I think I have an addiction… to my phone. The first thing I do every morning is check my phone. I’m constantly trying to keep up with social media and always want to make sure I’ve looked at every text I get. The thought of not having my phone on me at all times makes me anxious. There is never a time my phone isn’t in either my hand or pocket. I cannot function properly without knowing my phone is with me. 

I realized my “addiction” to my phone after my phone had died; my sister and brother accidentally took all the iPhone chargers to our dad’s house. I had no idea what I could do as a substitute for the entertainment my phone gave me. Nothing on TV interested me anymore, I didn’t feel like doing homework, and my laptop was dead. I waited until my mom got home from work and begged her to just buy me a new charger. After my mom had finally said yes to buying one, I realized how much time I actually spend on my phone, staring at a screen and switching between apps I’ll forget about in a few years. 

 I always ignored my teachers when they’d go on and on about students being addicted to their cellphones, but when you really think about it, a lot of us are. I had a friend who asked most of our World History class if she could check their screentime, and on average a lot of them had used their phones for eight hours a day. EIGHT HOURS A DAY wasted. Even when I try to use my phone as little as possible, I still had used it for around five hours that day.

When I think about all the time I’ve wasted checking social media, all the times I’ve waited for a text back, all the time I spent worrying if my phone is going to die, all the time I’ve skipped out on things because my phone battery was low, I wish I could do so much more without having to always have my phone attached to me. After writing this I’ve realized I need to try a lot more to stay off my phone, it's not healthy for me to be constantly staring at a screen instead of doing more important things like homework or hanging out with my friends and family.