Screen Time Addiction Essay

Screen time addiction, or screen obsession, is a vexed subject as the majority of parents and society view it as a problem, while rest feel that it is not a huge concern. Some feel the need for people to crack down on screen addiction because they compare the U.S to countries like South Korea or China where there already is an epidemic on screen usage. Also, screen time doesn’t just cover the internet, but much more, ranging from phone usage to video games, and just about anything that allows teens to be glued to a screen. Nearly all teens in the U.S own a smartphone, which is one of the biggest enablers of screen addiction. And even though the generations before us have lived glued to the TV, people still can’t let go that today’s technology …show more content…
Some would argue that it isn’t an addiction, but as Marc Potenza, author of “Teens and Screen Time Is a Problem, But More Study Is Needed,” puts it: “screen time can be easily categorized as an addiction because it meets the most useful definition as addiction, the three C’s: Compulsive use, Lack of control while using, and Continuation despite severe consequences.” Potenza wants people to realize that individuals who stay glued to their screens even as they begin to experience major problems in functioning, in ways are not far from those dealing with substance abuse and gambling disorders. Although Potenza feels that screen time should be categorized as an addiction in teens, he also realizes that more research is needed for screen time to be known as a addiction. Danah Boyd, the author of “Blame Society, Not the Screens”, would disagree with Potenza and digs deeper into the “so called” addiction that teens seem to be developing. When Boyd began her research she expected to find what everyone is claiming to be the addiction, completely wrong. Early on in Boyd’s research she “[m]et a girl in Michigan who told me that she’d much rather get together with her friends in person, but she had so many homework demands and her parents were often concerned about her physical safety. This is why she loved the Internet: She could hang out with her friends there. I 've heard this reasoning echoed by youth around the country.” Boyd wants people to understand the real cause of the so called addiction is: society. Parents worry too much about their kids’ safety that they don 't let them go out and enjoy life. Also, as Boyd pointed out, teens have homework, which ties them down at home. The only option for them to be able to do their homework and see their friends, while still following their parent’s orders