“I often wonder how different it could be if we had all waited.”
Claire, Toronto
Young people across Canada, in their own words, on what growing up looks like without a smartphone and social media.
INSTEAD, I …
We asked young people to finish one sentence: what do you do with your time instead of being on a smartphone?
INSTEAD, I DO GYMNASTICS WITH MY FRIENDS OUTSIDE.
13 — TORONTO, ON
INSTEAD, I LEARNED TO WAKE BOARD.
11 — OTTAWA, ON
INSTEAD, I SPEND TIME WITH MY GRANDPA.
11 — VANCOUVER, BC
INSTEAD, I READ, SWIM, PLAY, AND SLEEP.
8 — STURGEON COUNTY, AB
INSTEAD, I PLAYED BASKETBALL AND WENT BIRDWATCHING.
9 — TORONTO, ON
GROWING UP UNPLUGGED
Claire didn’t get a smartphone until sixteen.
Growing up, my parents did their best to shield me from the harms of the internet. They monitored the little time I spent on the family computer and didn’t buy me a smartphone until I was sixteen. Being the only one of my peers without a smartphone and social media was frustrating, and I sometimes wonder how different my experience would have been if I hadn’t been the only one. Although it was frustrating at the time, I can now look back with enormous gratitude that my parents made me wait.
At sixteen, I got my first smartphone and joined several social media platforms. I noticed my attention span worsen the more time I spent scrolling. I found myself spending less time with my hobbies and the people I cared about. I believed social media would help me feel more connected. Instead I felt increasingly isolated and maladjusted. I was frequently exposed to violence, self-harm content, and cyberbullying. This content was tailored for me by an algorithm designed to keep me addicted at all costs. By the time I started my first year of university, I’d had enough and began to transition off social media for good. It was difficult and didn’t happen overnight, but it was beyond worth it.
Social media use damaged my attention span and mental wellbeing as an older teen. It frightens me to think how much worse it could have been if I had started when most of my peers did, around 10 or 11 years old. Most of my generation has been on social media for over a decade now, and I see the effects every day. I see my peers struggle with their mental health, social connection, and attention. I often wonder how different it could be if we had all waited just a few more years, or never started in the first place.
“Although it was frustrating at the time, I can now look back with enormous gratitude that my parents made me wait.”
GROWING UP ONLINE
Kayleigh got her first phone at thirteen.
Kayleigh shares what growing up online felt like, and what she wishes the adults around her had known.
The Extraordinary Lie: Missing Out Isn’t the Risk, Early Smartphones Are
By Kayleigh Robertson, BA Hons., CPS
I was 13 years old in 2013, desperate to “be like everyone else,” when I got my first phone. I thought I’d finally belong. But everything began to change. Friendship stopped being about time together and became about constant availability. Every unopened message felt like rejection. Every unanswered Snap became a reason to question myself. Snapstreaks were proof that I wasn’t really connected.
My friends and I drifted apart, not because I didn’t have a phone, but because I did. Group chats made it worse. Bullying, exclusion, and conflict happened in real time, amplified and recorded, with no way to step away without social consequence. My brain, still developing and wired for real-life connection, learned anxiety instead of trust, impatience instead of patience, comparison instead of empathy.
If you're a young person and any of this feels familiar, you can reach Kids Help Phone any time at 1-800-668-6868, or text CONNECT to 686868.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
The Unplugged Kids Video
Hear it from them.
Add Your Voice
Any young person can submit an answer for our “Instead, I” feature. Print the card, have them write one line about something they did, made, learned or explored instead of being on a smartphone, and send a photo to info@unpluggedcanada.com.
Published with parent or guardian consent, age and city only. Submissions can be withdrawn at any time by emailing us.