How much do you use your phone every day?
- Merja Alatalo
- May 20
- 2 min read
This article will demonstrate the vast variety in middle schoolers' phone and other device activity, the time they spend on their phones, and their opinions concerning different things related to the internet. So let’s get into it.
How much do you use your phone every day? You’ve probably heard this question a hundred times before. So, why not ask it to three middle schoolers? I interviewed three people from KSYK Middle School about their phone usage and their opinion on the school's phone usage rules: Kaisla Kurri (9C), Edith Henttinen (8B), and Fareeha Umer (9B).
So, I asked the question. What is your average daily screen time? Overall, all of the answers varied from 3 to 5 hours; however, some answers didn’t take time spent on schoolwork into account. Although Fareeha doesn’t use any other devices, Kaisla said she likes using her laptop to watch movies, and Edith likes playing different games on her Nintendo Switch. There seems to be no specific trend among middle schoolers on what devices they enjoy using besides their phones.
However, one trend became very prominent throughout all the interviews: social media is an incredibly important part of middle schoolers' lives. The most popular social media apps are TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube and Whatsapp, although Whatsapp wasn’t generally viewed as a social media app. Even though everybody enjoyed using social media, all the interviewees saw a lot of negatives in it too. “It can be fun, but sometimes people can be incredibly toxic, and I feel like it’s easy to develop an unhealthy world-view or a false perspective about yourself because of social media,” Kaisla said. All interviewees mentioned that social media can be an incredibly damaging place, especially toward young and impressionable teens. “ I think social media can be really good, especially while trying to communicate to your friends, but it’s good to use it in a controlled way and not get too attached to it”, Fareeha stated.
Lastly, I asked the interviewees their opinion on our school's phone rules, especially having to put your phones into a box before the lesson. Both Kaisla and Fareeha agreed that the rule was good and fairly reasonable, as it helps kids to focus on the lesson and that it would be disrespectful towards the teacher to use your phone while they’re trying to do their job and teach you valuable information. Edith, however, paints a completely different perspective. She expressed her distaste towards the policy as she believes that “It’s kind of like a situation of mess around and find out your consequences later, I mean we’re trying to get these kids prepared for work life and teach them responsibility, I can’t expect these kids to learn responsibility if you don’t let them mess up once in a while”.
In conclusion, the opinions on many different matters related to phone use is incredibly dividing among students and there is no one right option as many people have great explanations and defenses for their opinions and comments.
Kirjoittaja, toimittaja & kuvaaja: Lumi Gregory