You come home from a long, tiring day at school. You throw yourself into bed, take your phone out, and start scrolling. When you look at the clock, you realize it’s already midnight. You have a pile of homework assignments due the next day. Before getting out of bed, you say to yourself, “One more video,” and you end up scrolling through the night. Many students are addicted to their phones without even knowing it. While phones are a great way to connect, they can physically isolate you from others, taking away the precious time you spend with your family and friends. Studies show that too much time on your phone can negatively affect your physical and mental well-being. What exactly is phone addiction? Am I addicted to my phone? How do I “digital detox” my brai
n? Let’s Dive in.
Just like any other addiction, phone addiction is when you find it extremely hard to get off your phone. Common Sense Media, an organisation focused on media use and safety for children, conducted a poll involving 1240 interviews with parents and children aged 12 to 18, and found that 50% of teens felt they were addicted to their phones and 59% of parents felt that their children were addicted to their phones. On average, teens spend over 7 hours on their phones while the recommended screen time is no more than 2 hours a day. Popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are designed to increase your dopamine with short videos and images that suit your interests. After a few visits, your brain will start craving short dopamine bursts. Phone addiction can lead to sleep deprivation.
Cyberbullying is an essential consequence of phone addiction. It is invisible but can be very damaging to a person’s psyche. If a person makes inappropriate comments (and possibly in the eyes of very few others), they are at risk of cyberbullying, which can lead to unhealthy mental health and even self-harm.
Speaking, Cyberbullying refers to the use of electronic communication, such as social media, text messages, or emails, to harass, intimidate, or humiliate others. Cyberbullying refers to the use of electronic communication, such as social media, text messages, or emails, to harass, intimidate, or humiliate others. Unlike traditional bullying, cyberbullying can occur 24/7, follow victims into their homes, and potentially reach a wider audience. https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, approximately 37% of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have experienced cyberbullying in their lifetime. The common forms are harassment, which means sending rude, offensive messages repeatedly, doxxing, which means publishing private information without their consent, and trolling, which means deliberately posting inflammatory or off-topic messages to provoke emotional responses. https://www.unicef.org/end-violence/how-to-stop-cyberbullying
The consequences of cyberbullying are various, including psychological effects and academic effects. Depression and anxiety is the most common problems. The case of Choi Suli is a typical example. She is a K-pop star and a member of a female group f(x). She faced years of relentless cyberbullying just because of her outspoken views and lifestyle choices. She openly discussed topics considered taboo, including her experience with panic disorder and her stance against online abuse. This made her a target for malicious comments and harassment. After years of cyberbullying, Sulli died by suicide in October 2019 at the age of 25, bringing international attention to the severe psychological toll of online harassment. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50073251. Second, cyberbullying would decrease work performance. This is because persistent negative messaging will damage self-respect, leading to inattention and distraction from virtual comments on the Internet. In severe cases, it can lead to a fear of using technology.
Then why does cyberbullying happen? Is it just inappropriate speech? No, there would be so many deeper factors that contribute to the prevalence of cyberbullying. Anonymity, or the condition of being unknown (nameless) to others, is considered a major determinant of disinhibited behavior https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2011.10.014. In the case that people don’t know who the speaker is, the speaker might do more offensive things, which will not damage their reputation. The ability to hide behind the screen can embolden people to behave in ways they wouldn’t in face-to-face conversations. Moreover, since the internet audience comes from various educational backgrounds, family and friends atmosphere, they have different inner qualities. Maybe the person on the screen is an elementary school student who has not had enough experience in dealing with people, and then he posts bad words to you. You should not get into self-doubt. What you should do is calm down and report his account if you need to.
Besides, the following is a comprehensive guide if you encounter cyberbullying. First, calm down, don’t be too angry even though it is not your fault. You should respond immediately. You can document the screenshots of all harmful messages or images and report them to the webmaster. Then you can use platform tools to block the person and adjust privacy settings. After that, tell someone you trust about what’s happening to release pressure. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035618
In conclusion, cyberbullying is a serious problem on the internet. It influences people because of offensive words or rude performances. We can’t be bullies, but if we meet cyberbullying, we need to protect ourselves bravely.
A growing body of research reinforces the idea that smartphones are taking away from our ability to control our impulses, especially among younger users. Experts say that this may be due to the constant access to instant gratification, which evokes a need for more and more.
