Screen-agers, for better or worse?

On Miami University’s campus 50 years ago, you would have seen gaggles of students socializing on the greens, catching up with their friends in between classes and maybe engaging with a group tabling by the university seal, hosted by one of Miami’s many clubs. Nowadays, though, all there is to be seen are queues of students trudging along the sidewalks, heads bowed down towards the glow of their cellphones.

As a society, we’ve grown fond of the little boxes that hold gateways to other worlds, reaping the benefits of the easy entertainment and communication pathways they provide. According to a post by Priori Data, in 2025, the average person spent around five to six hours a day on their phones. This begs the question: Are we too obsessed with the relationship with our screens?

It isn’t uncommon for me to see people glued to their phones while I’m walking across campus to my classes. If anything, I see more of my peers with headphones in or looking at their cells rather than not. Of course, no one shares the same schedule, so I understand not necessarily socializing on the way to classes.

However, even if we, as students, are given the opportunity to strike up a conversation with one another, say, while waiting outside of a shared lecture hall, most of the time we choose the friend in our pocket rather than the real-life people around us.

Is it that we have become so accustomed to the company of those in our digital world that we flee from face-to-face interactions? Do we retreat to our screens to avoid awkwardness, or is it simply because we’ve lost the art of connecting in the real world?

I’m not the only one aware that our reliance on technology has devalued social interactions. Fellow first-year and interior design major Gabby Myers has also noticed the way cell phones are affecting the interpersonal connections on our campus, including her own.

“We don’t talk to each other as much — we immediately go straight down to our phones,” Myers said. “I try to put away my phone as soon as possible, but when we don’t know anyone, we tend to look at our phones, or at least pretend we’re doing something on them to seem like we’re busy, even though we could create really good connections with people if we just put our phones down.”

Last semester was my first here at Miami, so I didn’t know anyone in my classes. Not wanting to look as alone as I was, I fell into the habit of turning to my phone as a safety blanket. If I were scrolling, I wouldn’t have to worry about the uncomfortable “What’s your name and major?” exchange that haunts college campuses.

Before I knew it, though, I found myself a quarter of the way through the year, realizing that I hadn’t managed to make a single connection in any of my classes.

This was a cause for some serious self-reflection. Was I unapproachable? Did I come off as a mean person? Maybe it wasn’t that I seemed mean, but looking back, I was definitely unapproachable.

Who’s going to try to talk to someone whose attention is fully in the custody of something on their cellphone? I know I wouldn’t.

Instead of seeking the comfort of our handheld devices, what if we made a more conscious effort to put our phones down and reach out to our real-life peers instead of the ones who exist on our screens? Instead of scrolling during those spare minutes before the beginning of class, start up a conversation with the people around you — see if your schedule aligns with anyone in your class and make a plan to meet up on the walk to class.

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If we all made a change in prioritizing social interaction in lieu of our digital companions, we can renew the life of interstudent connections on Miami’s campus.

perkin41@miamioh.edu

Kenzi Perkins is a first-year journalism major from Somerset, Ohio. She is a staff writer for The Miami Student in both the Opinion and Culture sections. She is also an active member of the Miami University Chapter of Delight Ministries.