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Mary Sprauer
Professor Sandy-Smith
English Composition II
7 August 2021
How Can Cell Phones Negatively Impact Teens?
How many hours a day does the average teenager spend on their phone? According to a

2019 article from Common Sense Media, an organization that focuses on technology safety,

teens spend about 7 hours a day on phones (Robb). Cell phones play a major role in teenagers’

lives. Teens are able to connect with friends and family on different forms of social media and

texting, they can look up information within a few seconds, they are able to follow news on

sports and celebrities, and cell phones can have many other capabilities. All of these capabilities

have led teens to spending hours per day on their cell phones. In my experience, I tend to spend

at least five hours a day on my phone. However, I took a trip this summer for two weeks where

the internet was spotty, and I would go a couple of days without having a single notification on

my phone due to the lack of internet. I found that during that time I felt so much less stressed

because I did not have to worry about responding right away to a text or a Snapchat. I did not see

all of the posts on Instagram, that seem to portray the perfect lives of people I know. I felt

disconnected from the world, yet I felt a sense of freedom from that disconnection. I felt so much

happier because instead of spending time on my phone texting my friends, I was with my friends

spending quality time together. Since coming back from the trip, I have fallen back into the habit

of spending hours on my phone, but I am working to decrease the time I spend on my phone. It

would be much more beneficial for me to go out and do something active, read a book, spend

time with people I care about, rather than sending pointless snapchats, looking at posts on

Instagram, or scrolling through Tiktok. However, many teens seem to have the same habits I do,
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spending hours on their phones rather than doing something beneficial. Teens spend hours on

their cell phones, which can negatively affect their physical and mental health due to the time

spent on their phones and what they spend their time doing on their phones.

Cell phones have evolved since 1973 when the first handheld phone came out (Dyroff).

At the time, the phone was only able to make calls and only worked for 30 minutes after a ten-

hour change (Dyroff). Since then, phones have evolved to be able to text, take pictures, go on the

internet, go on social media platforms, and do many other things. Phones have also become

much more accessible, making it uncommon to meet a teenager who does not have a cell phone.

Cell phones have also become more realistic, considering the first cell phone weighed 2.4

pounds, and essential for many people. People no longer have home phones, making cell phones

even more essential for kids and teens to have to contact their family and friends. Today, cell

phones are also a form of a status symbol because everyone wants the newest phone, but not

everyone can afford to buy it. Although cell phones are very useful, some of their features and

the excessive use of them also have some negative consequences.

Loss of sleep due to the use of a cell phone is a common occurrence for teens. Although

teens can also lose sleep due to homework and other things they have to do, most lose sleep due

to being on their cell phones (Preety). Teens need about 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and the

majority of the subjects in the survey from the article on “Sleep Deprivation and Cell Phone

Usage Among Teens,” only got 4-6 hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation can cause

problems including daytime fatigue (Preety). According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary,

fatigue is “weariness or exhaustion from labor, exertion, or stress” (Merriam-Webster). Phone

use causes this increased exhaustion, fatigue, because teens are constantly losing sleep so that

they can respond to a text or watch a video. Even if it is just 15 minutes every night, over the
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course of about a month one would be losing about seven and a half hours of sleep, which

equates to a full night of sleep being lost. Sleep deprivation can also lead to other physical and

mental health issues. According to the American Journal for Nurse practitioners, “The body’s

response to sleep deprivation and stress includes a release of cortisol, which can depress the

immune system and render a person vulnerable to illness.” (Austin). The American Journal for

Nurse practitioners has found connections between sleep deprivation and depression and learning

problems (Austin). All of these health concerns can be caused by people getting less sleep than

their body needs to function properly. Cell phones contribute to people losing sleep, especially

for teens. One may not contribute a simple cold to sleep deprivation, but that could be the cause

of it. Often, rest is recommended to heal any sort of injury or illness because sleep is so

important. Teens especially need sleep because they are so busy with homework, extracurricular

activities, and jobs that after a full day they have completely exhausted themselves. Teens really

do need the 7-8 hours of sleep each night to recharge for another busy day. However, for most

teens, they spend time on their phone at night, which contributes to more health problems than

they realize. Teens are especially tempted to go on their phones at night to respond to that text or

see the latest posts on Instagram, but they could be getting so much more sleep by avoiding it.

Teens are negatively affected by spending time on their phones at night, rather than going to bed.

This leads to sleep deprivation, causing them to be more susceptible to a multitude of other

health concerns.

