Social media is designed to be addictive, and students are victims of it every day. Most can’t go 30 minutes without as much as a glance at their devices, let alone an hour.
An experiment using a total of 34 high school students split between two classrooms showed they received over 900 notifications on their phones in just 60 minutes. Students were given an assignment to complete a page of notes while having their phones as well as a sticky note in front of them. They were asked to tally each notification they received. These notifications were from Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and messages.
According to Dr. Nancy Deangelis, Director of Behavioral Health at Jefferson Abington Hospital, social media and cellular devices release multiple dopamine surges, similar to surges caused by gambling or drugs. These platforms release dopamine into the brain’s reward center. After experiencing such a high after extensive use of social media, teens often find themselves craving more and wanting to keep binging for hours on end.
On January 18, 2025, TikTok was banned on all devices in the United States. While the app was taken away three hours earlier than everyone had anticipated, many citizens were upset, while others took it to a whole new level.
According to Fox News, a 19 year old man admitted to setting an office space on fire used by U.S. Representative Glenn Grothman. After police questioned him, the 19 year old said he was upset by the ban of his favorite social media app, TikTok.
The University of New York states that many outbursts of rage and aggressive behavior are linked to social media and screen time.
“I deleted TikTok when it was first banned because I didn’t think it was coming back, then it came back the next day. I was so upset that I started resorting to using the app on my computer and Google,” junior Averie Henderson said.
When exposed at such a young age, the brain naturally adapts to the familiarity of viewing screens as well as the noises produced from cell phones and apps. Reduced screen time can cause smaller issues to be overreacted into larger problems.
While for adults, the temporary “boost” for lack of screen time can be portrayed as anger or aggression, teens can show this by developing depression at an early age.
One in three high school students in the U.S. has reported feeling sad or helpless when they lose access to a certain app on their phones or their phones altogether. This is caused by a dependency developed over a few months or even years of attachment to devices.
