According to conversations the Roar conducted on campus, many students in the Milken community now feel less compelled to spend time on social media. Instead these students devote their free time on campus to being productive with schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
“My screen time has changed significantly because of the YONDR policy, I have less of a desire to be on social media,” said Madi Frank, ‘27.
Off campus, however, it’s a different story. Many students report that they’re spending more time at home with social media. They’ve been spending late nights on their phones, filling in the void that exists at school.
“I find myself on my phone even more after school,” said an anonymous student. “I’m trying not to doom scroll, but it’s hard. I’ve been going to my bed using social media and I’ve stayed up long nights using social media,” an anonymous student said.
Although the school has been enforcing its phone-free policy for more than a year, many students still believe that it should be terminated. With the rise of social media in day to day life, it has become prominent that media is a common form of communication between teens.
“I understand why the school makes us lock up our phones, but so many students socialize through social media, by sending each other videos and seeing what’s funny,” an anonymous student said.
Rather than the school stopping socialization through media, students apply it to home life. Now, students use social media in home life and bring about socialization when they are able to.
“I feel like I use social media more [at home]. I’m not compelled to use my phone more, but when I’m on it, I use it for larger increments of time,” said Audrey Tischler ‘28.
Even though students are on their phones more, the desire to be on them is less evident because they are so used to having them locked up. Due to this, when students are on their phones, the amount of time they spend on social media is significantly higher.
“I feel that social media hinders my ability to focus at home because I need to catch up on what I missed during the school day, and I get less homework done at home,” said Miyah Lederer ‘27.
Though students use social media more often at home, they do less homework. Going on social media at home distracts from more important things.
As the YONDR policy continues, students spend their time at school doing work and prioritizing their studies. But, behind the scenes, students use social media more at home to catch up on what they missed at school.
“At the end of the day, the policy only helps during school hours, but when I’m at home, the policy disappears, leaving me with my eyes on the screen,” said an anonymous student.