Get Off Your Phone by Sheila

Get Off Your Phone by Sheila - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

I know I probably sound like the boring adult my childhood self loathed, but my parents were right. It was always the phones. As a child, I was an iPad kid — a screen addict some would say. COVID-19 was a safe haven for me because I could spend hours on my iPad without any repercussions. From the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, my eyes were glued to a device, and I did nothing to change it. I watched videos while I made and ate breakfast, while I worked out, while I hung out with friends; my life was consumed by screens.
Now, as I desperately try to break out of this addiction, I reflect on its implications for our society. Scrolling is so normalized that there are trends that glorify it (often known as "bed rotting.") People spend every free moment checking Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, anything that can distract themselves from real life. I believe that these screens serve as a physical wall between individuals, stifling real human connection and experience. Social media causes us to live the lives of others, rather than build our own, and we've become victims to its hold. I know because I was (and still am) one of them. I watched people go to the beach in the summer instead of actually texting my friends to plan a trip. I scrolled through influencers promoting healthy habits and tapped twice to like their post instead of implementing the habits myself. I stared in awe at people hiking beautiful mountains instead of going out and hiking them myself. My feed dictated my life.
I know that one day I am going to get out of the toxic cycle of scrolling, but if I could have avoided it in the first place by building a healthy relationship with my phone, I believe I'd be in a much happier place. However, I cannot change the past, only use what I have learned to carve my own path, one I'll be walking offline.