Since the iPhone was introduced in 2007, anxiety rates have increased by 139 percent and depression rates have increased by 180 percent. Jackson Antonow, former Parker student and current Junior at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, experienced this anxiety, began to look at his relationship with social media, and reduced his usage. Antonow went from a low GPA to achieving several straight semesters of a 4.0 and is now on pace to graduate at the top of his class.
“It’s not a reflection of my intelligence, but of my work ethic and the fact that I have so much more time to grasp the ideas that I have in my classes,” Antonow said. “ Also, I have a bustling social life. It’s not like the only thing I’m doing is schoolwork, so it’s really just opened my life opportunity wise, to be successful, to be happy.”
The upper school administration accepted Antonow’s offer to come present at Parker with the goal of delivering the message of why to reduce phone usage to the students from the perspective of a peer. “I’m just a kid that went through this experience like everyone else,” Antonow said.
“If I came back and somebody gave that speech, I wouldn’t necessarily listen to me at that moment,” Antonow said. But, the feeling he had after using his phone was a feeling that he was grateful for. “Being able to give back in some way was [also] something I was super grateful for,” Antonow said.
Because Antonow offered a peer to peer explanation on the reduction of cell phone usage, Upper School administrators thought that his presentation could evoke reflection. “We already have a cell phone policy, but we hoped [his presentation] would evoke reflection on cell phone use after school,” Upper School Head Cory Zeller said. “He also has some great tips on reducing personal use after school.”
During his presentation, which is targeted at younger people, Antonow recognized that Instagram is important to high schoolers’ social life. But, as students get older and realize that they are feeling anxious or down, a good place to start is to cut down on social media and phone usage. Because of the 139 percent increase in anxiety rates and the 180 percent increase in depression rates, “I don’t really think it’s rocket science why so many of us aren’t feeling as great as we used to,” Antonow said. “I really just want you guys to be happy and feel better about yourself.”
After the presentation, the Upper School Administrators have “heard students talking about implementing some of the changes he suggested like turning off notifications, reducing apps on home screens, etc,” Zeller said.
One student that has made a goal to reduce her screentime is freshman Sophie Timna. “The presentation helped me cut down my screen time because I saw that a student like me was inspired to improve his mental health and save time to do activities,” Timna said.
In the spirit of sharing his experience to positively affect others, Antonow also wrote and published a book on phone addiction in 2024 called “Enemy In Your Pocket: How Using Your Phone Less Will Change Your Life and How to Do It.”
Antonow explained that writing “didn’t necessarily feel like a very intentional decision, I just kind of started doing it one day…In retrospect, I think it’s nice for a very normal, average person, to have the opportunity to affect other people’s lives in a positive manner. I don’t think many people get that opportunity.”
While at Wisconsin, Antonow had a girl at school who had read his book come up to him and share how it affected her. “She said, ‘hey, you completely changed your directory of my life and how I feel about myself every single day. It was like the most important thing I ever read,’” Antenow repeated. “Having that experience is just like the best thing in the entire world, being able to affect somebody’s life like that.”
In the future, Antonow will continue to present at schools every once in a while while still focusing on his future career. He will continue to talk about the subject and put himself in positions to help people become happier and realize the effect that phone usage and social media is having on people.
