For those who are not one, the Oxford English Dictionary defines a screenager as “A young person who spends a lot of time watching television or using a computer, smartphone, etc.; a young person, typically in his or her teens or twenties, who is familiar with and adept at using digital technology, esp. computers and the internet.”

More and more people are realizing we may have unhealthy relationships with our devices. It is something that I have personally struggled with, especially since my time is more limited now that I am in college. Many recent discussions have revolved around questioning our heavy screen time, especially with the recent (fake?) news of the TikTok ban. We know that our seven hours of screen time every day has negative impacts on our mental health, attention spans, and ability to be truly social. 

Much of my thinking over screenagers at Columbia came last year, when I was a freshman living on the 14th floor of John Jay. This meant I had much idle time waiting for the elevator to my floor. Since the beginning of the year, this downtime made me feel awkward. The elevators often were crammed, and you would start to see some familiar faces after a while. However, the default move to hit once getting into the elevator was scrolling on Instagram or something. I have done this, but I began to feel more awkward when I snooped at some other phones and saw that everyone else was idly scrolling through some social media platform for 20 seconds, not actually doing anything productive. We were just trying to avoid each other.

As somebody fascinated by history, this made me think about the somewhat stupid question: WTF did college students do in these awkward moments before phones? Would we be reading a LitHum book? Writing in a notebook? Would we strike up some small conversation? Or would we feel alright being bored and staring at the wall for a minute? I think that in our age of being screenagers, we have sacrificed small moments of spontaneity that could bring us further together as a community.

Once I started thinking about this problem more, I saw it everywhere. In most of my classes, if there is a moment before the professor arrives, everybody is just hunched over their phones. In my CC section last semester, the professor would sometimes give us a five minute break in the middle of class. Everyone would just whip out their phones and get some scrolls in. I often would do this too, for fear of breaking the silence and being seen as weird. When I did talk to a classmate, it was sometimes just us in a classroom of 20 talking. I am not trying to sound like a luddite, but these social networks are making us more disconnected from the wonderful opportunities for connection right in front of us. Those from older generations often say that college is the best opportunity to meet people they would have never encountered otherwise. 

A study from 2021 on a college campus found that frequent cell phone use was linked to lower GPAs, higher anxiety, and decreased happiness in students. I don’t think any of us are surprised by these findings. To fight my battle with screen time, I have been using the free app ScreenZen to place strict blocks on myself. Since the election, I have also deleted Twitter (sorry… X), and YouTube from my phone to prevent too much doom-scrolling. 

This is something that I still struggle with, as it is something that has become so common for our age. But your best moments in college, the moments where you feel part of something, will not happen while scrolling through Reels in the elevator.

Sure, the first thing you say to someone next to you in class might be awkward. Maybe you have nothing in common with them. Chances are, however, that they are also looking for some more connection at Columbia, as we all know how cold the environment here is right now. Turning to our phones for brief distraction is a direct trade-off for opportunities to deepen your ties to your peers. When we all got into Columbia, I am sure we did not expect our experience to be defined by moments where everyone was scared to look up at their peers.  As we start a new semester, think about starting a conversation with the person next to you before a lecture, or give yourself the peace of being bored.

Featured image via Bwog Archives.