In Jean M. Twenge’s, “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”, she makes many claims as to why she believes Smartphones are ‘ruining’ teens. She calls the generation born between 1995 and 2012, “iGen”. In this article, I personally disagreed with a lot of what she was saying. One of the main claims that I mostly disagreed with was when she stated how teens nowadays are acting younger than they actually are. She states, “Across a range of behaviors- drinking, dating, spending time unsupervised- 18 year- olds now act more like 15-year-olds used to, and 15-year-olds more like 13-year-olds. Childhood now stretches well into high school”(7).  Twenge explains how in past generations, teens would be out more partying, experimenting, and just being with their friends more. I find this to be very inaccurate. From personal experience, I know teenagers in my middle school back home that are experimenting with partying, alcohol, sexual encounters, and drugs. There was even a story of a girl who brought a bottle of alcohol onto a bus when going to an event with the school. I believe that teens are now trying to act older than they actually are, not younger.

I also disagreed with how she kept repeating that Smartphones are one of the main causes of depression, anxiety, and suicide. I feel this is very untrue. It could be a small contributing factor if someone is being bullied or harassed, but I don’t personally feel as though social media is making people more sad, lonely, and unhappy. According to Twenge, ” There’s not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness”(10). This is a bold statement that she makes. I feel that social media is a place to express yourself in a way that makes yourself happy. Posting and following people that make you sad, personally is something I have never experienced.

What I do agree with Twenge about is when she concludes her article and explains how this girl, Athena, explained that she feels that when she is hanging out with her friends, they are always disconnected by being on their phones. I see this, mostly, on an everyday basis. No matter where you go, there are always people looking down at their little devices, completely disconnected from their surroundings. The saying, ‘even when you’re here, you’re not here’, is a good way to explain this. Even if you are with someone, not being connected mentally and physically gives it the sense that you aren’t really ‘there’. Your presence may be real, but your mind may not be. I catch myself doing it sometimes as well, but I try to be cautious about it. I feel it is very disrespectful when someone is trying to talk to you, and you can’t take your eyes off of your phone. I do believe that this is a very big and important issue that we should address. Becoming more aware and cautious of our surroundings is extremely important. Overall, even though I didn’t agree with a lot of what she said, I do feel like she brought up some good and interesting points.