Taking a break: How phone breaks benefit students

By Rosie Smith

Seasonal depression is a common struggle amongst high school students, and because of that the reliance on phones becomes greater.

When students have spent too much time on their phones, it starts to affect their social life. Ms. Missy Gomez, McNicholas’s mental health and wellness therapist, helped explain the benefits of a phone break and what it can do for students.

Phones are a crucial object of everyday life, and when something gets in the way of the connection we have with phones, it disturbs our lives in some way. Gomez explained that taking a phone break can help occupy your mind in picking up new hobbies. “That will rewire our brain to check back into things that we love and can actually do besides doomscrolling,” she said. The term “doomscrolling” is used to describe scrolling on social media for hours.

She talked about the difficulties society would face because of necessities for daily tasks like communication, navigation, or online banking. “It’s hard to put it down because nowadays it’s how we keep in contact with everybody,” she said.

Gomez also explained the benefits for high school students if they took phone breaks, and what they could discover in themselves. “I think it would help high school teens discover things about themselves that you might not actually know you enjoy because you’ll never give it the chance,” she said. She also added that we say we will do the things that others document on social media, but never get around to it, because we continue to scroll.

During the 2024-2025 school year, a malfunction with the school computers caused students and teachers to have a “tech-free” day. In some classes, students played board games and made friendship bracelets and had a full day of social interaction, while other teachers continued to teach without technology. “I remember walking into the library, and people were making bracelets, like I used to make when I was nine years old,” Gomez said. “Those were the times where we were forced to be off technology and people were smiling.” The more you are away from it [your phone], the more you realize you actually don’t need it, and that’s when you discover things about yourself,” Gomez added.