Plugged In: Cell Phone Addiction in Teenagers

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In the past, people did not need to constantly talk to friends or maintain involvement in one’s social life 24/7. If communication was necessary, one had to pick up a phone and actually talk to that person over the phone. Flash-forward to today and almost every teenager possesses a cell phone. People can connect with each other at all times and can become “plugged in” to the world at the touch of an app. With that comes new addictions to social media, driving dangers, and a new way of communicating in general that has changed the definition of being a teenager all across the globe in more negative ways than positives. Instead of communicating with one another face-to-face, social media has made “being connected” an obsession among teenagers. Emma Berkal, a junior at Lake Orion High School said, “[social media] has taken over my life. I can’t go an hour without checking Twitter or Instagram.” The amount of “likes,” “favorites,” or “retweets” a post gets on social media defining people on social media as “popular,” or “unpopular”. Bullying has also been on the rise because of social media. As teens are opening up to millions of new attackers by going on the Internet, “Social media trolls have hit the headlines this year, as have the resulting tragic cases of teen suicides,” (Marshall). Twitter and Facebook, for example, are windows to a new form of bullying. It is often easier for a bully to hide behind a computer screen than to do it face-to-face—leading to harassment. Even the word “screenagers” is a word in the dictionary now—when a teenager consumes a majority of their time using the Internet. It is also easier for a teenager to become a bully when they can simply press enter to lash out at someone—leading to a negative change... ... middle of paper ... ...s to have real friends. Another junior from LOHS, Brianne Lambrecht, said, “I don’t like [social media], it’s stupid…[it’s] all people do when they’re together nowadays. They can’t even enjoy each other because they’re so absorbed into their phones.” Works Cited Berkal, Emma. Personal Interview. 20 January 2014. Iwaniw, Chloe. Personal Interview. 20 January 2014. Lambrecht, Brianne. Personal Interview. 20 January 2014. Marshall, Nilima.. "'The statistics are scary'." Northern Echo. 18 Nov. 2013: 14. eLibrary. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. Solomon, Lois K, writer, Staff.. "Tween tells off texters Seventh-grader Mia Evans creates signs to flash from passenger seat." South Florida Sun - Sentinel. 12 Jan. 2014: 1. eLibrary. Web. 20 Jan. 2014. Strasburger, Victor. "Children, Adolescents, and the Media: Seven Key Issues." Pediatric Annals 9(2010):556. eLibrary. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

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