WEBVTT

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[no audio yet]

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[applause]

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Social media is a drug,

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and I, like so many people today,
am totally addicted.

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I'm addicted to scrolling.

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I'm addicted to making every account
on every social media site look perfect.

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I'm addicted to liking, to commenting,

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to seeing photos of random celebrities,
to seeing drama of random celebrities,

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and to refreshing the same page
over and over again.

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And with every drug comes a high--

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a moment when one feels 
they're on top of the world

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and nothing can stop them...

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until everything just comes
crashing down again.

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For me, even if the picture I've posted
looks nothing like me or isn't real at all,

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when the likes and the comments
start pouring in, that's the high.

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I feel people MUST like me,
my self-esteem goes up,

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and I feel this temporary happiness
and this temporary joy...

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until a couple hours pass by

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and the likes and the 
comments slow down,

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and me and my self-esteem 
just kind of go crashing down again.

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Social media can slash 
down your confidence

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and, in a fraction of a second, make you feel
like the loneliest person in the world.

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And this is a problem that persists now
within our modern society.

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With a couple of taps
on a smartphone,

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anyone can make any account
on almost any social media site

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and make up a whole life
that they don't even have.

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And as our technology gets
better every single day,

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it becomes easier and easier 
for people to post a picture

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where they look
20 pounds skinnier,

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to Photoshop themselves 
into a party they never went to,

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or in more extreme cases,
do things like this,

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where they put a toilet seat
up against a window

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so it looks like they're going
on an exotic vacation,

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even if they're actually not.

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This phenomenon is
particularly prominent

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in what is now known as 
"influencers" on social media.

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Influencers look like 
they live the amazing life.

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They are usually on any social media platform
(but specifically Instagram and YouTube)

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and have millions of
followers or subscribers.

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As I said before,
their life looks perfect

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and even companies use them to 
promote products for easy advertising.

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Looking at a social
media influencer

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can make the average person 
feel pretty insecure at times.

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An example of one of these 
influencers is James Charles

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[audience members cheer
and Sam chuckles]

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a 19-year-old makeup artist
with over 15 million followers.

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I'll admit it: He doesn't look bad
on any single photo on his Instagram.

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HIs makeup is always flawless

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and he never shows you the time or 
the money it takes to put all that on,

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so it looks quick and easy
and like he did it in a minute.

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Another one,
Hailey Baldwin Bieber.

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She has over 18.3 million followers
and she posts pictures of herself

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on the most beautiful 
beaches in the world.

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Spoiler alert: Nobody
wakes up and looks like that.

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It takes time, energy, money, 
and so many different resources.

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And I'm not a fancy influencer
but I'll admit, I do it myself.

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I mean, I know this talk is probably gonna
be shared somewhere on the internet,

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so I dressed up
better than I normally do.

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In real life, 
my hair is large and curly,

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I wear glasses, and I prefer to wear
big sweatshirts over anything else,

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but on every single 
photo on my Instagram,

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my hair has been straightened,
I have my contacts in, my makeup's done,

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and I'm dressed up 
far better than I do regularly.

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Me, influencers, 
and so many other people now

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only put on Instagram what 
we want other people to see.

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When you're scrolling
through Instagram,

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you only see what the Instagrammer
has specifically designed,

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specific moments in their time

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when they're looking happy
and they're dressed up

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and no one has to see 
any other part of their life.

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According to sociologist Julia Albright 
from University of Southern California,

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"People's persona online may be
much more fabulous, much more exciting

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than the everyday life
that they're leading."

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And this isn't a problem 
just for teenagers anymore.

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I mean, my grandparents 
have Facebook.

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I was born in 2001 on this weird,
Generation Z/Millennial cusp,

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and I'll find that I spend hours
on Instagram and Snapchat

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and just end up 
feeling sorry for myself.

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I wonder why people I haven't 
even spoken to in years

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look like they have their 
entire life together and I don't.

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I wonder why it looks like 
everyone's having the best time ever,

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and with these photos quite 
literally in my face all the time,

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it's so easy to wonder: 
"Why am I not that pretty?"

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"Why am I not that skinny?" or 
"Why am I not that popular or cool?"

