Screen time can be had on the cheap, because your parents are paying for Wifi and the phones anyway, and you're on the family Netflix and some other streaming s

Screen time can be had on the cheap, because your parents are paying for Wifi and the phones anyway, and you're on the family Netflix and some other streaming service, or using a friend's. Malls are dying, expensive, and flocks of teens are no longer welcome. Wandering around the Target, the Walmart, or the quirky knicknack store works, if you can get a ride. You spend money on eating out with your friends on occasion. On the screens, you watch shows, memes, videos, streams, but also interact with your real-life circle and online friends. Your real-life circle overlaps with people at your school, so you can never truly disconnect: time away from school doesn't pause the happenings of the same social environment, and time away from your phone will just make you seem more withdrawn the next day. You can't ever quite get away from them. Then, the people you know from online are a mixed bag: the fans, the creeps, the randoms, a few popular people who replied when you reached out, the more professional influencers who who didn't, and a small number of people you know through a stroke of luck who share a common interest and you've become friends. These online friends are probably really far away, you may never get a chance to meet them, and their lives are probably just as chaotic as yours. Online, you also read various slants on world events, culture, and justice. People in your circles share tidbits and their takes. You realize people treat each other like garbage, that some people can get shot at little fault of their own and police are rarely held accountable, half the country wants to curtail some people's rights, and the planet's warming and melting. None of these are insurmountable, but it's easy to be swept up in the outcry about these, conclude (immediately, or through later disenchantment) that there's little one can do to personally to bring about meaningful change, and be left with a pessimistic outlook on the world.