As you walk into Southern Door, many sights and sounds hit your senses. In the early morning, before classes have started, you can hear students talking and laughing, enjoying this time of stress-free break. You can see some sitting, some organizing… But the vast majority are on their phones. Why?

In today’s society, teenagers spend much of their life staring at a blue screen, checking facebook and Instagram. Some consider their streaks so important that they are willing to take a picture of a wall or the floor in order to keep them alive. They become concerned when their friends don’t comment on their posts within five minutes, completely detached from a past where contact across countries took weeks, or even months. There have even been multiple cases where people have died trying to get that perfect selfie on the edge of a cliff, or with a wild animal. Some may even go so far as suicide, with the rise of online bullying and models with perfect photos and millions of followers. They check their phones between classes, on the bus, while driving, at sports games, at practices, and everywhere else it is conceivably possible. It is easy to picture this scene in your mind, but the simple fact is this: this is happening now. Here. At this school. Not just to your classmates, but to you.

Try this experiment: check your device’s screen time. Add it up for a year, two, your entire life. See how much time has been wasted, how much of your life is stolen away. So I urge you: put your phone down. Step outside, talk to your friends, read a book, get to know your family. Life is short; don’t waste it staring at your screen.