There are many physical effects of excessive use of cell phones that can occur, but one

well-known effect is teens getting less physical activity. In the article by Barkley and Lepp, they

found that many college students use their phones for leisure (Barkley and Lepp). This led many

students to have a more sedentary lifestyle, or if they did workout and went on their phone, then
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their workout was less intense (Barkley and Lepp). People that use their phone during their

workout or other physical activity tend to have less intense workouts because they are stopping

to look at their phone, allowing their heart rate to lower and giving their body longer breaks to

recover. This sedentary lifestyle due to excessive phone use is an unhealthy long-term lifestyle

that can cause weight gain and lead to obesity. When teens are on their phones, they tend to be

sitting on the couch or laying in their bed, and it can happen for hours at a time. Sitting for long

periods at a time has been linked

to a higher risk of cardiovascular

disease, diabetes, and obesity

(Studebaker). Sitting for long

periods causes the body to use

very little energy causing the

body to use very few calories.

However, standing, instead of sitting, can significantly reduce the risk of health problems by

engaging and activating the muscles in the legs and using more calories than sitting. Thus, teens

need to be on their phones less, so that they get up and do something active. Although some cell

phone apps are related to and promote fitness, in the research done by Barkley and Lepp, most

college students do not use their phones for fitness purposes, instead, they are on social media,

texting, calling, or watching videos (Barkley and Lepp). A solution for teens could be going for a

walk while being on their phones. It would still allow them to be on the phone, but it would

change the leisure activity into more of an active activity. Overall, with the current trends in how

teens use their phones, teens are more likely to do less physical activity due to the time spent on
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their phones, rather than using their phones to help improve their fitness or getting off their

phones completely to do something active.

Cyberbullying is another negative effect that some teens experience due to what they

spend their time doing on their phones. Most teens use social media daily, to keep up with what

people are doing. However, some teens experience cyberbullying through social media (Shakir).

In the article about cyberbullying, the researchers surveyed 12–18-year-old patients that were in

the pediatric emergency department and 11-19-year-old students at a school. 539 surveys were

collected, and 16.3% of them reported being cyberbullied on social media and 56.4% reported

knowing someone who had been cyberbullied (Shakir). The article also found that many teens

use multiple different social media applications (Shakir). This makes it even harder for teens to

manage who they allow to see their posts. Having multiple forms of social media also allows a

cyberbully to reach the victim on more than one platform.

Figure 2: This chart shows the percentage of respondents from this research article that use

multiple social media applications (Shakir).

Cyberbullying is a major issue for children and teens today, and one of the problems is

that they have not been taught to be wary of who follows them. Many teens also spend so much
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time on social media because it is important to them, but it makes them more susceptible to being

hurt by comments that people leave on their posts. Cyberbullying has been linked to depression,

anxiety, and suicide (Shakir). Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that occurs on some type of

technology. Technology has given bullies a new way to reach their victims and a screen to hide

behind. Victims of cyberbullying are not able to get away from their bullies because the internet

is always accessible, and bullies no longer have to bully their victims in person. This negative

effect of spending time on a cell phone is the hardest for a teen to have control over and change.

Once one allows someone to follow them or becomes friends with someone on a social media

platform, it allows that person to make whatever comments they would like on the person’s post.

The victim of cyberbullying could avoid their phone as much as possible, but the bully will still

be there. However, the victim could block the bully so that they can no longer comment on the

victim’s posts, but often that does not solve the problem. Social media is a very tricky thing to

navigate for teens. It allows teens to post about things they have been doing or express

themselves, but that also means they are opening themselves up to criticism from their followers.

Parents can help to protect their children from cyberbullying by teaching them to be careful of

who they allow to follow them. Teens have to be careful of who they allow to see their posts

because unfortunately, not everyone has good intentions when it comes to friending someone on

social media.

Depression has also been linked to cell phone use, specifically social media use, among

teens. In the article by Coyne, she tried to find if there was a link between cell phone use and

depression and anxiety. She found that there was a strong relationship between overuse of a cell

phone and depression, whereas there was a very weak relationship between cell phone use and

anxiety (Coyne). Cell phone use can contribute to anxiety, but this paragraph is focusing on
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depression. As mentioned in the previous paragraph cyberbullying can be a cause of depression.

