As I looked up from checking my phone, I heard my grandma say exactly, “You kids and your telephones!” Granted, as she was saying that, my neck was still just a bit sore from my curved posture I had while checking the message. I wasn’t even in eye contact with her and I was quickly being ridiculed in good fun. What can I say? I’m a screenager.

More and more teenagers are spending most hours of the day on their phones, tablets, or computers. My daily average on my phone is seven hours. 

According to the Oxford Dictionary, screenager is defined as “a person in their teens or early twenties who has an aptitude for computers and spends a lot of time on the internet.”

The key term is Internet. So when a teenager is regarded as a “screenager,” it’s because they are, by definition, spending an absurd amount of time on the internet. 

But there is a vast difference between the internet and what people think is the internet; which is social media. The lines between the two get blurred and it can be assumed that screenagers are solely on social media all the time they are using their phones. Which is untrue. 

In this age, considered the technological revolution, everything is digital. In my experience, my grades, homework assignments, some tests, communication with family, friends, teachers, employers, colleges, and entertainment is all digital. So why am I called a “screenager” when that’s where all my information and resources are?

Some who disagree might say that it’s not the internet that makes me a screenager, it’s the immense use of social media over internet resources that makes me a screenager. 

According to Forbes, “The Gallup survey found over half (51%) of U.S. teens (13-19) spend a minimum of four hours daily on social media, at an average of 4.8 hours every day on social media.” 

But the statistics are that it’s not just teens that are on social media the most out of all age groups.

According to Data Reportal, “Social media use continues to grow too, with the total number of active social media user “identities” reaching 4.95 billion in October 2023.” 

This means that it’s not just teens on social media, and the number of people joining social media or the internet can’t just be credited to teenagers. In that case, isn’t everyone a screenager then?

I’m not asking to be regarded as a homesteader who builds fires and tends my own chickens, but I’m asking to have the consideration that I’m not a screenager, because everything I use for resources, life, school, etc are all in my pocket—on my phone of course.