It is passing period at Perry High School and the is scene alive with people rushing to their next class, talking to their friends, or standing in the middle of the hallway on their phone. At lunch time, people can be seen talking, eating, or scrolling through through their phone. The final bell rings, and all at once phones emerge from back pockets or backpacks and eyes are suddenly glued to the screen.

The hallways are crowded enough with the 3200 students on Perry’s campus, but when people are too concerned with a text from their friend they will see next period instead of walking, people tend to get annoyed.

Most students own a smartphone, and in fact 70% of teens aged between 13 and 17 own a smartphone now. Smartphones have the capabilities to send texts, surf through numerous social medias, take pictures, download music, and do just about everything else.

While this might seem like it would not be an issue, it is slowly evolving into a much more daunting problem. Because of constantly having their fingers levitate over a screen, teenagers are missing out on what is happening right in front of them. 

Another issue smartphones have is you have access to a wireless network almost everywhere. According to a recent study, it was discovered that 90% of teens use or have used a social media of some form.  This means like apps such as Twitter are accessible whenever and wherever. This can lead to meaningless tweets about what you had for lunch, or that you bought some clothes. News flash: not everyone has to know you and your best friend went to the movies.

Now it would be naive to believe that this problem will be solved easily. Most teens love their phones. But there has to be something done about the obsession and importance placed on it’s glass screen. After all, is anything worth a painful and embarrassing fall down the stairs because you’re too preoccupied with a tweet about how much homework you have?