Yael Santillan receives an iMessage prior to doing classwork. She had been on task until her phone buzzed. “Every time I’m doing my homework, I get messages and my phone keeps ringing. It’s so tempting to look at the messages and be on social media,” sophomore Yael Santillan said. Photo by Christina Kurian.
By CHRISTINA KURIAN – Staff Writer
The time one takes to read a text can lead to an hour on your phone, time that could have been used completing something productive. Phones, nowadays, can be a towering distraction in one’s life.
How long does it take one to do their work? Thirty minutes? Forty- five? Hours? Now, imagine if one didn’t have a smartphone beside them to distract them.
On a regular basis–with my phone beside me–it takes me hours to finish my work. But without the distractions and temptation of wanting to use my phone, I was able to complete the same amount of work within 15 minutes rather than spending hours.
Cell phones creates suspense. People tend to be easily distracted by that slight buzz or vibration given off by their phones. Some behaviors, such as texting or using social media, trigger the brain’s reward system. Once the teenage brain has linked a behavior to that reward, it continues to seek the reward again and again. That’s why teens are likely to opt for the reward of social media when they should be studying.
This slight distraction can lead to opening applications after applications, ending in an endless cycle until realizing how long one has been on their tangent of distraction. By the time one realizes their diversion, they’re probably on their friend’s mom’s best friend’s kid’s Instagram profile.
Phones can be an immense distraction. A lot of time is wasted looking at the screen of a phone. Instead of embracing the moment, people use their phones to take pictures of it, but never truly taking it all in. Cell phones can be beneficial in many ways, however, smartphones consume a lot of our valuable time.
It never occurred to me how much time I actually wasted on my phone until I put it to test. I noticed I have been taking way too long to do my homework. So, I set my phone aside and found that my homework was a lot easier and done marginally faster. Without the anticipation to know what each vibration was, there was a tremendous time difference.
So, students should put it to a test. See how much a difference setting their phone aside can make. It will help them realize what they’re capable of without their phone by their side 24/7.
