. Phones are addictive and kids cannot tear their attention away from them. Furthermore, they are designed with flashy lights and buzzing noises to pull you away from the conversation you are having, and this can mean you don’t make connections to the person you were talking to.
Another reason that phones can be harmful is that you can see decreases in your grades and schoolwork if you are distracted by your device. A lot of teachers who teach public high school say that it is a major distraction in class. If kids are not paying attention in class, then their scores on big tests can drop. Last year, the average ACT score dropped by 30% (Alaimo). This could have been because if children are just paying attention to their phones, then they will miss all of the important content of the lesson that would help them prepare for tests. Wouldn’t it be sad if you didn’t get into your top college choice because you were checking your messages? One quote from a University of Chicago study is, “undergraduates asked to leave their phones in another room did better on cognitive tests than those who were asked to silence their phones and leave them face down on their desk or in a bag” (Ehmke). This is an extremely interesting study because it shows that even having your phone in the room makes your concentration waver.
You may be thinking, “What if there is an emergency at my child’s school and I need to reach them?” This may seem like a valid reason, but your children should be listening to their teacher if there is an emergency, not messaging their parents. Another concern you might have is, “What about when my child needs a ride home or wants to go over to a friend's house, how do they contact me?” This is a very good point, but if your child wants to call you every once and a while to ask a question, you don’t need to get them an expensive phone for that. A simple flip phone that can only call and text would do the job beautifully.
There is overwhelming evidence that phones can cause social anxiety, poor grades, disconnection from society, and misuse of social media. Make sure you are staying connected to the world around you and really limiting the amount of screen time every day. Set times in the night where you plug in your phone and “sign off”. Kids are not staying connected, and they are losing touch of the world around them. If nothing changes, we will have a generation of children who do not know how to interact with their peers and adults.
Best,
Walker McKnight
