Chronically Online: The Epidemic of The Century | Alana Lintao | TEDxBayonne

[Music] what if I said you're experiencing a complex silent epidemic that's slowly killing your quality of life and it's because you're chronically online we live in a day and age where we consume videos of mass shootings babies walking for the first time domestic abuse cake decorating the benad overdose Challenge and more all within a few Scrolls and we don't even bat ey at that now research shows that the average social media user spends 6 hours and 58 minutes Online daily while Generation Z averages around 9 hours of screen time per day with this current trajectory

we're on track to be spending 31 years of Our Lives looking down at a phone so what's the outcome of this currently in a Columbia University study about news articles they discovered that 59% of news links that are shared on social media have never been read before 50 9% of people are retweeting news articles without ever reading it for themselves more than half of us are beginning to form opinions based on a summary a headline and even Instagram infographics another study found that 57% of adults who use social media as their primary source for political

information had very little political knowledge if social media continues to have these negative effects such as creating users who have low political knowledge we're on track to be seeing damaging effects not only in voting but also in forming opinions obtaining knowledge having a concept for deep thought and thinking for ourselves social media also encourages a sedentary lifestyle if you sit for 6 hours a day or more your risk of dying early jumps 19% those who sit around scrolling social media all day have a 112% increased risk of diabetes and a 90% increased risk of death

through cardiovascular events so what does this mean for my generation who's spending 9 hours a day on their phone or for half of gen Alpha who say their favorite toy is the iPhone this isn't just a surface level issue of oh people spend too much time on their phones there has been a complete fundamental shift in the way that we live our lives and we are completely blind to these changes because they happen so quietly so what are these changes there are three main themes that have contributed into creating this epidemic number one we're now

conditioned Our Lives revolve around technology number two our value systems have changed we have become obsessed with the validation of others overvalue others opinions and constantly crave instant gratification number three we Have No Boundaries or proper education on how to use technology education on social media use was simply never a thing and our generation was the first to fully grow up in this native digital environment so who was supposed to teach us so what if this problem isn't solved what does this mean for the future generations to come well the best predictor of future behavior

is past Behavior so let's say we pour gasoline on all the issues we're seeing right now what will we see in 2040 what values behaviors and and traits will be on display people enjoying being victimized depression and other mental illnesses will continue to be Aesthetics hard drugs will be glamorized and we have to ask are we giving ourselves serious medical issues without even realizing it by self diagnosing ourselves now why am I the source user trust when it comes to this issue I've seen these patterns evolve ever since I could remember and now witness them

at a global level a little bit about me I started posting content online when I was 5 years old for fun with my siblings started my first YouTube channel at 10 years old for makeup tutorials and when I turned 15 years old I really started hitting it big I never thought I would reach a point where I now have a million followers across my social media platforms and over three billion engagements never in my wildest dreams would I imagine I'd go into work with companies like Google meta Amazon and Nickelodeon evolving into having this perspective

has allowed me to see Trends and behaviors not many people could speak to and I feel compelled to speak to these things because if I don't who will I have so many stories but I'd like to share a personal story that opened my eyes to our new reality a majority of the content you consume on a regular basis isn't even real a few years ago I worked with one of the largest retailers in the world they reached out to me to be the face of their brand after a few emails discussing the image of me

they wanted to portray I was then instructed to edit three pimples onto my face in order to appear more marketable not to mention I've also had imperfections on my face and body edited and manipulated without my knowled for the sake of an ads performance so if even the authentic parts of social media are fabricated then what on social media isn't scripted edited and manipulated in a way to spark as many engagements as possible at the end of the day social media isn't going anywhere but it doesn't have to be this way I challenge you to

change the way you view and use social media despite social media being notorious for being toxic divisive and bad for our mental health it is completely up to you to either control it or let it control you so how do we position our social media usage in a way that serves us positively set healthy boundaries and limits for yourself as someone whose livelihood is predicated on social media performance if I can do it then so can you we should also begin to ask why more why do I feel the need to post this why am

I responding this way why do I need to spend five hours on Instagram and ignore all of my responsibilities we need to reassess and understand our value system and intent went online many of us have also lost sight of social media's intended purpose to be social research shows that those who are actively liking commenting and sharing content online are more likely to experience feelings of bonding and inclusiveness with others while passive users of social media are more likely to experience feelings of loneliness and depression naturally we tend to evaluate our own self-worth by comparing ourselves

to others and social media exacerbates this tendency so instead of of utilizing social media as a way to compare your life to others or stalk your ex use social media as a tool to reach out to Old Friends check on current ones and encourage those who may be struggling because I promise you your loved ones need your positive comments and encouragement way more than Kim Kardashian does social media is easily one of the greatest technological advances we have ever seen we've been given a space to connect with friends and family globally make new friends Network

and raise awareness on issues that are important to us it is up to each individual user to either weaponize it or use it as a healthy positive outlet what would your life look like if you reclaim those seven hours a day aimlessly scrolling on socials or even just five of those hours we only have about 16 hours in a day to chase our dreams yet we are unconsciously spending half of those hours in screen time Purgatory we need to begin living more than we consume we all know what we should be doing and it's time

to do it thank you