Students Spend Increased Time in Front of Screens

Students are getting more hours of screen time that usual everyday due to virtual school.

Danny Jones students have been attending virtual classes at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seventh-grader Diego Castillo said he spends about nine to ten hours of screen time per day due to school.

“Online school is hard enough, but then we have to stare at a screen all day,” he said. “I get migraines and headaches from looking at the screen and it really bugs me out.”

Because of the pandemic, seventh-grader Mahkel Morris has been taking online courses since August, which means he has gotten a lot of screen time. He said he is constantly looking at a screen and he hardly goes outside.

Seventh-grader Samantha Santiago, another virtual-school student, said she spends 10 to 15 hours of screen time daily on social media and school.

“I enjoy doing online school,” she said. “I don’t have to dress up and actually go in person. I love being on technology. It’s entertaining and keeps me up to date.”

Since the pandemic has spread around the country, parents have made their children do virtual learning. Since school has opened back up, kids have started to go back to school, but it makes it more difficult for the teachers.

Ronald Kludy, history and athletics teacher, thinks screen time has had multiple effects on kids today. 

“I think it takes away face to face interaction, but teaches people how technology works,” he said.