I downloaded Instagram at age thirteen. Since then, every silent moment from the second I wake up to the time I go to sleep is filled with the meaningless entertainment of social media.
My brain itches to scroll during every five-minute walk to class or thirty-second elevator ride.
It turns out, the American Psychological Institution found that teens are spending an average of four-point-eight hours a day on social media.
This experience seems to be common on campus. I asked Northwestern students what their daily screen time is.
JONAH KHERSONSKY: Four hours and eight minutes.
KATYA OULD-ALI: Mine is three hours and forty-six minutes.
JOE KLEIN: Ten hours and twenty-three minutes.
ETHAN ADITYA: Five hours and seven minutes.
FAYLYN WONG: Mine is five hours and fifty-nine minutes.
SAHANA UNNI: Can I ask what is that spent on?
WONG: Oof. Two hours on TikTok, an hour on messages, thirty minutes on Candy Crush.
EMILIA MUCHA: The majority, six hours, on Instagram and then Netflix and messages.
Courtney Blackwell is a pediatric mental health and wellbeing expert at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She conducts research on the role of social media in youth mental health.
COURTNEY BLACKWELL: The research in terms of the harms or the negative impact of social media, it tends to focus- a lot of the outcomes we’ve seen in the work is depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation.
Blackwell says it is important to note that there is no clinical diagnosis for social media addiction.
BLACKWELL: There is some debate in the medical field as to whether or not it really is a condition, or whether the behaviors ONE displays on social media — things like using it a lot, thinking about it a lot, replacing other activities because of social media use, lying about your social media use — whether that is really an addiction, or is that actually some behaviors that are manifesting from some other type of mental health problem that’s underlying everything.
But sophomore Henry Carson feels differently…
HENRY CARSON: It’s addicting, it’s a drug.
Last year, Carson replaced his smart phone with a flip phone to escape the pull of social media. He now spends an average of twenty minutes on his phone a day.
CARSON: Just like, numbers wise, I know I’m enjoying my day more, because I know those three hours that I’ve gotten back.
He says being unable to scroll has improved his mental clarity.
CARSON: I only look at my phone about an hour-and-a-half into my day, and there’s something like, we’re plugging in as a choice rather than a reflex.
After deleting social media, junior Jackson Caldwell has a daily screen time of around two hours.
JACKSON CALDWELL: Mostly consists of YouTube, and messages and Spotify.
He decided to get rid of social media after realizing how much time he was spending on these platforms.
CALDWELL: You can look around campus, and you can see everyone is on their phone.
And says his lack of social media has allowed him to become more aware of social media addiction on campus.
CALDWELL: Once you wake up, you see how many people around you spend countless hours doomscrolling, comparing themselves to other people. I think overall in our generation, that’s becoming more and more competitive. Especially at Northwestern, I think it has been very detrimental to everyone I’ve known personally.
Unplugging seems so frightening these days. What does keeping in contact with my friends look like if I’m not constantly sending them Instagram reels?
Professor Blackwell says it is possible for college students to have a healthy relationship with social media if they create clear boundaries.
BLACKWELL: If it feels overwhelming to you, and it feels like you think you’re using it too much, then finding small ways to cut back or finding ways to put it down, put it away. Even if it’s just for a day and starting off small.
And me? I spend an average of three hours and thirty-nine minutes on my phone a day. ONE hour and eight minutes of those are spent on social media.
Perhaps it will take the purchase of a flip phone to reclaim that time back.
For WNUR News, I’m Sahana Unni.
