Average teen gets more than 200 cell phone notifications a day

A study of the cell phone habits of hundreds of kids from age 11 to 17 found that those 13 and older picked up their phone, on average, over 100 times a day. More than half the teens also received at least 237 notifications a day, 23 percent of them during school hours. Nearly all the teens said they checked their phones at least once during school. Phone usage varies widely with some study participants saying they were connected only a few minutes a day, while others averaged over 16 hours a day. TikTok was the teens’ most popular app.

Class discussion: How much time do you spend on your cell phone a day? Do you ever check your phone during school? What is your favorite phone app – TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Discord or something else? How do you spend most of your time on your cell phone – social media, gaming, calls, messaging, streaming video or audio, browsing or something else? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the flow of information from your phone or the need to respond to other people? Would it make you uncomfortable to shut off your phone for a while?