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A hiker who spotted a child's hand-drawn warning on a trail has decided to change his life after reading what it said.
Will Thompson, 36, from Sonoma County in California, was hiking the West County Regional Trail when he spotted something that stopped him in his tracks: a piece of paper with a hand-written note.
The paper bore a drawing along with a "warning" to those reading it.
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Clearly made by a child, the note contained multiple misspellings—but the message behind it was clear.
It read, with spellings corrected for clarity: "WARNING. Phones hypnotize grown-ups to not play with their kids."
The child had included a hand-drawn image of a smart phone, with the words "evil" littered multiple times on the screen.
They advised: "Phone smash on sight."
Thompson told Newsweek that he thought "the child was absolutely correct," and it made him lament "on how addicted we all have become to our devices, and how divisive they have become for all aspects of our society, especially our young ones."
He said that reading the note made him think about how "my own daughters steal my phone from my pocket and delete Reddit to stop me from scrolling."
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A 2024 survey of over 1,000 Americans about phone screen time habits undertaken by Harmony Healthcare IT found that Americans spend an average of five hours and 16 minutes on their phones each day.
More than half—53 percent—of those surveyed stated they want to cut down on their phone usage, but 49 percent said they feel addicted to their devices.
A further 55 percent wished their significant other would spend less time on their phone, and 56 percent said their friends and family are less present in social settings due to their phone usage.
"I waited a week or so before posting it because of the obvious irony, and only shared it with my wife," Thompson told Newsweek. "But upon coming across it again in my album, I was inspired to share it online."
He shared the story to his Reddit account, willismthomp, where the post resonated with internet users. They awarded it more than 15,000 upvotes, as one commenter called it "pretty insightful and sad," and another admitted it broke their heart to read.
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"It's so sad, and it's unfortunately true," another said. "My cousin has a 4-year-old that just recently told us they can't wait to have a phone so that daddy will 'pay attention to them.'"
Others, like Thompson, admitted that they can be guilty of this very thing, with one parent writing: "Ugh... For a dad on his phone too much. This breaks my heart."
Another said they saw the post and have determined to change, writing: "All day today I have only used my phone for necessities while he was awake. I might make this post my phone background as a reminder."
Thompson told Newsweek that he was "blown away" by the response to his post, and for the "empathy" commenters showed to the child behind the note.
He said it made him "hopeful that we can break the addictions and digital tethers" that society has fallen into, and said he is now determined to get back to a place "where we can live in the moment again and not through a lens tinted by adverts and the backlit screen acting as our filter for our thoughts and feelings."
Thompson went on to say that he hoped that "the novelty of a computer in your pocket is wearing off," particularly now that society appears more aware of the dangers.
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Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sirena Bergman and Emma Lee-Sang
Update 7/28/26, 10:27 a.m. ET: This story was updated with the survey year.
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