Of the many complaints voiced by adults about the vices of our generation, few are as vocally expressed as our so-called cell-phone addiction. It’s hard to get past one class period without hearing grumbles about how iPhones are bringing down the educational system one student at a time. But is there any validity to these claims? Are teenagers truly addicted to their cellphones? And more importantly could there be some more malicious consequences to such a phenomenon?

In what might come as a surprise to some people many teens around the school are in full agreement that a cell phone addiction exists. The diversity of opinion is rooted in whether they actually believe phones are harmful. “I’d rather be addicted to my phone than heroin,” said junior Lila Ward.

She took the position that despite they are addictive nature phones are much better than some more dangerous alternatives.Others took a more pragmatic approach such as Emily D’achiardi. This sophomore sees the cell phone addiction as much more of a blight on the student body. “We spend a very intense amount of time on our phone,” she said. “It’s really taking over our lives.”

There are many claims going around about what the cell phone epidemic is actually doing to so many teens brains. Journalism teacher Jack Stenger, in a tongue and cheek manner, oftentimes trots out the notion that cell phones are a conspiracy to mind control the youth of America for some nefarious purpose. Of course the science of cell phone addiction is far less fanciful than some would lead you to believe. There is much study to backup the idea that cell phones are quite addictive. Further, the addictiveness phone users exhibit are similar to patterns seen in that of drug users.

There is also much correlation in studies between phones and depressive moods. And most importantly the blue light produced by many smartphones has been shown to have severe effects on one’s ability to sleep which many doctors credit with the recent explosion in teen sleep deprivation, a condition which has widely ranging negative effects.

But no matter what students and teachers opinions on cell phones are, they do pose some very real challenges to those living in the modern world, challenges that will have to be dealt with one way or the other. Maybe those smart phones are not as intelligent as they seem.