On Monday, September 16, 7th and 8th grade McAuliffe students were visited by Dino Ambrosi for an assembly on responsible phone use. The presentation targeted the problem of tweens and teens wasting valuable time on their devices, forming bad habits and vicious circles that could negatively affect their social and academic life. Ambrosi aimed to help students understand the causes of this growing issue.

Ambrosi started off his presentation with a diagram showcasing the average life expectancy of a person after the age of 18 years old to 90. He explained that 288 of those months will be spent sleeping, 126 on school or work, 18 driving, 36 cooking or eating, 36 doing chores or errands, and 27 spent on personal hygiene. Again, this is an average, not an exact. That leaves 334 months of complete free time. Unfortunately, the current U.S. citizen of 18 years is on track to spend 312 of those months on a device, not counting school. He explained a vicious circle that potentially causes screen times to go up, and grades to go down. 

Students often turn to their phones or other screens to take a break from stress, whether it’s from schoolwork, tests, or even social situations. But using devices to avoid stress can actually make things worse—schoolwork piles up, tests become even more stressful, and socializing becomes harder. So, they turn to their phones, or other devices, trapping themselves in a never ending loop.

In an interview with Ms. Hong, she informed me that her relationship with her device tends to be consuming and distracting, often leading her to procrastinate and delay her daily routines. Taking her most used app, Instagram, she said that the frequencies of opening it are on average 5 times a day in 20 minute increments. Ms. Hong mentioned that she does take precautions to lower the amount of screen time on Instagram, for instance, not opening it in the morning and waiting for when her daily activities are completed. Taking simple steps like these to lower your screen time now can make a big difference later on.

A huge thank you to Dino Ambrosi for an excellent presentation on the disadvantages of device overuse.