If you walk through a Holt hallway, or any school hallway in general, you’re almost guaranteed to see a student on their phone. Hearing the chatter of all the other students talking flow through the hallway, and the muffled rap music beaming out of a kid’s AirPods as you walk by.

Almost 95% of teenagers have phones according to Statista, meaning a lot of kids have access to social media and other popular apps. Some kids spend most of their time on social media, while others focus on productivity.

Hazyl Smith (‘24) has both TikTok and Snapchat as her top two apps, but also has streaming apps right behind. 

“Tiktok [is my favorite app] because it gives me something to do when I’m bored,” Smith said.

Tiktok was the most downloaded app in 2021 and 2022, with a total of a whopping 2 billion downloads worldwide. It was the top app of the students I talked to by a landslide, and is the app the students use daily for hours. 

Owen Fila (‘26) thinks that Snapchat is the better app over TikTok. 

“Snap[chat] is my favorite app because it helps me communicate with my friends when I’m not around them,” Fila said, “I just go on it when I need something to do.”

Tilton Hughes (‘26) agrees with Fila, thinking that he would choose Snapchat over TikTok because there’s more to do on the app.

“I [am] on Snapchat the most because it’s something that can distract me if I ever need a break,” Hughes said.

Both of the apps, and many others have taken place in our lives as a daily thing we use, and this world is now full of phones and social media. Phones let teenagers and people in general explore the world you can see through a screen. 

photo by Tracy Le Blanc