The idea that people are on their phones too much is not new. Every day, people feel the consequences of their phone addiction. Twelve hours of screen time per day. The buzz of phantom notifications. A person’s to-do list piling up as they want to scroll for five more minutes. It’s an old mantra that kids can’t see the world except through their phones. Quite frankly, writing about how teenagers are always on their phones is redundant. Instead, the conversation should be about why young people are being blamed for this issue.

Cell phone use has clearly taken a toll on people's physical and mental health. People lose sleep because entertainment is right next to the bed. The blue light that phones give off disrupts the brain’s melatonin production, which disrupts a person’s sleep cycle. Excessive use also encourages a sedentary lifestyle, which can lead to a variety of health problems. People often get anxiety from being separated from their phones, for the risk of missing a notification and seeing people’s lives online often leads to insecurity and a feeling of inadequacy. Maybe our parents were right; maybe all of life's stresses and problems can be traced back to that phone.

Say a young person finally decides to step away from life with a smartphone. This person trying to detox may throw away their phone, or lock it away in a safe. But then what? All of their music that they enjoy listening to is on there. They don’t want to work out, or go on walks, without their music or audiobook to motivate them. They also can’t drive to new places because physical maps are impractical , and there was never any point in memorizing addresses.

Now, they need to spend money on physical media. Without thrifting, a vinyl will cost at least $20. A cheap record player will cost at least $30 . Alternatively, $10 for each CD, except most cars don’t have a CD player; So another $20 for a CD player. They will also need to begin looking up directions for each place they go and writing these down, or somehow finding a physical map to begin using for reference. They will find a way to buy a flip phone and learn to use it, or even buy a landline if they really want to disconnect. Either way, they need to tell all their friends that they won’t be reachable at their old number, and for the landline, they won’t be able to text. If they get a landline, they no longer feel safe walking alone at night without the ability to call the police in an emergency. If they get stranded on the side of the road, they’ll just have to wait for someone to stop and help them. If they get lost in a city, they just have to hope they can find their way back.

Needless to say, throwing the phone away altogether isn’t exactly an option for most lifestyles. While the challenges above seem like just normal life for everyone who grew up and lived before the invention of cellphones, it’s an unsustainable lifestyle for everyone else. Movie and concert tickets are mostly digital now. Amber and weather alerts are signalled through the phone. Many jobs count on their employees having cell phones. Those who used to be able to navigate through life without cell phones blame those who can’t, when it’s really not the younger generation’s fault. The Internet, smart phones, laptops –they’ve become the norm for adolescence in the twenty-first century.

There’s always been some idea that things used to be better, that people used to behave better. “Back in my day…” or “The good old days…” Things were so simple and people didn’t have to worry about anything because everybody behaved just fine. People respond to modern news and shake their heads that people are so cruel now. While problems shift and change with time, they are never gone completely. The older generation believes that kids don’t behave anymore. Their parents probably said that nobody cares about tradition. And their parents said that technology is moving too fast. The people need to build our nation great again but when was it ever great? There have always been problems; the issues are changing as the times change. Each generation grows up in different circumstances as the one before them, and the latter will shake their heads at how kids act. It’s never ending.

The youth will always inherit the societal problems their parents created. People always fear the next generation won’t be able to run society and enter the workforce, but they always do. People surrounded by smartphones their whole lives are at the disadvantage that excessive Internet use has, but everyone else is addicted to their smartphones as well. Past generations normalized smoking all day every day. Generation X weren’t parented enough, Generation Z was too gently parented. Baby Boomers grew up with the threat of nuclear war. Mental health issues are more prominent in the younger generations because it’s more normalized to speak up about their problems. Generation Alpha spent their developing years quarantined from their classmates. Baby Boomers are aging at a time where healthcare is unaffordable. Millennials entered the workforce during a recession.

Kids these days are always going to behave differently than the generations before them. Worrying about the young generation’s smartphone use is understandable, but overstated; the modern world requires people to rely on their phones. This is okay – and even necessary -- as long as it’s in moderation. Besides, in 20 years, the kids growing up glued to their cell phones are going to look down at the generation below them and shake their heads at whatever new behavior.

“They [young people] have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things… They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning -- all their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. They overdo everything -- they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else.” -Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Written by Gracie Streetman, Photography: Zayna Sayyed, Social Media: Spurthi Challa, Styling: Cindy Chen

Kids These Days