Text from mom.
Snapchat from best friend.
Friend request from weird cousin.
Email. Email. Email. Email.
It’s hard to ignore life’s notifications. Especially when they’re on your brand new iPhone, which you never go anywhere without.
When I’m on my phone, I’m mostly responding to emails, texting, Snapchatting, and scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. Of course, I have been told on multiple occasions that since I got a smartphone, I have had an unhealthy obsession with it.
I could make the argument that in my defense, nearly everyone my age uses their phone as often and with as much fervor as I do, but I’d rather ask, “is it so bad that I am on my phone so often?”
According to a study done at Baylor University, male college students spend eight hours on their phone daily while females spend ten hours daily on their phones.
The study, which was conducted through an online survey of 164 college students, found that 60% of the students think that they may be addicted to their phones. The study also found that social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram have a more significant impact on cell phone addiction than surfing the Internet or gaming.
I completely agree that college students spend an incredibly large amount of time on their phones, but I don’t think that fact should always be viewed so negatively. College students are on their phones all the time not because they are mindless screen zombies. They use their phones more frequently than others because their generation depends on it the most to stay connected to the rest of the world.
According to Statista, 81% of Americans are on social media profiles. Access to technology plays a huge role in success now. There are more jobs opening up that specifically require knowledge of social media platforms and marketing strategies within.
Because there is such a high number of people using social media (and no doubt the number is rising), it is important for students to understand the role social media plays in consumerism.
A lot of the makeup and fashion companies I follow on Instagram use that platform to showcase their newest products, announce giveaways, and create tutorials about their products. I think social media spreads a lot of information about what’s going on in the U.S. and around the world as well.
Often times Snapchat has themed global stories about important events such as Ramadan and National Hispanic Heritage Month. Many official Snapchat accounts cover topics that are especially important for young people such as safe sex practices and sexual assault awareness.
By being a part on social media and observing the world around them through social media, college students get a better understanding of what they are going to be seeing outside of the classroom. They are being exposed to different people, places, and markets they have never seen, and all of this information is being filtered directly to them through their phones.
I think there’s a general assumption that college students are either drowning in homework or glued to their phones, and to be honest, it’s not completely wrong. But it’s important to remember, however, that the time that college students spend on their phone is not for mindless activity.
Their phones and their social media presence are important to college students because it is how they include themselves into a constantly changing world.