Fiona Marino, a junior at Rye High School, got her first phone during COVID lockdown, when she was in fifth grade.
“I really didn’t have much guidance,” she said. “I really wasn’t educated on how to use a phone, and there is a lot more I wish I knew.”
Because COVID was so isolating, Marino said she was on her phone far more than she should have been, which made her more fidgety, anxious, and prone to comparing herself to others.
So when she learned about The New York Teen Tech Council, a youth leadership initiative empowering high schoolers to promote digital wellness, Marino was all in. With the group’s guidance, she and three friends created a presentation about their own experiences with smartphones, which they shared with fourth- and fifth-grade students at The Rye Free Reading Room.
Marino, Sadie Fu, Kate Chelsey, and Alexandra Dimeo — all Rye High sophomores and juniors — worked with IRL Rye and The Rye Youth Council to put on the event.
The evening was an opportunity for parents and students to hear the things Marino and her friends wished they had known before getting smartphones, and why they believe students might want to delay getting one altogether.
“I think the biggest thing about smartphones is that they are very addicting,” Marino said. “Apps such as TikTok and Instagram are really designed to keep you scrolling, and people don’t realize how these distractions impact your everyday life. If we can convince more people to delay, then overall, people will start to feel less left out.”
In their presentation, Marino and her friends discussed their own personal experiences and takeaways from having phones at a young age. They said they wished they had known about the impact phones can have on mental health, how they steal one’s free time, and even how they can disrupt sleep. They also discussed alternatives to smartphones, stressing that having a phone isn’t needed to be popular, funny, or included.
“With COVID, we really were on our phones 24/7, but now I really don’t think kids need to be on their phones to stay connected anymore,” Marino said. “We are doing so much more in real life, and we want kids to know they really don’t need them.”
Her goal is to bring the presentation to Milton fourth and fifth graders next, and eventually, to Rye Middle School students.
“The reaction has been really positive,” she said. “A lot parents expressed how grateful they were for the presentation and how important it is to not hear from adults, but to hear from kids themselves, since our voices can feel more relevant.”
Marino said it’s important for younger kids to consider “digital wellness” — the habit of using technology in a way that supports one’s overall well-being.
“We want kids to be educated before they get into the digital world,” she said.
