The average screen time for a teenager is around eight hours a day–close to the amount of time recommended that someone spends sleeping at night. Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and other similar apps take the blame for a large amount of those hours. These apps have plagued people’s phones for years, but has the time finally come when people realize that their life is more valuable than being spent scrolling through endless videos?
“There’s always something new,” junior Flora Shaw said. “Someone always has a new post or new story or new note or I’m in group chats and I have friends who will send me reels and messages so it just keeps drawing me in… I can’t stop.”
It’s easy to find yourself falling victim to the continuous array of media that these apps have available at the tip of your fingers.
“It takes up a lot of my time and I find it hard to focus,” Shaw said. “It’s just become a habit when I open my phone. I open Instagram even when I’m not trying to do it. I’ll close the app and reopen it… it’s a bad habit.”
Not only is social media addictive itself from the algorithms producing content, but it can be as simple as not wanting to miss out on what friends are doing, or “FOMO” (fear of missing out) as Shaw said. Some people, though, find themselves with more self-control.
“If I wanted to get Instagram, I could get it,” freshman Lucille Ballinger said. “I just don’t have it. I feel like I don’t need it”
While apps like Instagram, TikTok, or Pinterest are more content-based, Snapchat mainly revolves around communication, but why use a separate app when your phone already comes with a built-in messaging system?
“I got rid of it. I had been thinking about it for a while,” sophomore Melanie Jackson said. “There is misinformation about big topics. It’s just tiring to keep up with the snaps and I want to limit my screen time.”
While social media might have some positive effects like staying connected or showing off that you’re on vacation, an insane amount of time is regularly spent online, taking away from other opportunities. With only 2 months left of 2024, will social media start to lose its relevance in the new year?
