By Emily Erskine Winter break officially begins next week. Cue the incessant scrolling, posting and liking on all social media platforms day in and day out. I give myself milestones to look forward to in this hectic student life. I anticipate the weekends, the three-day weekends, Thanksgiving break and most importantly winter break. It comes right when I need it most. Maybe even a little too late. Fall quarter is daunting. It drags on, it’s dark, it’s cold for the first time in months, and maybe I was over ambitious this time. Long story short, I am so happy it is coming to an end. But as I always do when the long anticipated vacations arrive, I sit in bed all day scrolling… calling it a “break.” It almost makes me wonder, are we ever really getting time off when all most of us do with it is stare blankly into a screen for hours on end? According to an article written by Mission.org:
- 60% of U.S. college students consider themselves to have a smartphone addiction
- 35% of people think about their phones upon waking, while only 10% think of their significant other
- 71% of people sleep with (or next to) their smartphones
- 44% of 18–24-year-old’s have fallen asleep with their phone in their hand
- Nearly 40% of people never disconnect from their mobile devices
