The Cell-Phone: A Generational Perspective
by Katherine Wu | Grade 7 | Scholastic 2023 | Critical Essay | Gold Key
My grandparents answer my FaceTime call as I prepare to interview them on Chinese idioms for my English assignment. I watch their mouths open and close, but I hear no words. I realize they are muted. After twenty minutes of miming to each other, I’m left with no other option but to hang up and search for a Youtube video about Chinese idioms in translation. Although cell phones have increased accessibility of intergenerational interactions, they can nevertheless impede proper discussion as some generations are better equipped to use them than others.
It is no secret that technology negatively impacts our use of time, but what most don’t know is that on average, students look at their phone 11 times per day while they are in school.[1] Naturally, Gen Z (1997–2020) struggle to focus on school work amidst cell phone distractions. Millennials (1981–1996), Gen X (1965–1980), and Boomers (1946–1964) try their best to provide support in their studies, but cannot connect to this generation due to technological divides. While intergenerational communication has become more accessible through cell phones, meaningful communication is significantly hampered by differing relationships with technology.
In school, cell phones are streams of notifications: text messages and Instagram likes, occasionally interrupted by Canvas notifications about upcoming assignments and incoming grades. Students nowadays spend on average up to ten hours per day on their phones[2]. The average Gen Zer receives their first phone at the age of twelve.[3] This generation has grown up in a hyper-connected world, and cell phones are their preferred method of connection. This is concerning when we consider that according to Children’s Health, teens who use technology for more than an hour each day are “more likely to report feeling depressed, lonely or anxious.”[4] A study by Common Sense Media has found that the typical American teen (13 to 18 years old) spends an average of nine hours per day using technology, with tweens (eight to 12 years old) spending a no-less-shocking six hours.[5] These astonishing numbers demonstrate how dependent younger generations are on their phones for social interaction and social conformity.
Still, there is no getting around device use, for as schools move lessons online in post-covid hybrid classrooms and most assignments are mediated by devices, screens have also become integral to our education systems. Roughly half of class time is spent on devices, with elementary school students using them 40 percent of the time and high school students 58 percent of the time, according to The Washington Post.[6] Increased screen time escalates distractibility, diffusing time available for the careful studying of homework and exam materials. Not only do phones tear people away from intellectual stimulation, they also demolish physical and emotional stimulation — screen time effectively destroys the recreational time available for outdoor play and meaningful family interactions. In fact, parents (Gen X) are four times more likely to spend time outside than their children (Gen Z), a reality we should find both shocking and sad.[7] As phones have begun to permeate most aspects of our daily routines, studies have found that 25% of Americans use phones at the dinner table.[8] Both outdoor and family time require face-to-face interaction and are crucial to child development. Gen Z are growing up unable to navigate life without these screen-dominated distractions.
Ping! While Gen Zers may believe they are growing more accustomed to bouncing their attention between apps and other instant-gratification stimuli, their already short attention spans are actually shrinking, leading to a cyclical loss of focus. In comparison to millennials’ attention spans of twelve seconds, Gen Zers have attention spans of eight seconds.[9] While this may initially appear as a small difference of four seconds, in reality, this is ‘a big deal’ because the effect is devastating: Gen Z loses the ability to experience deep learning, or being able to think critically and master the art of applying material. To a student, receiving an endorphin hit from their phone is much more desirable than studying for hours on end. Already plagued by their short attention span, their attention is now stretched between the digital worlds of homework and social media. Thus, it becomes increasingly impossible to learn deeply and retain information. Just a single peek at a phone can entirely disrupt a student’s mindset. With constant challenges to their learning, students must turn to others for help.
Click, clack! My fingers dance over the keyboard as I email my Boomer math teacher with a question. She responds in a short form with some equations. I read and re-read her email — I’m… confused. I consider staying after class to ask her in person, but instead, I type a quick thank you and move on. Cellphones make teachers more accessible to students, but also create distance as students are less likely to ask follow-up questions or receive personalized help. While it is simpler to ask detailed questions during in-person meetings, Gen Zers are significantly more likely to send rushed emails on their phones. If they aren’t inclined to ask teachers in school for help, they are even less inclined to ask parents for help at home.
Whenever I ask my Gen X mom for help on my geography homework, she always asks me to fetch my geography textbook. I am forced to explain that our class does not have one. She tilts her chin, puts her hands on her hips, and looks at me with a look of utter exasperation. Though our school used to have physical textbooks for humanities, these were replaced by textbook PDFs, and then removed altogether as teachers befriended PowerPoint. Since Gen Z, Millennials, and Boomers receive their data from different sources, it is more difficult for them to engage in meaningful academic discussions across generations. Gen Z is most likely to obtain their information from social media (79% of Gen Z receive their news via social media[10]), whereas older generations rely on more traditional outlets like printed books, newspapers, and articles. The discussions that ensue are then centered on criticizing Gen Z for relying too heavily on social media, rather than discussing the information itself and questioning whether it is reliable. Ironically enough, the source of the social media article may even be from the same printed source, such as the NYTimes or TIME Magazine, for many large publications have both an established printed and online presence nowadays. Academic conversations across generations tend to be more focused on the source of information than its actual content, preventing the development of meaningful dialogue.
