Being a teen in 2022 I can say that cell phones can be a great way to communicate with other people. From Tiktok to Instagram and other social media apps, it's a lot easier to make online friends but is it making real life friends harder? Kids today are getting more introverted since the lock down. Or maybe they always have been but the lock down was a chance to have a reason not to have interactions with other kids.

There’s always good in the bad but will future generations rely on online communication rather than going outside or even going to the mall with friends? Studies have shown that older generations use their phones less often than gen z or millelials. Technology is a good thing but when it's affecting our social life it's a problem. In school I've seen kids be on their phones when there is an option to talk to someone near them. Some kids do have social anxiety but phones are just making it easier for them to pretend they are busy so no one talks to them. When the first phone came out everyone was excited that they could speak to others when they aren’t close together. That’s one of the pros to phones but I've seen more online arguments go around just because someone commented something under someone’s post. It’s easier to hide behind a screen and pretend. People have gone so far to use phones as a way to talk bad about people for no reason. Kids seemed to be happier years before cell phones were a huge thing. There’s an endless amount of information we can access on our phones but some of the stuff we see can really traumatize someone. Parents would say I'll just look through my kids phone to make sure they’re online safe but it’s so easy to delete or hide stuff we don’t want them to see. There’s a pro and a con to everything but kids now dont know how to balance that. It’s one thing for an adult to feel insecure about someone they saw on instagram but when a 9 year old who shouldn’t even be on instagram feels that way it really shows how bad things are getting. Now in 2022 it's harder to function without a phone also, everyone literally has one. People pay for food or gas with their phone, they call ubers anything u can think of you can do it on your phone. It’s convenient but relying on a phone when it can easily be hacked or stolen is scary. I can’t say i do not use my phone a lot also but when it's time to hang out with friends or family in real life I’d always choose that’s then texting all day. Cell phones have changed the way we communicate but the real issue is it benefiting us or hurting us.