Generation Z and Smartphones: Tool for Growth or Distraction?

Vol 27, Issue 12, 05 December 2024

As the technology evolved, the time we spend on our phones has rapidly increased and led to over-usage. If ten years ago our phone was more of a tool in our daily lives, helping us to make calls, nowadays it is more of an essential item that we carry with us everywhere. Some people even started to do their job on their phones, so when walking out of the house, we all check our pockets to see if the gadget is there.

Most students nowadays are born between 1997 and 2012 years, and are defined as Generation Z. What it means is that we were basically born holding our phones from an early childhood and have everything over there.

I have myself been really addicted to my phone, getting my screen time over 6 hours every day. Just to give you an idea of what I am talking about, 6 hours of daily phone usage equals 21 years of an average lifetime wasted being on the phones. During this period, people could do many fascinating things, like learn new languages, read books, get several degrees, or just simply enjoy their out-door life. Instead of this, we choose to just waste our lives on the phones.

Many students have a short attention span and therefore find it quite challenging to concentrate on the lectures or assignments. It is quite tempting to check our gadget for news or updates, or just mindlessly scroll through TikTok or Instagram. The negative aspect of our phones in this case is that it takes a tremendous amount of time, often leading to failing to submit assignments in time or just distracting us from perceiving studying information.

On the other hand, the benefit that we all can take from our phones and especially social media is networking. As students, we can meet and get to know a lot of people, which can help us find a job in the future. We can conduct various research, surveys, gathering information, and contacting different people, which can also boost our professional skills and knowledge. In other words, in this case, our phone plays a role of connector to the outside world, which is full of new opportunities and experiences.

The most important aspect of living a student life as Gen Z is knowing the limits. We all have to think it through and figure out if the phone is just a tool in our daily lives, connecting us to far away friends and family and expanding our connections, or whether the phone is rather a distraction, which draws us away from being successful and focused.