If you look around on a bus or on a train in 2023, how many people are reading a book or having a conversation? I’m guessing not many. So does this mean we are becoming our phones? 

In 1977, when the first mobile phones were mass produced humanity thought it was the future but now it’s become a bigger problem. Now I am a person who loves my phone and I rely on it for things such as music, emails and contacting friends but I am aware of how much I am on it. You could say that it’s social media that’s the problem due to its constant availability of content, Tik Tok being the most addictive. Most apps' business models are to keep you on their app as long as possible and so this keeps us entertained and the company’s money flowing. We all are aware of this but we don’t seem to care and continue to mindlessly stare into a screen.

 

Another factor of our ‘addiction’ is Covid. Obviously we were all stuck at home so the only way for human contact was the internet and brands took advantage of that and gained money off it. Most teenagers nowadays have a phone and it’s seen as weird if you don’t have one 

 

The internet has taken up this issue on Tik Tok  in a trend called ‘core core’ where creators have made videos that cause impactful emotion and bring to light what's going on, some of the descriptions of the videos include ‘wake up’ and ‘social media ruins lives.’

 

I asked some local teens questions about there time on there phone:

 

-How often do you use your phone?

All of them said every day 

-What apps do you use?

Spotify, Sound cloud, YouTube, Tik Tok

-Does it affect your lifestyle?

All of them said Yes

-Is it negative or positive to you?

Negative

I believe that phones are becoming a big problem but I think us as humans can adapt and improve because the lifestyle of the internet can’t last forever, can it?