People’s everyday lives have changed and now include a constant habit of being on their phones for the entire day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of American teenagers spend an average of four hours a day on their phones. The use of electronic devices had started from the birth of the internet and the release of smartphones. As smartphones became more advanced and more reliable. The use of screentime had skyrocketed after cases of COVID-19 became less frequent.
Lives changed when the COVID-19 pandemic began. During that time, social media became an activity hotspot for people stuck at home. Tiktok usage skyrocketed. Everyone started to scroll on social media platforms. Once the COVID-19 pandemic ended fewer people went outside and more people chose to stay at home on their phones. Most of the time, people get attached to their phones because they treat it as a reward after doing hard work. Generally, people spend multiple hours on their phone a day which can negatively affect their mental health.
Brainrot is the mindless content people consume that has harmful impacts on a person’s brain.
Those who are watching social media every day are stuck in a loop, watching tons of short-form content that has the effect of dopamine. Junior Max Olson uses his phone to call friends and spends most of his time on Instagram Reels and YouTube. Olson shared, “I feel like I kinda have brain fog, and I can feel fatigue sometimes, even though I feel like I am not processing any of the information. I usually can’t even tell you what I even watched after.” Sophomore Annabelle Sullivan shares a similar feeling with Olson when she spends most of her time on social media. “I feel like I’m kinda not in the real world and I’m just stuck on my phone,” Sullivan said.
Social media addiction can often hurt our ability to complete tasks, planning, organizing and memorization. This can affect students and their organization when it comes to academics. Senior Austin Harris is an expert when it comes to brainrot. Harris said “I think that brainrot definitely makes it harder to study for tests and stuff, you know, trying to lock in, it might distract you.” Some students aren’t able to handle the dopamine effect of looking at the endless videos these social media platforms offer. Alternatively, senior McKenna Conrad thinks our phones can be used as more helpful tools for academics like taking advantage of the studying platform, Quizlet, to memorize terms for an upcoming test.
Some students are aware of the effects of social media addiction. Senior Isabelle Porchella restricts her phone use to work on homework in order to perform well. Porchella said,“I think it depends on how dedicated you are to really studying something, like I feel like if I’m cracking down for a test, like I’ll put my phone away and that helps a lot with memory.”
From interviewing these students, they had a problem remembering what they learn because while studying they are distracted by the anticipation of scrolling on their phones. This can be a certain problem for students wanting to perform well in their schoolwork and academics, but some are able to restrain themselves from touching the phone.
In order to be successful in education and their professions in the future, they need to be able to control their use of phones. If they don’t want to experience brainrot, they should not scroll through social media for the entire day. Instead, they could restrain screen time in that app, or delete social media all together to improve their mental health.
