Gen Z reluctantly admits that boomers were right about younger generations being glued to screens

Many of us have seen or experienced getting scoffed at by boomers when we are occupied with our handy gadgets, mostly smartphones. We might have argued with our parents about the increasing amount of screen time. It turns out the old timers made sense and it's high time for us to get off our smartphones. u/ExcellentMycologist2 admitted that the boomers were right about the amount of time the current generation spends on their phones. A Gen-Z on Reddit ranted to the community about how he used to laugh at boomer memes, complaining about the young generation being glued to their phones.

"'It's just a different generation and we use technology differently,' I thought. But it's time to wake up. We use our phones way too much. I averaged 7+ hrs screen time for years. It's only now that I finally decided to make a change. I started with small changes, but over time, it began to completely change my life for the better," the Gen-Z wrote. They further revealed that since reducing their screen time, they felt more energetic and their anxiety levels were low because they don't bombard themselves with information and comparison on social media. Adding to the post, they spared a few tips on how they started reducing screen time.

"Start with your home screen. It's simple, but not enough people do this. Put the things you want to use (e-books, FaceTime, audiobooks, etc.) on your home screen, and hide social media far, far away. Pick two times to check your DMs. Set an alarm for those two times (I choose the morning and before dinner), then only check DMs at those times. Turn on grayscale. Go into your phone settings and make everything black and white. Reels, TikTok and Shorts are 10x more boring without color," they advised in the post. They also suggested people get an app blocker installed on their smartphones, such as "Superhappy," which forces users to chat with AI before opening social media.

"The goal is to find one that makes opening social media annoying and also limits the amount of time you spend. Getting off my phone wasn't easy, but the benefits have been more than worth it. If you've been thinking about reducing your screen time, give it a shot—you might be surprised at how much your life can change," they concluded. The Reddit community took notes from this person and even shared their own experiences struggling with long hours in front of the screen.

u/Background_Prune9127 commented, "My screen time is like 14 hours a day, and yet I disagree! Although 12+ hours of that are me not actually on the phone, I'm just using it for background audio as I can not sleep in silence and YouTube is cheaper than cable. Besides, I'm the least egregious in my family. My mother is on her phone while watching movies. She scrolls Facebook on the roads. I literally use my phone as a white noise machine 85% of the time. This is the only social media I use, and my main sources of entertainment are YouTube and audiobooks." u/One_Planche_Man pointed out, "If you ever go on Facebook, you'll realize those same boomers are also terminally online." 

u/ranchojasper added, "I'm an elder millennial and my kids are younger Gen Z (teenagers), and what shocked me was a conversation I had with my 15-year-old the night before the last day of school last year. I said something about how those days are always so much fun because there's no work and everyone's just hanging out and having a blast and he looked at me like I was speaking another language. I was like, 'What?' and he explained that any time there's nothing to do in class, everybody just sits there silently scrolling on their phones. No one talks to each other at all. Even actual friends!"