However, social media can contribute to depression in other ways. Social media allows people to

portray their lives in a way that makes them seem perfect, especially when people look at

celebrity and influencer social medias. Celebrities and influencers set teens’ expectations for life

very high, often leading to teens being disappointed with their life. Teens see posts all the time of

people traveling, having fun with friends, and unrealistic body images. This can lead to

depression due to teens being unhappy that they are not living this seemingly perfect life that

many of their peers appear to be living. Many people dream of living leisurely lifestyles filled

with traveling to extravagant places and having an expensive lifestyle, however for most people

that is unattainable. When teens are constantly seeing these posts, it is no wonder why they feel

let down by the life they live, despite it being a more realistic and normal life that most people

also experience. However, social media tends to only show the good parts of peoples’ lives, it

fails to show the struggles and hardships that people face. Teens have to learn that nobody’s life

is perfect despite only seeing perfection on social media. If teens get that idea in their head, then

they are less likely to allow social media to be a cause of depression because they will realize

that people only post the good parts of their life. Teen depression is connected to the use of cell

phones, specifically social media however, it can be reduced if teens learn that often social media

sets unrealistic standards for what life is like.

A common misconception that teenagers have is that they do not view their use of a cell

phone as having negative effects on them. Teens often contribute these negative effects to other

things in their life. For example, a teen who is not getting much sleep at night will most likely

blame homework or extracurricular activities for taking too much time. Rather than admitting

that they may be wasting time on their phone instead of doing homework. There are positive
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things that come from having and using a cell phone such as, being able to connect with family

and friends, social media allows teens to see different viewpoints on things and being able to

look up information that may be needed (Draganovic). The benefits need to be acknowledged

because despite all of these negative effects that can come from using cell phones. Cell phones

and their capabilities were created in order to be beneficial to us. However, moderation is key to

most things in life, and this can be applied to cell phone use too. Cell phones are helpful but

using them too much and spending a lot of time on social media can also have negative

implications. In order for the benefits of having a cell phone to outweigh the negatives, teens

have to change what seems to be the usual habits of cell phone use. If teens spend less time on

their phones, that could reduce sleep deprivation. If teens do something active while on their

phone or avoid being on their phone during a workout, it can help to reduce the risk of a

sedentary lifestyle. If teens regulate their social media use and do not set their expectations for

life based on celebrities and influencers, then the risk of cyberbullying and depression could be

lowered in teens. However, changing habits is a hard thing to do, so it would take time for these

trends to happen. It is possible for the benefits of using a cell phone to eventually outweigh the

negatives, although, with the current trends and habits of teens and their cell phone use, the

negative effects seem to be taking a toll on teens’ physical and mental health.

Another common misconception that parents have is believing their child needs a phone

at such a young age. Kids are getting phones at continuously younger ages than before. In my

experience, there were people my age that got their first phone in 3rd grade, which is very young

for someone to have a phone. For many years children can use their parents’ phone if they need

to contact somebody. In most cases, it seems that kids do not need phones until they are starting

high school, so around the age of 14 or 15. This is when kids’ activities with sports and school
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start to pick up. This means that kids need phones to be able to contact their parents about their

schedule and how they are going to get home. The only use of the phone that is really needed is

being able to call or text family members. However, once a kid has a phone it opens up the world

of having social media and other forms of communication with people. Therefore, giving a

phone to someone younger than 14 can be an issue. Once they have the phone, they are able to

get social media and play games on their phone, causing a child to become very much attached to

their phone at a younger age. Giving phones to young kids can cause an earlier start of a child

being stuck on their phone for hours a day. Parents need to be careful about how early they give

their child a phone because the parents could be the ones enabling their kids to spend hours on

their phone starting at such a young age. Overall, kids do not need a phone until they start high

school, when they become busy with activities, because before that time, they are able to use

their parents’ phones or a computer to contact people or look up information, thus preventing

them from spending extra time on a phone if they were to have their own.

Teens are negatively affected by the excessive amount of time spent on their cell phones

and what they do on their cell phones when it comes to their physical and mental health. Losing

sleep and engaging in less physical activity can lead to physical health problems. Whereas

cyberbullying and depression contribute to having a negative impact on mental health. However,

teens are still spending hours a day on their phones because they are blaming other parts of their

life for their physical and mental health issues. With the reasons and evidence, I have found that

promote spending less time on cell phones, specifically social media, maybe I will be able to

change my bad habit of spending hours on my phone each day. It may be possible for me to find

that freedom I felt on my trip while I was disconnected and off my phone. It may be possible that

this was able to convince others to spend less time on their phones, and instead do something that
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is more beneficial and promotes good physical and mental health. Overall, cell phones can be a

beneficial thing to have, but when hours are spent on them, especially social media, they can

have harmful effects on the user.

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