In 2007, co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, introduced the iPhone, a new type of smartphone that would impact generations to come. This revolutionary touchscreen device helped relieve people of stress by making it easy to communicate with others and do an endless number of fun activities. Furthermore, the new invention set the precedent for future innovation and accessibility. As years progressed and more companies started introducing new products, cell phones grew their impact across the world. Whether by Samsung or Apple, people run their lives on cell phones.

Today, phones are an essential part of our lives. Whether you admit it or not, most of us cannot get off our phones. It is impossible to go even a short amount of time without finding someone using their phone in public. Every day, most of us start off our mornings checking our phones for any notifications from friends or family. Most of us see the light of our screens before getting up from our beds, which disappoints me to say. It is common to walk around the hallways at Edison High School and find someone walking while they are scrolling. Outside of school, whenever we try to study or do anything, we are often distracted by devices that grab our attention. In fact, many people often have to study for a longer period of time as their phone serves as a constant distraction. Outside of academics, whenever we have idle time, we end up opening social media and scrolling for endless hours. We often do this without realizing it, and this habit kills our productivity levels and attention span. The attachment to our devices even impacts our sleep, as we often watch a YouTube video before we head to bed. We cannot get a break from using our phones.

We need to acknowledge that this is, definitively, a problem, or else its damage will be irreversible. Most of our parents, often from older generations, have told us to get off the phone and spend time playing sports outside or trying a new hobby. Despite how out of touch they might seem, they are correct (I am not trying to sound like an old grandpa, but when our screen time takes up most of our day, there needs to be action). The impact that our phones have on us can hurt us in many ways, whether they affect us physically or mentally. Although a phone may seem to be a thing we resort to for joy and comfort, it is harming us.

We first need to know how phones and apps harm us. Most of the time, if we find an app addictive, it is often due to the color and dopamine rush that accompanies opening the app. Vivid colors displayed every second you play give you all types of emotions. For instance, red in mobile games can show defeat or gore, while green demonstrates victory or happiness. These varieties of colors can affect your dopamine levels. Whether they trigger high or low dopamine, the shift impacts our mental health. The unavoidable colors can make you addicted to repetitive actions, soon creating an addiction. This produces fake dopamine, tricking your mind into thinking you are doing something fun while you are doing nothing meaningful. As a result, our ruined dopamine levels stay that way unless we take action.

Another mechanism that phones use on us is the infinite suggestions we have. Whenever we catch ourselves on an app, the endless amount of videos or posts we see catch our attention. Soon, it becomes impossible to stop scrolling and get off the app. Apps such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube profit from their apps, which have sections in which videos pop up on your screen every second. This feature soon creates the mindless habit of scrolling for a long time. Often, you don’t even realize you are doing so as you are moving your finger up as you go by every video. You swipe up if your video finishes or you don’t like the video you are watching. We seem to go on auto-pilot, and we continue unless something stops us.

Another effect that phones have on our society is the effects they can have on our mental health. After the worldwide lockdown of 2020, most students lost their communication skills and became less outgoing, best described by teachers and administrators. More students have kept to themselves and tend to be shy around new people. The main reason behind this comes from students being on their devices all day. People our age often “hide behind the screen,” and avoid social interaction. The result of this hiding can include anxiety, depression, and an increased feeling of loneliness. These dark emotions come from videos directed to hate and inappropriate subjects. If they start watching depressing content at a constant rate, for example, users’ recommendations soon stick to that style of content, often without escape.

Another impact phones have on us is through our attention span. In the year 2000, humans had an attention of 12 seconds, as explained in an article by Arista Recovery. Yet, according to an article written by Samba Recovery, the average human attention span was 8.25 seconds in 2024, which is less than a goldfish’s attention span. As a result of a shortened attention span, many find it difficult to concentrate during class and struggle talking in simple conversations. Phones, now more than ever, have an impact on our regular lives.

Phones can affect our physical health as well. It is common to use your phone at night, as we often want to watch TikToks or play mobile games before we rest up for the next day. However, if we fall into this habit, it can damage our eyes as bright lights suppress melatonin, a hormone that controls sleep. Soon, we lose precious time when we are unawake, which can cause even more damage. Due to our habit of checking our phones at night, we lack sleep and rest, which can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and a range of other health problems. Not only that, but exposure to blue light can lead to dry eyes as we tend to stop blinking when our screen is in front of us. Another risk, the infamous “text neck” is a result of people looking down when using their phones. As a result of us looking down too much, our heads begin to lose their natural alignment with our spine, causing our neck muscles and cervical spine to have extra strain. Our neck loses its correct position over time, and soon we develop a “text neck.” Poor posture also contributes to a change in our neck positions, as hunching over our devices can impact neck muscles and our spines.

With all these problems in mind, it can be difficult to resolve them as phones consume our daily lives. Once addicted to my phone, I can say that it was difficult for me to check my phone during school hours. Yet, I soon realized that there are various ways that we can reduce our usage of the phone. One tip suggests, if you have an addiction to using your phone, set screen time limits and find apps that can prevent you from opening apps. Apps such as Opal and Super App Lock prevent you from using apps during a specific time. Setting screen time limits works as well as the apps do. Another way to cut down on your phone usage is to uninstall apps you never use. If you have a lot of useless apps, you need to delete them as they serve no purpose except mental clutter. Delete apps you think will serve as a distraction in the long run. You can also switch to older devices that make certain distracting apps uninstallable. Yet, this strategy can send your phone back a few years, making you feel old or excluded having an iPhone or Samsung from a long time ago. Also, some of these phones have stopped being updated and lack many features, so be aware of that limitation. When it comes to doing schoolwork or trying to work on something outside of school, you need to hide your phone, making it unreachable. Better yet, have a family member put your phone in a place they only know, so it is harder for you to find and use. A final suggestion is for you to find a hobby. Start learning new skills, get involved in a sport or new interest that takes up a lot of time. It is much better if you use your time to improve your skills rather than scrolling on your phone with no energy to do anything else productive.

The influence phones have had on this generation has been massive. It is essential to look towards the future in our lives, as it can pave the way for technology and future inventions. Realizing a majority of the world may have a phone addiction is a problem that requires attention, which is the reason I stress the importance of trying to fix this problem. Save yourself from wasting years of your life on pointless videos or games on your phone. If we continue to ignore this issue that is literally in front of our eyes, it might become too late before it consumes future generations and humanity to come.