Ding! My grandparents are ready to call now. And this time, they are unmuted! Ahead of our call, I emailed them a copy of my Chinese culture PowerPoint to edit. But what started off as a simple call has devolved into yet another struggle as they attempt to open the slides and share their screen. I roll my eyes and sigh. They once again feel muted to me. Our ability to learn from generational experiences is complicated when cell phones are the intermediary. Gen Zers frustrate Millenials and Boomers as they defer to quick fixes to seek out information. Answers to questions are more readily available in a Google search bar than through a lengthy video call with relatives. It is increasingly more challenging to learn from parents’ and grandparents’ experiences as technology slows certain generations down, while others speed ahead.
The Youtube video I watched on Chinese idioms did not come close to the nuance my grandparents could have shared with me. Although technology enables stronger ties to older generations, it also complicates such relationships by creating technological intermediaries that one generation is able to navigate better than others. Additionally, while technology makes intergenerational communication more accessible, cell phones interfere with younger generations’ ability to learn deeply and learn from the experiences of their parents or grandparents. To help all generations break the habit of routinely using their phones home screens should have widgets indicating current screen time in hours, rather than burying this information in settings. We must remain vigilant of how dependent we have become on cell phones, and what roles they play in our personal, academic, and professional lives. And yet, we must also appreciate the hyper-connected society they build, forming bridges to all, including to technologically-challenged grandparents.
Citations
[1] Cueto, Emma. “How Often Do You Check Your Phone?” Bustle, Bustle, 29 Jan. 2016, https://www.bustle.com/articles/138591-how-often-do-you-check-your-phone-college-students-tech-habits-might-have-major-consequences#:~:text=In%20a%20survey%20of%20675%20students%20in%2026,for%20purposes%20that%20are%20not%20related%20to%20class.
[2] Wood, Janice. “College Students in Study Spend 8 to 10 Hours Daily on Cell Phone.” Psych Central, Psych Central, 31 Aug. 2014, https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/31/new-study-finds-cell-phone-addiction-increasingly-realistic-possibility#1.
[3] YPulse. “3 Stats on How Gen Z Is Being Raised on Smartphones.” YPulse, YPulse, 29 Mar. 2022, https://www.ypulse.com/article/2022/03/29/3-stats-on-how-gen-z-is-being-raised-on-smartphones/#:~:text=YPulse%E2%80%99s%20recent%20tech%20%2F%20device%20usage%20behavioral%20report,to%20Millennials%E2%80%99%20average%20of%2017-years-old%20%28around%2012th%20grade%29.
[4] Wake Forest University. “Exploring the Link between Technology & Mental Health: Ohio University.” Wake Forest University, Wake Forest University, 17 July 2020, https://counseling.online.wfu.edu/blog/exploring-link-technology-mental-health/#:~:text=Mental%20health%20that%20is%20influenced%20by%20technology%20is,in%20the%20mid-teens%20and%20three-fourths%20in%20the%20mid-20s.%E2%80%9D.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Truong, Debbie. “More Students Are Learning on Laptops and Tablets in Class.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 2 Feb. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/more-students-are-learning-on-laptops-and-tablets-in-class-some-parents-want-to-hit-the-off-switch/2020/02/01/d53134d0-db1e-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html.
[7] Roth, Kevin. “Time Spent Outside Reduces Stress: Park Pulse.” National Recreation and Park Association, NRPA Park Pulse, 4 Oct. 2021, https://www.nrpa.org/publications-research/park-pulse/time-spent-outside-reduces-stress/#:~:text=Age%20can%20impact%20time%20spent%20outdoors%2C%20with%20Gen,spend%20more%20than%2030%20minutes%20a%20day%20outside.
[8] Statista. “Mobile Device Usage during Family Meal 2019.” Statista, Statista Research Department, 7 Jan. 2022, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1077504/mobile-device-usage-over-a-meal-by-families-in-the-us/.
[9] Kaler, Uma. “How to Capture Gen Z’s 8-Second Attention Span through Ads.” One Platform for Digital Marketing, Tradable Bits, 19 Dec. 2019, https://tradablebits.com/blog/how-to-capture-gen-z-through-ads.
[10] Vatere, Benoit. “Generation Z: What Media Means to Them and How They Consume It.” Medium, The Startup, 30 Apr. 2020, https://medium.com/swlh/generation-z-what-media-means-to-them-and-how-they-consume-it-c8c57c302f6c.
