A recent article “Compulsive Texting Takes Toll on Teenagers” written by Roni Caryn Rabin, talks about studies that show some data that constant texting is affecting teenagers performance in school.

The study of more than 400 8th and 11th graders on texting, showed “teenage texters have a lot in common with compulsive gamblers.” To sum up the article briefly, it explains the correlation between phone usage, loss of sleep and declining grades, and under performance on tests and homework when studying time included phone activity.

This article gave me the idea to do a sort of study on myself. I constantly use my phone during all hours of the day, whether it be texting or social media, or research for school work. Even just random, pointless questions like, “Are avocados a fruit?”

My idea came from this article and a video made by Buzzfeed called “Your Phone: How Often Do You REALLY Use It?” In the video, the participants downloaded the app, “Moment”, on their phone that tracks daily usage. After a day, they report back their results, how many times they picked up their phone and how long they spent on them.

I’ve downloaded the app “BreakFree Cell Phone Addiction”, and “Hooked”

,  to monitor my own phone usage. After I tracked 4 days of my usage, tosee which apps I used the most often, I used this data and decided I would lock all these apps for a day. I was looking forward to a break from my phone. However, my problem is I use my phone quite consistently for homework. That’s why I only locked social media apps.

 The Results

I locked Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Kik. The most used app is Instagram, and then texting. I rarely use the other apps, but I locked them anyway so I wouldn’t be tempted to use my phone.

I had another person make a password only they knew, further preventing me from using my phone. Throughout the day at school, I was pretty much fine. Until my class all had to go to the library to return a book. I instantly pulled out my phone, and would click on Instagram, momentarily forgetting. I barely talk to anyone in this class, so not having anything to do on my phone was very irritating. Instead I just listened to music, but that was not occupying enough. And for a second, I had the urge to strike up a conversation with someone. But I didn’t, however, I think it was kind of a good thing I even had that thought, because if my phone hadn’t been locked I would have never even thought about talking to someone in the first place. Luckily, one of my friends happened to be in the library so I was able to actually distract myself, though she was on her phone.

I’ve realized it’s not hard for me to stay off my phone, as long as I find the class mentally stimulating. When the class is being taught in a hands on way, or is very engaging, I feel no need to bury my face in my phone. However, one of my classes did get uninteresting, because it was focused on writing essays at the end, and I lost focus and just wanted to go on my phone. And I did, but there was nothing to do on it, so I kind of just stared at it like a sad puppy.

At the end of the day, I started feeling irritated, about a separate problem, and wanted to go on my phone as a distraction. I had my friend write down the password they had made, so I would have it just in case I “needed” it. To be honest, the only reason I lasted 3 hours after-school, without my phone, was because I was hanging out with my friend, and then I fell asleep for another 3 hours once I got home. The moment I woke up, I got the password out and texted my boyfriend and went on Instagram, and pretty much just ruined my progress.

The urge to use my phone was highest when I was surrounded by people that I didn’t know well, when I got extremely bored, and when I would get angry. Even when I wasn’t “bored”, I was because I’ve had this routine to just go on my phone every time I run out of things to do, or things I want to do. That’s why I had allowed myself to sleep, because I never get enough sleep at night, because I usually would spend a few hours on my phone when I’d get home, and save homework for nighttime. Then use my phone while I’m doing my homework, and then get really tired and give up and use my phone some more. Even when I start yawning every five seconds, and my head gets cloudy, I usually still force myself awake. Once I finally put my phone down, I can’t even fall asleep till about 1 am.

I can’t blame this messed up cycle all on my phone use, because in general, when things get a bit difficult or boring, I zone out. Or I find something else to do. So what’s a better way to zone out or occupy myself, rather than my phone? Doing this experiment, I didn’t give it much thought that I would really care how much I use my phone. I knew I used it way too much, and that didn’t bother me. But one thing that truly is a problem is how bad my sleep cycle is, and how bad it gets over time. This really made me think, and from now on, I’m going to start to actually care, and try to stop phone ringing, and only use it when I have the time.