“Kids need to get off their phones and go outside!”

This has become a trite phrase in 2025, a time in which North Penn School District and many others opened the school year with policies to crack down on the ever growing cell phone epidemic.

Yes, we hear you. Get off your phone and go do something… But it’s not that easy. At one time, in the North Penn community, there existed two bowling alleys, a thriving mall, a roller skating rink (and another one just 10 min outside of our community), two go-kart tracks, multiple mini-golf courses, and, oh, go back a little further, and there was even an amusement park in West Point.

Today, the mall is dead, there are zero bowling alleys in NPSD, no entertainment venues, and our only mini golf course is set to close at the end of the season. But yeah – get off your phones and go do something. And do what? Pick flowers in the open fields, stare at a new townhouse development, buy a new mattress?

Everyone wants “screenagers” to get off their phones, away from doom scrolling, and get out making real life connections and memories, but it doesn’t seem like people want to give said kids a good alternative. So, kids form their phone addictions outside of school and then, of course, carry that with them into school.

As much as people don’t want to believe it, this is not fully the kids’ fault. More recently than not, parents have replaced their young kids’ pacifiers with tablets and iPads to entertain them and keep them quiet and out of trouble; while intending well, they are also interfering with the developmental needs of a young child. The less kids play in the dirt during their early years, the fewer social skills they develop.

These same kids are the ones that experienced COVID, which not only enhanced the need for technology, but also left devices as the main form of communication with the world outside the four walls of their homes.

Now in high school, most of these same kids want to do things. After being trapped between concrete walls and staring at computer screens for hours on end, these kids want to get out and do things with their friends, but with the lack of opportunities, adults don’t tend to see this. Instead, they create a tainted image of the future of society and hold it over teenagers’ heads.

North Penn, among other schools, has attempted to alleviate the cell phone issue, and implement policies, forcing students to pay attention during class instead of scrolling all day. Although intended well, there have been mixed reviews from teachers and students alike regarding the effectiveness of the policy.

“I think the cell phone policy was effective for the first two or three months of the year. But then, I feel as though the teachers got lenient with the rule and students found ways around hiding and preventing the teacher from knowing they were on their phones,” North Penn junior Nate McClain stated, “The overall effectiveness lasted a short period before it reverted back to normal.”

Let’s not forget in order for this to work, there has to be effort from both the teachers and students to want to reduce cell phone usage. The more it is enforced by both parties, the more effective it could be.

“I loved the cell phone policy this year which is very contradictory to most of my peers but it has kept me focused this whole year and I was able to learn the topics this year better than I could when the policy wasn’t in place. I think it held me accountable because I used to sit on my phone in the classes I didn’t like last year and this year, I would only pull it out for the last couple minutes of class,” North Penn senior Elaine Beck said.

Although the policy definitely didn’t fix the issues, it has shined a light on the severity of the epidemic but it has also left us questioning, “where is there for the kids to go?”

The classroom isn’t the only place phones tend to be an issue. Many teens find themselves staying home scrolling as they don’t know where to go. From shopping at Target and Sephora to sitting in restaurant parking lots as a way to pass their time, teens have turned towards shopping centers as an outlet for getting out of their houses.

“I usually find myself at the golf course, restaurants, or my friends’ houses. I don’t really know where else to go as there’s not that many places to go near us,” McClain said.

“My favorite places in town are Parkside, the movie theater, and food places,” North Penn senior Ava Ratliff added.

Aside from shopping and eating, many of the activities teens are left to take part in, like reading and watching movies, are done solo. Yes, teens need time to be alone and recoup especially during stressful times, but if this is the only option, what is that teaching them? To isolate even more from society?

This is in no way to condone the excessive cell phone usage that this generation has, but we must examine the question of where do they have to go and what alternatives are we giving them as a community? With very few entertainment options left, teens are forced to get creative and rewrite the script for the next generation ensuring they have the means and the place to go to make life-long memories without the constant intervention of screens.