Ting - another notification pops up on your phone. Quick check and reply straight away! But how would you feel if you didn’t reply immediately? How would the person sending the message feel if you ignored them?
On my phone I mostly connect with my friends by WhatsApp, Snapchat and Instagram and throughout the day many notifications appear on my phone. Experts have found that when we receive a notification on our phone, we have a Pavlovian response. Pavlov was a Russian scientist who discovered that our minds associate apparently unrelated sensory information with memory. He found out that dogs salivate when their owners even start to go near where their food is kept, long before the food is placed in front of them. The same happens to us: when your phone receives a notification, your brain produces a feel-good chemical, no matter what the alert is about. This feel-good chemical (called dopamine) is what makes us want to grab our phones and check the alert, because it is an addictive feeling.
In a recent BBC news report, more than half of the twelve to fourteen year olds interviewed said they felt extremely guilty if they didn’t respond to their notifications immediately. With teenagers using phones lots in the day, it is easy to see why we are all so tired at school.
At Surbiton High School, along with many schools around the country, phones have been banned during the school day so we can’t use social media. Does this make the problem worse, as students still want to connect with others and will have to do so in the evening and at nighttime? This means we have less time for studies and disturbed sleep patterns.
I recently interviewed some year 10 students at Surbiton High School who said that they ‘feel as if I have to respond straight away to messages’ and sometimes felt ‘guilty’ if they don’t respond quickly. Also they further explained how their phones often keep them awake at night if they are on as they are usually beeping and interrupting them from sleeping.
In summary, now I understand why I feel a compulsion to check my phone the moment it pings. I can often feel guilty if I don’t reply quickly which can be pressurising for some teens.