First of all, what is impulse control? Impulse control is a skill that people develop so that they do not act on every urge or desire they have. It involves thinking everything through and making deliberate choices. According to Wikipedia, “The ability to control impulses, or more specifically control the desire to act on them, is an important factor in personality and socialization.” (Wikipedia). It is important for us as a society to control our urges so we do not hurt ourselves or other people.
One reason why cell phones negatively affect our impulse control is the constant stimulation, such as sounds or notifications. Every time our phones buzz or make a sound, we are torn away from the task at hand, and our brain has to work harder to regain focus. This mental “switching” reduces our productivity and makes it more difficult to control our urges. Over time, our brains become conditioned to seek out these interruptions, making it harder to concentrate, delay gratification, or make and follow our long-term goals.
Moreover, these ongoing distractions lead our brains to be trained to prioritize short-term rewards over long-term benefits. Social media alerts or messages provide immediate stimulation, which activates a hormone called dopamine, which gives your brain a reward or motivation. This repeated cycle can increase impulsive behaviors and make it more difficult to make thoughtful decisions. Because self-control is built on behaviors such as the ability to tolerate discomfort and delay satisfaction, the constant lure of digital notifications makes it more difficult to regulate yourself, thus leading to poorer impulse control in daily life.
Additionally, excess dopamine release, often triggered by social media use, can create a necessity for increasingly more screen time. Every reel you scroll through triggers a dopamine response, making you more excited. This encourages users to continue scrolling, posting, or checking their phones, even when they have higher priority responsibilities. Over time, excessive screen time can lead the brain to lose satisfaction in slower-paced activities with delayed gratification, such as reading, studying, or real-life conversations.
As the brain becomes accustomed to frequent dopamine boosts, the user is prompted to use social media more and more, leading to compulsive checking of devices and increased use of social media. Furthermore, this cycle can numb the brain’s sensitivity to dopamine, which means that more stimulation is needed to achieve the same response. As a result, people may spend more and more time looking at their screens looking for that same pleasure, as well as taking less part in other everyday activities, as they may feel less engaging or rewarding. This creates a cycle of dependency, where social media becomes both the source of excitement and a distraction from less rewarding tasks or stress, making it more and more difficult to break free. All in all, the constant stimulation from smartphones is reshaping how our brains process information and manage self-control.
Excess use of cell phones can lead to multiple physical and mental problems in teens, negatively affecting their academic and social lives. While teens are recommended to sleep for at least 8 hours, teens only get 6-7 hours of sleep on average per night. One major reason for this is that teens “doom scroll”, meaning they scroll on their phones for hours without realizing it. One major reason for this, other than early school times and homework, is the excessive use of phones right before sleep. Phones emit blue light, affecting the melatonin cycle in your brain, making it significantly harder for teens to get to sleep. Teens often don’t have the energy to focus and learn the next day, affecting their ability to gain information and knowledge.
Excessive use of social media can also lead to mental and cognitive issues in teens. Popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are designed to keep you on the app. These apps learn from the algorithm of what you search and watch, enabling the app to suggest videos of your interest. The vast amount of content, especially “short videos,” increases the urge for teens to go on social media. The extensive content also negatively affects the attention span of teens, making it harder for teens to focus on a single task. Teens also feel a sense of FOMO(fear of missing out socially) and low self-esteem on social media. “You feel like this sense of FOMO because you see everything everyone’s doing and you’re not always part of it…” Said Emily Weinstein, a psychologist studying teen behavior and the principal investigator of Harvard Project Zero. Teens often compare themselves with others whom they see online, and often feel a sense of inferiority and loneliness, leading to FOMO and low self-esteem. Carrie James, a researcher at Harvard Project Zero said “We need to acknowledge the reality that there are things that our kids are going to post that they’re not going to necessarily feel great about and we need to be there for them when they stumble with great empathy, with encouragement around a growth mindset.” (https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/edcast/22/10/complex-world-teens-and-screens), also emphasized the importance of adults fostering a “growth mindset” for teens when they make mistakes online, rather than just scolding or punishing them.
While phones and social media can be utilized for productivity and entertainment, understanding the underlying dangers and consequences enables everyone to live a healthy, happy, and safe digital life.