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by Mayzie Talbot
She’d only been using it for a year when she started to experi- ence depression and urges of self- harm, leading to actual self-harm. Isabelle Mitchell wasn’t taking drugs or drinking alcohol. She was living with the same danger most of us carry in our pockets every day: a smartphone.
Living in a generation shaped by the smart- phone, Mitchell recognized the dangers she was fac- ing and took action.
“I actually had my mom take away my phone for a while just so I could get off of it and kind of figure it all out,” Mitchell said. “Now I know when I start feeling like that I tend to delete social media until I feel like I’m safe with it.”
According to an article from “The Atlantic,” rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. The generation they call “iGen” can be described as “being on the brink of the worst mental health crisis in decades.”
A recent NS Times poll shows that more than 80 percent of the student body owns a smartphone, with more than 60 percent obtaining one before the age of 15.
Happiness is dependent upon relationships, so if people have positive relationships, they are more likely to report better moods. However, with the increase of smartphones, people are having rela- tionships through cell phones. They lose the social interactions needed to form and keep healthy rela- tionships.
“The research is basically showing that increase in anxiety and depression are rising for high school and college age kids,” said NS counselor Heather Allred.
Since the introduction of the smartphone, entire cultures have been changed in the lives of the rising generation, teenagers. Traditional ways of commu- nication, entertainment and interactions are being attacked. It’s a social epidemic, with smartphones as the tipping point.
Mitchell has had a smartphone for about four years, receiving it around the age of 11 or 12, and she’ll be the first to admit smartphones are too much of a constant presence in her life.
“I know I use it a lot,” Mitchell said. “I wake up and start getting ready, and then I check my phone. At school when we’re not doing anything, I’m on my phone. Then I go home and while I’m eating a snack or something, I’m on my phone. It’s not a secret to
me how much I’m on my phone.”
Junior Allyson Pinney’s phone has been a con-
stant companion since the age of nine. She spends up to eight or nine hours a day using apps like Snap- chat, Instagram and VSCO.
For Pinney, her phone is a good way for her to interact with others and be social online. It also pro- vides a fun outlet of entertainment for her, but she also has noticed differences as a result of her smart- phone.
“I rely on it too much. With communicating, I text more than I talk to people in person,” Pinney said.
Communication was once only done in person or through the mail, but now it’s instantaneous. En- tire conversations can be held without any party ut- tering a single word or leaving the comforts of their homes.
In high school especially, much of communica- tion revolves around one’s dating life. Pinney has found that since texting is easier and less intimidat- ing, boys are asking girls on dates in a less formal way than what used to be acceptable.
“When boys are asking girls on dates, they have to send a text. They can’t do it face to face,” Pinney said.
However, Pinney uses texting as her main source of communication because if she says something wrong or embarrassing, she doesn’t have to deal with it as much.
At any social gathering the ubiquitous smart- phone can be found, altering the foundations of so- cial interaction. When Pinney spends time with her friends, they spend their time with their phones in- stead.
“We mostly just sit in our rooms and play on our phones,” Pinney said. “If I’m being honest, most of the time we barely talk to each other. We’re always on our phones or sharing memes and stuff like that.”
While smartphones are one of the ways teenag- ers hang out, Mitchell often catches herself using her technology the wrong way in certain social settings.
“I do notice if I’m talking to someone I might
pull out my phone and I’ll still be talking to them while scrolling through stuff,” Mitchell said.
Pinney noticed that while social media is a good way for interaction, it can seriously affect people’s lives and mental well-being.
“A lot of times people online are fake and they Photoshop a lot so it sets up expectations, and some- times we can’t match that and so I think that’s why nowadays people are more depressed and those rates have gone up for suicide,” Pinney said.
Social media is a huge factor in most teenagers’ lives, but the results of such mass use aren’t all posi- tive.
“I think there are some people that care so much about what their feed looks like or what they’re put- ting on their social media that they kind of lose what it’s actually for,” Mitchell said.
Results from the “Monitoring the Future,” fund- ed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse clearly show that teens who spend more time on screen ac- tivities are more likely to be unhappy than those who spend more time on non-screen activities.
“[Teenagers] don’t go out and play anymore, they just sit there on just the simple little activities, so there’s nothing really happy about a smartphone,” said special education teacher Des Dyches. “I mean you can play a game but games get old too. You can only do so much,”.
Smartphones have affected teenagers’ lives in the classroom as well. Students are distracted by the constant notifications and the desire to pull out their cell phone and check to see what is going on.
“They distract us that’s for sure and so we spend more time wondering what’s on social media than we do what the teacher is talking about,” Pinney said.
Some teachers, like Dyches, completely outlaw smartphones in their classroom to keep students from cheating or being distracted.
“I don’t think we should have phones in high school. It’s a big distraction,” Dyches said. “If we’re supposed to use technology here, I think we should use our computers and our iPads and not give access to their phones.”