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I had a conversation with 
a teacher of mine, as well,

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a millennial, who says one of the worst parts 
about social media is going onto Facebook

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and seeing people she used to go to high 
school with now raising their own families.

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This makes her wonder:
Is she raising her family right?

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And how can she make
her son just as good

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or even better than every single
other kid she sees on Facebook?

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And I've seen it in my
little sister too, Generation Z.

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I see her swiping
through Snapchat,

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wondering how it looks like every 
other middle schooler in the world

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is the most secure
person in the world.

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(We all know that's 
probably not true.)

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Although social media 
can make us so lonely,

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it's so easy to feel alone when it looks 
like every other person has it together

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and you feel like you don't.

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So it shouldn't take any big scientific 
discovery to promote the claim

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that social media has detrimental
effects on our mental health,

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but scientists have done the study
and it has proven true.

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Melissa G. Hunt from University 
of Pennsylvania stated

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that using less social media
than you normally do would lead

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to significant decreases in 
both depression and loneliness.

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And George Aalbers from 
University of Amsterdam stated:

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"...passive media use... 
co-occurred

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with a loss of interest, concentration 
problems, fatigue, and loneliness."

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So what do we do?

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We can't just avoid social media.
It's everywhere.

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It's on our news, it's in our schools, 
it's in our homes, it's in our workplaces.

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It's impossible to just forget about it,

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but it has given us a huge
advantage in some ways.

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We have the ability to communicate
more than ever before, and that's amazing.

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I'm about to go to college

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and I've talked with people
from all around the world

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that I'll be going to 
school with next year,

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and I've talked with my 
roommate so many times.

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When my parents went to college,

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they had no idea who they'd 
be living with for the next year.

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And my TED Talks from the past two years
have been put on YouTube,

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and my message about mental health has
spread to people who I will never know.

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So in the words of Stan Lee and
his favorite comic book, "Spiderman,"

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"With great power 
comes great responsibility."

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Social media has given
us an amazing advantage

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to communicate, to share ideas, to bring 
people from all around the word together;

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but it has also made it easier for people
to fake their lives, fake a personality,

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and for us to become more insecure.

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And going back to the Instagram influencers,
it's hard sometimes to just remind ourselves

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that not everyone is gonna 
look like their favorite celebrity.

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Jameela Jamil, an actress known 
for the NBC show "The Good Place"

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has now started a 
campaign called "I Weigh."

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The purpose of her campaign is 
to call out and show celebrities

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and point out to regular people

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that celebrities and influencers have 
amazing resources to some of the best food,

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the best personal trainers, the best gyms, 
and the best magazine editors in the world.

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So no wonder they look better
than the average person.

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Jamil has also called out celebrities who 
are now using their fans' weight insecurities

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to sell diet pills so everyone 
can look just as good as they do.

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Jamil has become the beginning 
of an amazing campaign

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to make us feel better
in our bodies

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and NOT to compare ourselves with every
single person we see on the internet.

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And sometimes, when
you're just at your worst,

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it's better just to delete 
the apps off your phone.

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Sometimes, as I said, 
when I'm feeling my worst,

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I just delete the apps off my phone.

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I don't delete the accounts necessarily,
but without the apps physically there,

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there's nothing for me to be 
just checking throughout the day.

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And usually I can go 
for weeks at a time

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until I feel comfortable enough
that I can re-download it

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and it won't affect my
mental health so much.

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So I know it's hard, 
but I ask all of you:

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Take one day, just delete 
the apps off your phone,

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whatever it is (Instagram, Snapchat, 
Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, MySpace).

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Whatever it is, delete it for one day,

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and I promise that it'll be like a 
huge weight taken off your chest.

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And who knows, you may find

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that you have more time 
to do things you like,

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like making music, dancing, 
or volunteering with kids.

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So if there's one message
that you take from this talk,

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it's [that] I hope you know
that you are not defined

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by the amount of likes and comments
on your posts on social media.

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Social media is not real, and no way can 
a single account on a social media website

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encapsulate the entire brilliant personality
of a single human being. Thank you.

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[cheers and applause]