It’s a narrative that has persisted for years. Teenagers are glued to their phones, isolating themselves from the real world, interacting with friends only through texts, Instagram posts, or TikTok comments. But firsthand accounts from today’s teens suggest that this stereotype couldn’t be further from the truth.
Teens are social creatures who absolutely value in person interactions, just as they did in the past. Social media and cell phones haven’t changed the fact that many of their social lives revolve around physical spaces, including schools, extracurricular programs, and local hangouts.
Cambridge High School senior Jia Patel explains, “I definitely snap [Snapchat] my friends a lot. We really like texting in our group chat so we can all communicate at once. We still hang out at each other’s houses pretty often.”
While teens often connect through digital platforms like Snapchat, these conversations usually lead to in-person socializing rather than replacing it. Jia’s example shows that texting and communication apps are mostly used to coordinate hangouts, not as a sign of isolation.
This myth may persist because adults often notice teens’ screen use more than their in-person interactions. Teen social lives are increasingly organized online. Snapchat is an outlet for teens to see what their friends are up to, and quick FaceTime calls can be used to plan an in-person hangout. However, these digital spaces function as extensions of, rather than replacements for, real world friendship. Cambridge High School junior Maya Davis notes, “We [friends] try to hang out whenever everyone in the group is free and texting each other makes it easy to see everyone’s availability in the same place.”
Overgeneralizing teen behavior can have real consequences, notes Christy Buchanan, a psychologist at Wake Forest University. Pigeonholing all teenagers as antisocial and phone-addicted further perpetuates harmful stereotypes and can have adverse effects such as increased social anxiety, lowered self esteem, and unnecessary parental or school interventions. It can also lead to adults dismissing teens’ real social needs, overlooking opportunities to support healthy friendships, and creating environments where teens feel misunderstood or unfairly judged.
In short, the image of teenagers as socially withdrawn phone zombies is largely a myth. They may be texting and posting, but they’re also laughing, talking, and hanging out in person. Social media may cloud the way adults perceive teen life, but the reality is that teen friendships remain vibrant and very much alive offline.
