Fighting tech addiction in an increasingly connected world

Our relationship with our technology is changing almost as quickly as the technology itself. But, there’s growing concern that the balance is off and our habits on our phones are showing signs of addiction rather than just benefiting from a useful tool.

“It’s so hard, it’s become part of my daily life to go look on my phone.” “phones are so extremely addicting.” “it’s just what we do and I can’t leave my house without my phone.” These are 7th and 8th graders at New Brighton Middle School in Capitola, part of a generation that doesn’t remember a world without technology.

Healthy living teacher Andy Shapiro says, “In some ways they’re an experimental generation because we haven’t experienced this level of technology use, where kids grow up with cell phones from a very young age.” But, they’re joining a national conversation about what experts call, “tech addiction, a public health crisis.”

Common Sense Media CEO, James Steyer says, “This is not a minor issue, this goes to the way relationships are being formed, how identity is being formed by young people, and also about how parents are interacting with their kids. A lot of parents are glued to their phone way too much.”

7th grader, Ava Attia, says, “Every ten minutes I have to go look at Snapchat stories because after 24 hours they’ll all just disappear and i’ll be left out on something.” When we first started asking students in Mr. Shapiro’s Healthy Living class about their technology use, some didn’t like how quickly the conversation went negative. “We didn’t make the technology, we’re just using it.” “I’m still being penalized for using it.”

We asked the kids if they feel like they don’t have control over their technology. One 7th grader said, “A hundred percent, there’s nothing I can do to say, ‘hey Steve Jobs, go back in time and don’t make the iPhone’.” We traveled to San Francisco to meet with a non profit organization called Common Sense Media, which is actually partnering with former tech industry insiders to talk about this issue and understand the impacts it’s having, not only on children, but also on parents.

Steyer says, “You now have whistle blower employees of Facebook, Instagram, and Google coming forward and saying we are designing these platforms intentionally to addict you. Our business model is to keep you for as long as possible on the phone.” That’s what started the ‘Truth About Tech’ and ‘Device Free Dinner’ campaigns. Common Sense Media found that 59% of parents think their kids are addicted to their phones and 50% of teens feel addicted themselves.

One 7th grader said, “Like Instagram the consistent postings, pulling you back. You want to see what your friends posted, pulling you back.” Shapiro says, “One of my great concerns as a teacher is a rising level of anxiety that I see in students, and there’s some research being done about whether there’s a connection between technology and anxiety and depression and even teen suicide.” Steyer says, “We also talk with kids about some of the social emotional consequences of being bullied online or getting negative text messages.”

But, it’s not just the adults stepping up, the kids are paying attention as well and are aware of the draw. Some are even trying to curb the habit. One 8th grader said, “I go off my phone and I start drawing and I notice, ‘oh this is really relaxing,’ and it’s some downtime off social media and worrying about what other people are trying to talk about. I just feel like a better person.”