Cell phones and teens, a combination you see so often these days. Teens and children use their phones for around seven hours a day, nearly as long as a school day. In 2016 3.50 billion people worldwide had smartphones which means that 45.04% out of 100% of people have phones. From 2016 to 2020 the numbers have grown immensely. In 2020 4.78 billion people have mobile phones which comes out to 61.51% out of 100%. Over half of the people in the world have a smartphone. Percentages from 2016-2020 have gone up by 40%.

Teens are being affected the most because they have grown up with technology and smartphones around them since they were born. Growing up in an environment where it’s easy to access to simply sit around and watch TV or play games or watch videos on your phone is a distraction from living your childhood and going outside. Due to teens and children spending more time inside 1 in 5 children are overweight. Phones are often used to contact people or to just have fun but shouldn’t teens and children go out more often? Shouldn’t the use of phones decrease?

As hard as that sounds globally we can do that, teens and children can have more self-control in using their phones less often and going out there in the world and hanging out with friends and creating those memories without having to rely on technology. Overall phones and technology are taking over the world and the skills teens should develop over the years. It’s on my generation to acknowledge what they are doing and to make that decision if they are willing to take time to take in life while it’s still here, and not their phones.