As technology becomes more prominent in our increasingly digitized society, adolescents have been spending more and more time on their devices instead of being active members of society. A recent study found that in 2021, teenagers in the United States spent on average 8 hours and 39 minutes on their phones each day (Cosmo, 2024). Based on the total amount of time teenagers are awake each day, this statistic shows that teenagers spend half of their waking hours on their phones. While some of this screen usage is necessary, most of the time spent is simply mindless stimulation of their brain while there are much healthier and more productive alternatives to achieve the same stimulation. Teenagers are not only losing time as they stay on their phones, it can also negatively impact their health. Excessive amounts of screen use, such as the daily average many teenagers spend on their phones, have been linked with a variety of physical and mental health problems. These problems include impaired social-emotional development, obesity, problems sleeping, depression, and anxiety. (Mupalla et al., 2023). Kashmir Hill, a technology reporter, writes the following in her New York Times article: “My biggest regret of 2023 was my relationship to my smartphone, or my ‘tech appendage’...My Apple Screen Time reports regularly clocked in at more than five hours a day”(Hill, 2024). Even though Hill was not a teenager in 2023, the addiction to her smartphone that she experienced is very much like most teenagers nowadays. With most teenagers having access to their phones throughout the day, even in most schools, screen times can easily surpass the five-hour mark that Kashmir Hill mentions. This will not only ruin their health at the moment but it will also be something that many teenagers regret when they become adults, as the time they waste on their phones could be utilized in a much more productive manner. Additionally, there is a huge percentage of teenagers who avoid in-person social interaction with one another and instead, prefer to communicate via online platforms. An infographic from a blog from SlickText states that 33% of teens spend more time socializing with close friends online than in person (44 Smartphone Addiction Statistics for 2023 [INFOGRAPHIC], 2023). Not only are teenagers avoiding in-person social interactions with friends, but even when they decide to hang out together, 52% of them have long periods of silence on their phones (44 Smartphone Addiction Statistics for 2023 [INFOGRAPHIC], 2023). If hanging out with friends means sitting together and staring at your phones, what’s the purpose of in-person social interaction? Without a doubt, phones are destroying the social connections between teenagers and there is a significant problem to address within that. There are two potential factors contributing to teenagers excessively using their phones. First, they might lack alternative activities, unsure of what else to do. Second, even if they have other options, they might lack motivation and opt for the easy entertainment provided by smartphones. This project aims to address the issue by developing an application focused on providing teenagers with engaging activities when they are not using their phones, including times spent with friends. Audience The audience will include a majority of smartphone users; specifically, the individuals who exceed the healthy threshold for using their phones every day. After doing research, the specific group of individuals that would benefit most from this app are teenagers/adolescents. 54% of teenagers acknowledge the fact that they spend an excessive amount of time on their phones. Among that group, 52% of them have attempted to cut back but have been unsuccessful. (Majority of Teens Admit to Excessive Cellphone Usage [​​INFOGRAPHIC], 2018). Therefore, teenagers are the specific audience for this app, as there is a critical need to help them find alternative activities to indulge in and avoid using their phones. In particular, teenagers need activities that they would be interested in enough for them to participate in. Although the app proposed will require users to utilize their smartphones, as this app can only be accessed via electronic devices, this app will ultimately push users away from their phones and out into the real world, where they will be free to do fun activities that appeal to their interests. In doing so, this app’s goal is to give users ideas on things they can do, using an algorithm that makes suggestions based on the user’s personal profiles, which will comprise their interests, budget, and distance willing to travel.