In my time at Bronx Science, I’ve seen dozens of students with laptops propped up at their desks, each one different from the next, with an assortment of different cover stickers, a variety of wallpapers, and even ranges of colors assigned to their Google tabs. But, not many people pay attention to our phones, where decoration happens on a smaller and much more personal scale.
After having the same plain red phone case for the past three years, I recently decided it was time for a change. I got my first phone during my ninth grade year of high school. Over time, I noticed that I had become more attached and reliant on it, as my schoolwork demanded more from me and the inaccessibility to some form of communication became more and more stressful. As I became more dependent on my phone, my priorities regarding my phone’s appearance also shifted.
At first, I was solely concerned with its protection. I recall searching through Amazon reviews and researching phone cases with the highest functionality and strength. The result was a bright red case with extra protection along the edges and an attached stand that you could pull out at any point.
It served its purpose, but it was never aesthetically pleasing; any attempt to customize its exterior with small stickers was worn away with time and rain. Once the fourth set of stickers that my sibling had made for me wore down, I opted for a semi-clear green phone case instead.
I covered it in magazine cutouts, stickers, and little drawings of little people. Since then, I have caught myself taking my phone out just to look at it, not even bothering to unlock it.
Pasted over a landscape photo that I took from a nature magazine are two little drawings that my sibling made for me at its top right and bottom left, along with a cutout fish head (from the same magazine) alongside a shrimp sticker that my friend gave to me. Scattered around the remaining empty space are a half dozen baking-themed stickers. A few minutes of effort and glue stick use made it possible for me to arrange each component to my liking.
Just as I had done, many others choose whether or not to decorate their own phones for a variety of reasons. At a time where our responsibilities often clash with our wants, it comes down to the individual phone user what they want to prioritize, why, and what that means to them.
The relationship that exists between people and their phones today is extremely unique. The average American uses their phone for roughly four hours a day and uses it for calling, texting, entertainment, and work. All of these critical functions piled together, amount to a relationship and, at times, an attachment. Precious hours of our day are spent on this small device that we carry around with us everywhere.
At this point in our history, where we are extremely immersed in a digital age, having a phone is almost completely unavoidable. As of 2022, at least three in four people across 18 different countries have reported use of a smartphone, with a median of 85% of the countries’ populations having used a phone. Since then, the number has only grown, and the projected number of phone users for the end of 2024 is at 7.1 billion, nearly double since 2016 (3.7 billion).
With smartphone usage quickly becoming the norm, dozens of new ways to decorate your phone to your liking have arisen.
Personalization, as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it, is “the action of making something identifiable as belonging or relating to a particular person, organization,” and adjusting it in such a way that it adheres to individual needs.
Many people, especially of more recent generations, have begun to decorate their phones in some way or form; wallpapers, widgets, phone cases, and charms are a few ways this is achieved.
“I love personalizing my wallpaper and phone widgets; I find the customization process really calming and therapeutic since you get to choose every aspect of what your phone looks like. When I’m indecisive about what to choose, I like going on Pinterest for inspiration. After you finish customizing your phone, you get to feel proud of your work,” said Emily Lin ’26.
Lin customizes her home screen with an app called MD Widgets, allowing her to individually adjust the look of each app and add additional photos to her liking. Apps like these gained popularity through social media, often found in pop-up ads.

Among Gen Z, roughly 98% have a smartphone and in 2023 a reported 90% of Gen Z adults between 18 and 24 were noted to have social media. Through apps like Instagram and TikTok, more phone users have come across new inspiration when it comes to decorating their phones. In the past year, I have seen dozens of videos advertising tourist locations, small businesses, apps, and tips they have come across to customize their phones. With its neverending advertisements and short-form content, social media’s impact is undeniable.
Among many of the tourist locations mentioned are DIY phone case cafes, which rose in popularity in South Korea. These shops allow visitors to personalize a new clear phone case with a silicone glue-like substance and a piping tip, similar to decorating a cake. Before the silicone is completely set, visitors can use up the charms and beads at their disposal to customize the case to their liking.
As for other exterior decorations, many choose to add key chains and glue 3D figurines onto their cases. Among these figurines are Sonny Angels. Sonny Angels are 3-inch-tall “little angel boy” dolls that come with all sorts of headgear. The Sonny Angel Hipper, a variation of the doll that came out in the past few years, comes in a different position and is specially designed to fit on a phone case cover, watching over its owner as they go about their day-to-day. The Sonny Angel Hipper has inspired many to use other types of figurines in the same way.
There are so many different ways to personalize your phone whether they are Sonny Angels, key chains, stickers, custom widgets, or even a MetroCard behind your clear phone case.
The next question then, is how people balance the aesthetics and the functionality of their phones. Much like Lin’s app, I have one called Color Widgets. When my sibling introduced the app to me three years ago, I was amazed, to say the least. I’d been on a mission to find something to customize in all of my devices and possessions.
But the app wasn’t without its downsides, I quickly realized how time-consuming it was. It took me hours to change each app icon one by one, not including the time it took to try out different colors and patterns for each icon and especially how long it took to delete each original app individually. Since I, like many others, struggle to identify things without apparent distinctions, it became difficult for me to find my apps. After this point, many of my apps lost their use.
As I have gone further into my high school career over these past few years, it has also become more of a time cost in order to change each new app into the same pattern. Over this time, I have developed a collection of a few new apps that are bright and colorful but have not yet been converted as their earlier counterparts had. Nevertheless, I will continue to keep them as they are. Instead of a large collection of overwhelming colorful apps, there are many brown ones and a few anomalies stirred into the mix.
Every individual has their own preferences; those who choose not to decorate their phone as extremely as others may do so for a variety of reasons, based on personal preference and what they consider the use of their phone to be are among these factors.
Ultimately, customizing your phone is about your priorities and creativity. As we navigate through a developing digital environment and our phones become an attachment of ourselves, they begin to adopt snippets of our identities and preferences, whether or not this is intentional.
The relationship that exists between people and their phones today is extremely unique. The average American uses their phone for roughly four hours a day and uses it for calling, texting, entertainment, and work. All of these critical functions piled together, amount to a relationship and, at times, an attachment. Precious hours of our day are spent on this small device that we carry around with us everywhere.