In today’s day and age, life seems to revolve around technology. Since the rise of the smartphone in 2007, people have centralized every aspect of life and have kept it compacted into one device. When one purchases a smartphone they are purchasing an entire world that they can hold in the palm of their hand. Or at least it is that way for some. How much of your world is in your smartphone?

The smartphone may be the most influential consumer gadget ever, changing the way phones work, changing the way people see the world and changing human culture. According to a report written in The Telegraph, those aged 15 to 24 on average spend four hours a day on the phone compared with 2 hours 49 minutes for all adults. The young also check their phones every 8.6 minutes, more frequently than any other age group.

I asked a few students from Verona High School how much of their world is in their phones. When asked, Seniors Amon Rosensweig and Daniela Trujillo immediately responded, “ALL OF IT.” If that doesn’t give you a sense of the smartphone domination in today’s society I don’t know what does. Another Senior at VHS, Peter Farley, gave me some insight on how he uses his time on his phone. “I mainly use it when I am lying in bed, not doing anything. I just scroll through feeds and listen to music.” Farley does not seem to be as attached to the device as others, however he admitted to going to his phone first when he has free time.

Because research has shown that the younger population seems to be more heavily affected by the world of smartphones I thought it would be interesting to get an adult’s perspective when asked the same question. I decided to ask my father, Mark Fortgang a series of questions. When asked if he could go several hours without looking at his phone his response was simple enough, “Yeah, sure.” He explained that when he has free time his first instinct is not to pick up his phone, contrasting to the instincts of Farley. He went on to say that 90 percent of his phone use is for communication and information, meaning email, text, call, and the internet.

However, similar to the youth population, he does spend some time on social media. He explained that he spends about 7 hours a week on social media apps like Facebook. Compared to me, though, that is not a lot. I spend about 15 hours a week on social media.

According to a new function on the iPhone called Screen Time, people can now easily see the amount of time spent on their devices, amount of time spent in each app, and how many times they picked up their phone each day. So go pick up your smartphone and find for yourself, how much of your world is in your phone?