Anthony Francis
Students continue to feel the effects of social media despite the ban.
Brophy policies restrict the use of phones during school hours, but short-form content, like TikTok and Instagram Reels, continue to keep students hooked.
“You’ll sit down and be like, ‘Okay. I got 10 minutes. I’m going to scroll real quick and you kind of lose track of time. Now you’re 20, 30 TikToks deep, hours passed and I haven’t started my homework … it gets to you” said Alfred Kattan ’28.
Research suggests that 3 hours of daily short-form content use doubles anxiety levels in teens. It becomes a subconscious action in that they don’t realize that they do it without thinking, and once you are addicted, it is hard to quit it.
“I’m more concerned about the muscle memory than I am the hours. The letter of the handbook law is that phones are turned off in the backpack. You guys can’t even do that. You have to have them in your pockets … That to me is really troublesome in a muscle memory, addiction type of way” Mr. Pete Burr ’07, Director of Student Activities, said.
This addiction is related to behavioral changes for those involved in the space. It is also affecting attention spans and making it harder for those creating meaningful media to consistently maintain adequate watch time.
“Honestly, I always try to aim for the 30-45 second mark. It’s a common thing that I’ve learned most viewers only watch up to 10 seconds if anything. That’s why you want to put your favorite, attention-grabbing moments towards the start” said David Lopez ’26, video editor for the Brophy Stampede.
The dangers of social media can be underestimated and overlooked.
“I can say with confidence that if you’re not understanding that algorithms are built specifically to target you and keep you online, that I think that’s really problematic,” Mr. Burr said.
Despite the ban at Brophy, students continue to feel the effects of procrastination caused by the habit of watching short-form content.