A cell phone crisis?

By: Dori Jenkins

Many students carry around their own cell phones with them. You see them everywhere and people are sometimes more focused on their phones than anything else. In fact, 95% of teens, ages 12-17, have a phone available to them, and 81% of them use some kind of social media. The amount of students who own cell phones just keeps on increasing as they become more popular.
A cell phone has become such a reliable source of communication that people use every day. Some people have become so attached to their device that they don't pay attention to what is going on around them. Smart phones fall below only the Internet and hygiene when ranked by level of importance to peoples’ daily lives, according to the survey done by Bank of America Fund. Almost 91% said their phone is as important as their car and deodorant! A freshman at Seckman High School, Sydney Penrod, says, “I don’t think that my phone is more important than deodorant or actual necessities, however I do think about my phone way more than I think of other necessities.”
If a student was asked to go a full day without using his or her cell phone, chances are they could not successfully complete that task. Not that it is impossible because there are people in this world who survive without a phone, but the majority of American children don't know a world without technology and would not know what to do with themselves when they become bored. Most people can say that they even sleep with their phone right by them every night. A sophomore at Seckman High School, Lexie Leiweke, says, “Looking at my phone is last thing I do before I go to bed and the first thing I do whenever I wake up.”
According to a study done by students at the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism, for most students the problem of going a full day without their phone was not having music. Today’s students have a soundtrack to their lives; they are always plugged in and they listen to music throughout the day. Not having music when they walked to class, when they exercised, or when they studied dramatically disconcerted many students. There was an up-side, however, that several students noted:  their lack of music actually forced them to have conversations with people they did not know. Although not having a cell phone for a full 24 hours may sound horrible, you may get to meet people or see something you've never noticed because you were too busy just staring into your phone. A senior at Seckman High School, Tenecia Clemmons, says, “One day I left my phone at home and I had a day full of less drama and I had more conversations with people I don’t often have a chance to talk to.”
Overall, most of the people in this world have become way too attached to the technology we have and don't realize the important things they are missing in life. As a young adult, a phone should not already be taking over your life, but sadly this happens. People don't realize how addicting phones can be and should limit their usage of them.