For parents and even the teens themselves this is a hard thing to admit but living without a phone is certainly rough.
Last month I got my phone taken away in class, and for punishment, it was confiscated by administrators for over 24 hours. I hate to say this, but life without my phone was a new kind of hell.
The simple box-shaped object with a glassy screen had kept me going and connected for so long, and it was hard to part with it. I felt like I was missing so much and I couldn’t text my friends or even my own mom. I was bored and restless, and even though there was so much to do, I felt like there was nothing I could do. Without a phone, I was powerless. The phone connects us all, and it’s the beating heart of an everyday teenager’s life. It has morphed from a boxy, slow keypad to have more power than most computers. It can serve as a study tool, a way to talk to people across the country, and holds more knowledge than anyone could even imagine. So even if the family is important in a teen’s life and even if they spend their every waking moment with friends, it’s technology that keeps us all connected.
Grace Dougherty is a rising junior at North Gwinnett High School and a member of Stepping Stones with the Gwinnett Citizen, a BSA Explorer program.
