Phones And Teens

It used to be you go to school, you have a nice day and come back. For some it used to be that maybe you get bullied at school but you get through a day, and when the school day is over you can escape it, your home is refuge from the bullying. Now with phones added into this equation, there is no escape, no matter how far away you are from the bullies they can still get to you. So how safe is it really to own a phone?

Middle school can be a tough time for kids as they are constantly changing, physically and mentally. Most kids are given a phone when they are in middle school. To a kid receiving a phone is like winning a lottery ticket. The main reasons why kids are given a phone is because of safety reasons, it’s a way parents can be aware that their kids are safe wherever they are, but are the kids really safe? Approximately 9 in 10 teens have a phone, and around 1 in 5 are victims of either cyber bullying or text bullying. Only 1 out of 6 adolescents parents are aware of the intensity of cyberbullying, and therefore don’t consider the risk in handing a phone to their child.

Imagine this: You are a pedestrian waiting for the light to go green. In front of you see cars zooming past at full speed. To your right you see that most cars have stopped waiting for the traffic light to go green, in the distance you see car on your right heading straight towards the junction but did not seem like it was in the condition to stop. The driver was a teenage boy was driving his car at full speed but was paying absolutely no attention to the road in front of him as he was on his phone and seemed to be getting distracted. You can guess what this led to next. He drove ahead blindly, and ran a red light, a big truck rammed into the passenger side of his car, and his car rolled over several times, breaking glass and inflating the safety bag. He was dead. If only he was not on his phone. If only he payed attention the the road ahead. If only, but he did not.

Phones have not only made it easier for teens to get bullied but have also led to many driving accidents. 56% of teens have admitted to talking on their phones while driving, and 13% of teens have admitted to texting while driving. According to statistics teenagers are the most involved in car accidents. Irresponsible behaviour such as the one listed above, and lack of respect for the necessary safety precautions have been the main reason for the cause of such accidents.

These are definitely some very significant issues with some teens owning a phone, but is it the phones fault of the teens fault? Do parents need to take aways their kids phone because of these reasons, the answer is no. Michele L. Yabarra of Internet solutions for kids inc. agrees, she said, “There is no reason to become distressed or take kids cell phones away.” there is no reason to get too worried but parents should definitely be more aware of the way their teen uses their phone. Phones were made for communication, now they have become much bigger and have more than 1 purpose but that does not mean that it is okay for people to use their phone irresponsibly. Alongside the parents, teens should also start to take more responsibility, and be more cautious of their phone use. If you are getting bullied via your phone report it to your parents, they can help you. All in all, there is no harm in using a phone as long as you use it safely.

By: Aarushi Sachdeva

The Effects of Using Technoogy

Everyone believes that technology plays a big part in our lives whether we use it to text our loved ones or use it to can be useful in a way but it can also be a major distraction. People like to minimize their daily electronic life to experience the real world and not to be trapped in the social black hole and staring onto a screen. There a lot of great social opportunities and you are going to miss them if you stare down at a screen all day.

Have you ever used your phone so much that you just don’t want to get off it? It is just too hard to let go of it.

One reason why people should stop using their screens too much is that they will start to act different such as use their phone when they are not supposed to, fellow 8th grade students at UWCSEA says

“I use my phone 2-3 hours a day and sometimes I use my phone when I am in school and it distracts me when I am in class. I use my phone to manage my social accounts.”


Kids create many social media accounts to interact with each other whether it is friends or family. They use their social media in the wrong way as well. There are many types of social websites or such as facebook, instagram, snapchat, etc. If kids have the time they will just take their phones out of their pockets and check their social media. It isn’t bad to check social media but you can manage your time well to social media and not access your social media uncontrollably. Another distraction kids face these days are the games that they download. Kids can’t stop looking at their screens when playing games. When on public transport people, especially kids stand around at the exit staring at their screens. They don’t notice that there are other people around them. They are in their own world. It's not good to see kids in this generation staring at a screen. They could be doing something useful as well. Phones should not be overused as kids are trading their friends and family for a useless screen that is there only to waste your time and to entertain and make your life fun. But all a phone does is make you pay for it and phones take up most of your day.

“The internet is so big, powerful and pointless that for some people it is a complete substitute for life.”- Andrew Brown

What Andrew Brown is trying to convey in the quote, some kids use their phones like it is their life. All kids need to manage their time on their social media accounts and not to spend ridiculous amounts of time looking at a screen. There won’t be any problem if they manage time well. Spending about 30 minutes to and 1 hour is a reasonable time that a child should spend using their phone on a daily basis. A rising problem kids are facing is that their phones are keeping them awake at night.

A 8th grade student has unveiled that their phone keeps them awake at night until 1 in the morning almost everyday.

Using your phone at late hours will cause you to get less sleep and that might cause drowsiness the next day and you will start to have behavioural problems. Changing how much time you use on your phones will be helpful but using your phone for excessive amounts of time will cause to be different and trapped in your own world.


Using your phone at the wrong time is not correct, you should use your phones when you are free and not doing anything. Using your phones during school, no matter how much your phone distracts you. Even Though you would just take your phone out of your pocket if you are bored. It may seem okay to do that but in reality it is not correct. You can do something more useful rather than procrastinate on your phone.

“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.”

- Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein has revealed that children will start to have social and behavioural problems whether it could be at school. Some children get separation anxiety when separated from their phone showing a different attitude without their phones. Teenagers need to learn that there is a lot more things in this world rather than a magical screen. In reality children are stuck on a phone. What children need to understand is that we should look up sometimes at the real world and not at a screen that tells us what is going in the world.        

By: Adhvay Krishnan :)

Cellphone Zombification

Are cellphones hypnotising the human race? On Monday the 5th of October, 4 round square delegates from the round square conference visited the class 8SMD but just end up on their phones, bored, for majority of the time. Sydney, one of the delegates was constantly engrossed with the contents of her phone, instead of participating in the activities planned by the students.

Every now and again the other 3 would take a glance at their phones as well, but it was mostly Sydney. At one point she said “this is so weird!” to the other delegates before a game of musical statues, then went back to texting on her phone. Her facial expression mostly looked like she was unfocused and bored. Rhea, one of the students from 8SMD said “I thought it was a bit rude because we were supposed to be bonding but she was just ignoring the activities we were doing”

But Sydney isn’t the only one. People everywhere are attached to their phones. On the MRT, almost everyone on there is on their phone playing games, listening to music, calling someone, texting and more. One woman, most probably a helper, with a local child about 3 years old were aboard the MRT. The woman was concentrating on a game on her phone, not keeping an eye out for the child. Afterall he is her responsibility and she was hardly paying attention. It just shows how immersed we are in technology these days, are we becoming programmed into becoming phone zombies?

By Isabella G