EDITORIAL: Presence in an always-connected age

There's a quality to teenage life that seems unchanging across generations — that feeling of being suspended between childhood and adulthood, where every moment feels both fleeting and endless. Today's high school students in Coeur d'Alene are experiencing this transition but with an added layer of complexity that our generation never knew: the constant presence of cellphones. 

Reading about the student petition against the new cellphone restrictions, we thought about the texture of high school days before phones became extensions of ourselves. The quiet anticipation of waiting by a locker, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone. Folding little notes into tight triangle. The way a crowded hallway could be full of possibilities. 

These weren't better times, necessarily — just different. Each generation faces its own challenges, and today's students have weathered storms we never imagined. During the COVID lockdowns, their phones became more than devices. They were lifelines to friendship, connection and normalcy during a profoundly abnormal time. For many, these digital connections were all they had during crucial years of social development. Their attachment to these devices isn't mere habit — it's woven into their understanding of how relationships work. 

But perhaps there's value in rediscovering what it means to be present in the unmediated world. The student petition argues that phones are essential to modern socialization, particularly during lunch and passing periods. Yet we wonder if these brief moments might offer something more valuable than constant connection: the chance to exist fully in the present moment, to navigate the beautiful awkwardness of face-to-face interaction. 

The so-called “soft skills” — things like focus, collaboration, listening and communication — are now in high demand, for the most part because all of us practice them a little less these days. Having the chance to hone them in the classroom and among your peers may eventually be viewed as a gift.  

These changes won't be easy. They might feel like losing something essential. But you might find that you gain something, too — moments of genuine connection, unexpected conversations, the kind of memories that rendered pixels never quite capture. Your generation has shown remarkable resilience and adaptability. This is another transition, another moment of growth.