According to the wall street journal, “Instagram, in particular, is a hub of youth anxiety and mental health problems…” Quite honestly you can't deny that phones are doing bad things to teens all over the world but technology is definitely not only bad. While I was doing research it was very tough to find one good article about phones that didn't include tons of negative effects. People are making using cell phones seem like an insanely bad thing when in most cases it takes up very little time, plus people use their phones and other technologies as soon as they are born in some cases. These articles have to stop making phones seem like the leading factor in teens these days not staying connected as much as they used to. Times have changed in various ways that some adults just aren't able to understand.

There are many factors that lead to teenagers being less active than they used to be. One of those factors is how there was a pandemic during some of the most crucial years as a student in middle school or high school. These are the years where most people developed their personalities and their friendships that would last a lifetime. All of this was a stunt when schools were shut down in march of 2019 with school switching to virtual. Starting off the next year it was all virtual again which took some getting used to since I was already staying inside of the house most of the time barely getting active. I was lucky enough to have sports that were not shut down that year so I was still able to socialize with peers. When you get used to doing something for a really long time you can't just come back to school and not have anxiety or maybe even not be depressed because you were sitting inside doing nothing. You had to find something better to do and that's why I think phones became such a big part of this conversation. I think that phones are a factor in why certain people have mental health problems but there are ample reasons for their mental health problems. 

Personally when I get bored I want to spend time on my phone expanding my mind watching videos and movies but other people enjoy watching one minute videos and skimming through them and laughing at the funny ones. I enjoy doing this but not very often. The reason I don’t do this often is because I always have something to do since I have fifteen siblings. Let's say I had one or two siblings. I would be on my phone everyday just waiting till that last bit of dopamine hits my brain telling me that the day is done and I must sleep. Although I am a very good example of why being on your phone is not a bad thing I do have some factors leading me to believe otherwise. Most nights before I go to bed I watch tik tok videos which were the one minute videos I was talking about. Sometimes I lose track of time and can stay on my phone for hours at a time before I go to bed which ruins my sleep schedule, as well as making me tired in the morning. I try to stop but it has become a routine and I have developed a case of insomnia by watching a couple videos before I pass out in bed because my eyes are too strained to stay open any longer.

Some Nights I feel like I can be awake for hours at a time after watching a couple videos but later pass out on my bed because my overworked eyes can no longer stay open. I can definitely say that I have a slight addiction to my phone but can tear away from it at crucial moments or when it is needed. I am not that type of person to get dopamine from getting a notification since I know there will be more to come. I feel like people are looking at this topic in the wrong mindset and have to understand where other teens are coming from and what they do in their free time. People also have to understand that I along with probably most teens would rather be on my phone than just sitting down doing nothing. This actively demonstrates that teens sometimes are overwhelmed and just need some time to sit down and enjoy being on their phones.

To sum up everything that has been stated so far, some teens have certain issues that can tie back to being on their phone but overall it is a combination of multiple problems that surround them and their lives. I relate to this because my body is too worn out to continue moving yet I want to stay awake and active so I turn my phone on and start scrolling.