Technology has become the next epidemic for this generation of students. At least this is what the adults believe. After sitting through an hour-long video constructed by clueless adults, students at Eaton High are tired of the same thing being shoved down their throats. For years, students have heard the same speech over and over. Everyone is glued to their phones. No one knows how to communicate without text messages. Students are unable to pay attention in class while their phone is near. But how much of this continuous speech is true?

Screenagers is based strictly on a mother who struggles with giving her teenage daughter a smartphone. She goes through the pros and cons and expresses her worries about the new technology. It’s annoyingly repetitive. The daughter wants a phone and the mother talks about how “kids these days” don’t know how to socialize and make friends. Over and over again. The video only shows kids on their phones. Never once does it show students without it. No clip is provided with students practicing or playing a sport. No clip of students working in a classroom. The video is biased and doesn’t show the other side. 

Students do know how to talk to one another. The phone does not prevent kids from learning and using key aspects of life, like interpersonal skills. The phone has just become a way of life for everyone, including adults. Olivia Comer (22) said, “Kids are attached to their technology because that is the way of communicating now. It’s become normal to be on your phone. That’s why no one took it seriously. Adults also need to remember that a lot of our school work is on our phones, so we aren’t just on social media.”

There will always be those students who have difficulty getting off their phones. This can be frustrating for any adult or teacher. But the video seems to lump every teenager in to the same category, basically saying no high schooler knows how to get off their technology. Jon Brantner (21) said, “The ideas were reasonable for the most part, but it wasn’t new information to us. Screenagers taught me that there definitely are serious addictions to phones and other devices, but the people I know don’t necessarily have an issue, at least not one as chronic as the ones in the video.” 

Screenagers was a waste of time. Students understand the concern that adults have and they do respect it. But adults must respect that this is the generation for technology. The life of the students currently, will differ drastically from the life of the past. The smartphone grants this.  The technology that students hold everyday in their hands is advanced and life changing, so the world must adapt to it. Especially adults, they must understand how much this tech has changed everything Students must be given the chance to learn how to use it appropriately, because the future will, without a doubt, be more technologically based than it already is.