Hey!

Hope you had a Happy Easter or Happy Passover or whatever you celebrate! Oh yeah, Happy Spring too!

This past weekend, we spent a bunch of time outside, and hung out with family and friends. It was awesome!

You know what I didn’t spend a lot of time with? My phone.

There’s a lot of research on how blah you feel when you spend too much time on your phone, and social media. They say it makes kids and teens feel unhappy, isolated, anxious, and depressed. Also, it’s easy to feel like like we’re not doing as many cool things as other people.

Check out a good article I read, right here, called:

‘How Smartphones Are Making Kids Unhappy’.

I get it. It’s a drag when you feel left out. Or if your classmates are going on amazing vacations and you’re not. Or showing their new clothes or sneakers (or tennis racquet!) on Instagram or Snapchat. Anyway, you have to be able to have perspective.

You also need to be able to put your phone away. We have rules at my house that you can’t have a phone or screen at the table, and you can’t bring it upstairs at night.

I wouldn’t say this in front of my parents, but I’m glad we have those rules. Whenever Mom has slacked off and let me be on my phone for a long time, I actually feel crappy.

The stuff that makes me feel better: hanging out WITH my friends (not texting), taking my dog, Ralph, for a walk, or getting outside. (Of course, tennis is my fave.) The other day, Mom got all frustrated with me, and said, “Finn, look up!” I did. Turns out, my little sister was baking cupcakes with Mom, and I helped them out… Okay, I mainly taste tested! I think we got icing everywhere, but it was fun!

Making connections with people for real does make you feel pretty good.

So, try it out! If you’re on your phone a lot, try doing something else social and active. I’ll bet you’ll feel better!

Bye for now!

Finn