New Year, iQuit?

I wrote this post, in 2011, about what kind of relationship I wanted to have with my new smart phone. Most years, I start off every January with a resolution to park my phone in the bathroom overnight, to not tuck it in on my nightstand. This year, I didn’t even bother.

In my Writing 101, I teach this (perhaps now dated) article from The Atlantic on whether or not these devices will destroy a generation. Ever since its debut, I discuss with my students their relationship with what I call ‘ubiquitous connectivity’ and what they want that to look like. The first years, the students didn’t recognize themselves in Twenge’s depiction of iGen, but thought it might sound a bit like younger siblings. Then in the thick of it, students acknowledged their addiction, defiantly proclaiming they appreciated their phones listening to them so they had better targeted marketing. During the pandemic, I taught this article over Teams, the irony not lost on any of us in our Brady Bunch squares, and I added to the curriculum and we all watched The Social Dilemma. One student noted that his mom took hashmark notes of how many times he touched or woke up his phone during the documentary (187) and his little sister? 225 times.

I try not to present as sanctimonious from the front of the classroom. I own my own addiction. But then this year, something changed. This past fall, students spoke freely about how they are coming to realize the onus is on them. They are irritated by Big Tech, while embracing what is useful in their devices. Many of them had summer retreats or camps that didn’t allow devices, and they want more of that. Most had a summer they lost to horizontal doom scrolling or endless YouTube and TikTok, and they didn’t like it. They turn off push notifications, delete apps that waste their time or make them feel bad about themselves. We joke that their generation will look at us handing a toddler an iPad with access to the internet while she waits for her French fries the same way we look back at our parents letting us ride in the middle of the front seat, no safety belt, while they smoked cigarettes with the windows rolled up.

One student said, “It’s my job to set limits and boundaries around screen time. It’s the one thing my phone can’t and won’t do for me.”

I teach this class again tomorrow, new students. Perhaps, now the pendulum swings back.