If you were to tell Alexander Graham Bell how much his once eccentric invention has grown and developed, he would be amazed. If you were to tell him that a good majority of people would not be able to live without a phone, he would be flabbergasted.

95% of people in the U.S. own a cell phone and of that percentage about 77% are smartphones. Children are now growing up with having technology at their hand and foot, causing them to become more dependent on it. People have grown addicted to their phones and are losing skills they once had, such as holding conversations and attention spans.

It is truly an epidemic. Everywhere you go you see most people with their head down, not enjoying the real world in front of them, but rather the virtual world beneath the screens. It is an addiction that causes issues regarding mental health and relationships with both other people and yourself.

Senior Shea Graf said, “I am constantly comparing myself to other people, making me feel insecure or not good enough. Nobody ever posts their bad days, just the good ones, which makes their lives seem perfect.”  

Endless scrolling leads to endless comparison. People, especially teenagers, need to turn off the screen in order to gain a reality check of the toll social media has on a person. You will be surprised at how much more relaxed you will feel.

Senior Emily Cowen went on a service trip a few months ago, and she was not allowed to bring her phone. When asked about that experience she said, “it was crazy how different life felt. I wasn’t constantly checking to see what everyone else was up to so I could really focus on myself and the reason I went on service in the first place.” Ever since that experience, she says she has grown less reliant on her phone and has been an overall more relaxed person.

It is quite difficult to get the message across to people everywhere on this particular epidemic. If everyone just takes a break once and awhile, we can go back to being a society that is not fully dependent on a cell phone.