High School Senior Sparks Debate After Sharing Video Of Classmates All Staring At Their Phones Instead Of Interacting

As cell phones and iPads have become more prevalent, appropriate amounts of screen time and child development have been frequent points of conversation.

TikToker @nahla_her sparked another point of conversation when she posted a video on the third day of her senior year of high school, showing how her fellow seniors were prioritizing their screens over interacting and making memories with each other.

The student shared in the comments that, since it was the first week of classes, the teacher's lesson had run a little short, and the students were allowed to do a self-selected activity throughout the rest of class. She decided to record the video while the teacher had stepped out into the hallway to make a point.

Every student within the frame of the video had chosen to take out their phone, and whether they were scrolling, reading, or watching videos, none of them broke eye contact with their screens while TikToker @nahla_her recorded.

The video has since been removed, but you can see screenshots from it below.

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Some TikTokers found the contents of the video to be incredibly sad.

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Others questioned why this was allowed to happen.

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Some reminisced about their own high school experiences, fearing these students were missing out.

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Wondering if screen time is impacting students' social skills and intellectual development continues to be a point of concern, but the TikTokers in the comments were more concerned about the memories these students were missing out on.

From talking about what they did over the summer to making jokes to complaining about having to take certain classes, there are countless ways that students could connect and start making memories at the start of their final year of school that would not involve a screen.

It's understandable that these students went through a pandemic, have grown up with more social media options available than ever before, and now have AI tools at their fingertips, making their high school experience a totally unique one.

But we can hope that they'll still have the experiences that made the high school years for previous students special.