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Student Opinion: Put the Phone Down and Stay Present

Vylet Hollatz, senior LHS journalism staff writer on September 16, 2026

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I think it’s pretty safe to say that our attention spans are not what they used to be. As high school students, we are constantly surrounded by short-form videos, especially from TikTok and Instagram or YouTube Reels. What can start as just a quick break from something can easily turn into hours of scrolling without even realizing how much time it has been.

            The problem is not just because these apps exist. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube can be very entertaining, informative, and useful for certain things. This issue comes from how often we use them and how they can change the way we want information to be presented to us. 

            Short-form videos are made to get our attention immediately. If a video doesn’t interest us within the first couple of seconds, we just swipe to the next one and do this over and over. There is always something new on social media platforms. This gives us no reason to stay with something that is not immediately entertaining to us. 

            Over time, this can make our daily tasks that require patience a lot more difficult. In this generation, watching a full movie without checking our phones can feel like a challenge. Something like reading one chapter of a book can be boring. Even completing homework without becoming distracted by a notification or social media post is harder than people think. 

            I have definitely experienced this in my own life. I will sometimes open TikTok with the intention of just taking a small break before starting another assignment. Before I know it, those few videos turn into an hour of scrolling and I am wondering what happened to all the time I set aside. It’s easy to laugh it off, but it also shows how easily these social media apps can take our attention away from things we actually need to do. 

            This doesn’t mean we need to delete every social media platform and disconnect from the internet. That would be unrealistic for most people, including me. However, being more intentional about how we use these apps could make a huge difference in our lives. Our phones will always be there and there will always be another short video to watch. But sometimes the best thing we can do for our attention span is to simply put our phones down and stay present with whatever is in front of us.