Even after New York state implemented restrictions on smartphone use in schools, many students at Shenendehowa High School continue to spend hours a day on their devices. The new regulations intended to reduce distractions and promote learning, but students report that smartphone dependency remains deeply ingrained in their daily routines.
Senior Israel Muamba said he’s aware of his phone addiction and is working to reduce it.
“I average about seven hours a day, and I’m trying to cut this number down,” Muamba said.
Muamba said iMessage is the first app he checks each morning, while TikTok is the last one he uses before bed. He used to scroll for hours at night but started reading instead.
“Before, I would scroll for several hours at night, and after that, I still couldn’t fall asleep. I wanted to change this bad habit, so I started reading.” he said.
Muamba said reading helps him fall asleep more easily and reduces screen time. If he had to delete an app, he said it would be Snapchat.
“I only have it because all my friends have it. I don’t enjoy using the app in any particular way,” he said.
Senior Junyuan Shi shares similar struggles, admitting that his phone use feels difficult to control.
“My screen time is crazy high at eight and a half hours, and five of those hours are on Instagram alone,” he said.
Shi said Instagram dominates his mornings and evenings, often keeping him awake late scrolling through reels.
“I need to delete Instagram to stop doom scrolling,” he said. “However, I feel like I can’t because all my friends use it, and I don’t want to miss out on anything.”
Social pressure, both students said, plays a major role in their use of certain apps.
Among juniors, screen time is even higher. Both Chrissy Lyon and Saloni Arora reported an average of 11 hours of daily screen time, much of it spent on TikTok.
“It shows that my most used app is TikTok,” Lyon said. “Deleting it would help me use my phone less, but I find it hard to stick to it.”
Arora also starts her day on TikTok and ends it with Netflix. She said she would delete TikTok if she could.
“My whole generation is on TikTok, so it’s hard for me not to be,” Arora said. “I really wish this wasn’t the case, because I waste so much time on it that it takes away from other important things.”
