“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” -Ferris Bueller, Dr Richard Chambers
Mr. Wilson poses with editor Li for thumbnail post interview (big thanks!)
Prologue
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Wrote Dr Richard Chambers in Ferris Bueller.
Indeed, throughout the past few months following the acquisition of a cell phone, I found myself trapped in a cycle of dull monotony. The outdoor breath being but a fleeting memory, every day was like the last. My life was dominated by a constant stream of information and ceaselessly bombarded with headlines, trapping me in other people’s lives. From the moment a day began, my hand scrolled mechanically across my phone screen until late into the night as my homework piled up. All the while, a voice of reasoning would scream out my concerns and tasks, pounding on the locked door in the back of my mind. Each night, I would let the voice out only to find it was too late to make changes. Instead, I would create posters and make useless mental notes for the upcoming day. “I have to stop; life starts tomorrow!” Yet I knew deep inside that it would all be the same.
If you are reading this article, it means that you’ve came to the same conclusion, which can be summed up with a quote from “Kung Fu Panda.”
In order for change to truly occur, you have to commit to the present–do not dwell on your history, how obnoxious it may be, nor crave for the future as the coming day is forever just a mystery. Instead, as Master Oogway said, focus on the present, and give your greatest gift….to yourself!
This begs the question, “If immediate action must be taken, what must I do that I have not already tried?” Considering that many of you, like me, may have problems with procrastination, I am going to enlighten you on a method that worked for me and share some additional research I did on this topic prior to writing this article.
The Method
Upon reaching the conclusion that I must take action as soon as possible, I followed with close to no delay a question that is only too reasonable : “How?” As my mush like brain failed to calculate this “complex” question, I turned towards the only source I knew, YouTube, and what do I know, it saved my life.
If you wish to watch it, the video is titled:
However, keep in mind that there are a whopping 2 whole bad words in the video so watch at your own risk.
For those who are sensitive to repulsive language, or are reluctant to spend 24 minutes on a Youtube video, here is a summary. (I suggest you watch it for maximum effect, it has excellent cinematography and script)
This Challenge’s name is “The Dopamine Detox”, with its goal being to replace your social-media-dominated dopamine production (source of happiness) with healthy ones such as living a controlled dream life that you always wanted. In order to do this, you have to directly limit your access to social media and quick entertainment. This includes deleting all of your online dopamine hits such as games, shorts, and music (Yes you would have to workout in silence and eat without scrolling through TikTok). If you wish to go the extra mile, you may also limit your access to sugar but that is not our focus here. During this week long challenge, you will feel instant and significant changes to your life, something which the video tracks through a video journal.
From a personal standpoint, I can only describe this experience as “magical.” For lack of a better word, I will briefly describe this process: “Never had I noticed the pleasantness of shelter in storm, nor of the droplets that hung to leaves before taking a dive. Nor, of the chirping of the birds and the gusts of wind that replaced the dull metallic music that always flooded my ears while my eyes were filled with the lavender blue of the endless sky.”
Local Research
After a few days of doing this experiment, curiosity motivated me to learn more about this topic and the matter of screen time. Some casual research led to shocking results that left me in awe, so much so that they were almost hard to believe. Here is what I found out :
- According to Exploding Topics,
a. The average teen spends 7 hours and 22 minutes looking at screens each day, 43% of their waking hours.
b. American teens’ screen time has increased by around 2 hours since 2015
c. Teenagers devote the largest proportion of their screen time to TV/videos - 3 hours and 16 minutes. That’s almost 2 times more than any other screen-based activity. Gaming (1 hour and 46 minutes) and social media (1 hour and 27 minutes) make up the rest of the top three.
Despite the unanimous claims across different sources, I still found this data to be hard to believe. This led me to conduct my own research. Through a variety of collection strategies including promoting this form and conducting active interviews, I reached the following conclusion :
- From the 69 students of Sentinel I interviewed :
a. Students dedicates an average of 6 hours everyday to their devices
b. 3.5 hours are dedicated to social media alone
c. 35.4% of students are interested in changing their screen time
While 6 hours a day is definitely a leap of improvement compared to 7 hours and 22 minutes, it is still what many could not afford to lose. This can be seen as 35.4 percent of people (perhaps more) wish to change their screen time. Furthermore, since screen times are generally lower for the same age groups when directly interviewed, there could be the possibility that this information is not wholly accurate.
The Interview
Armed with the information priorly mentioned, I decided to write an article on this topic and help those stuck in a similar position. However, before the composition of this article, I decided to consult Mr. Wilson, an expert in this field as he had just recently begun his classroom phone policy. Seeking Wilson’s wonderful wisdom, I invited him to an interview, in which I was able to learn about the double-edged nature of the internet.
For anyone interested, you may learn about Mr. Wilson’s takes on online entertainment here.
Conclusion
Today, we looked at an imperative problem that is faced by teens around the globe. What started as a personal difficulty and my solution towards it, quickly sparked my curiosity on this topic of screen time. This resulted in extensive research to accurately assess the severity and scope of the issue that I began to realize I did not alone struggle with. Armed with said information, I finally decided to compose this article and share my experience with all of you. Mismanagement of screen time is a problem more severe than you may think, and if you are struggling with restraint, I wish you all the luck in overcoming it.
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