The Battle for Your Time: Exposing the Costs of Social Media | Dino Ambrosi | TEDxLagunaBlancaSchool
Summary
TLDRThe speaker analyzes how the average 18-year-old today will spend their remaining free time and finds that most will spend 93% of it staring at screens. This has negative impacts on mental health, cognition, attention spans, and personal growth. Social media platforms are designed to capture as much of users' time and data as possible to sell to advertisers. The speaker urges the audience to consciously limit screen time and invest their precious free time into pursuing their passions, relationships, and personal growth.
Takeaways
- 😟 We have less free time in our lives than we think due to obligations like work, chores, etc.
- 😴 Over a third of our lifetime is spent sleeping
- 📱 The average 18-year old spends over 90% of their remaining free time looking at screens
- 😥 Excessive screen time is linked to mental health issues and impaired cognition
- 🤔 Social media platforms influence our beliefs and worldviews based on how they are designed
- 📈 Social media companies profit by maximizing the time users spend on their platforms
- 🤑 Users pay for 'free' social media with their time and attention rather than money
- 💰 Most people drastically overpay in time for the value they get from social media
- 🔍 It's important to assess the actual value provided by social platforms
- ⏰ Your free time is extremely valuable - be mindful of how you spend it
Q & A
What does the visualization at the beginning represent?
-It represents an adult life in months assuming a life expectancy of 90 years. It shows how much time is spent on various activities like sleeping, school, work, chores etc.
What percentage of free time is the average 18 year old spending looking at screens?
-93 percent according to the data presented in the script.
What are some of the negative impacts of excessive screen time?
-Depression, anxiety, impaired cognition and attention, negative messaging from social media platforms.
How do social media platforms make money if they are free to use?
-They monetize user data and time. They show users targeted ads and influence behavior to benefit advertisers.
What is the opportunity cost of spending too much time on social media?
-The time could have been better invested in pursuing passions, spending time with loved ones, travel, leaving a mark etc.
What is the central message of the script?
-We are drastically overpaying for social media with our time and need to use it in moderation to live meaningful lives.
What is the thought experiment presented regarding paying for social media?
-Considering how much time is spent on social media, users would actually be paying over $1000 a month for some platforms if charged based on an hourly rate.
How can social media provide value if used properly?
-It can foster relationships, introduce new ideas, enable collaboration and even spark social movements.
What two key questions does the speaker recommend asking regarding social media use?
-What value do these services provide and how much of your time is that value worth?
What is the speaker's recommendation regarding managing free time?
-Don't give your valuable free time away for free. Invest it consciously in meaningful activities instead of mindless scrolling.
Outlines
😲 Life's Duration and Time Allocation
This paragraph examines how humans spend our precious limited lifespans; highlighting that the average 18 year old spends 93% of their remaining free time staring at screens. It explores the opportunity cost of this screen time and the developmental consequences.
😤 Social Media's Negative Influence
This paragraph analyzes how social media platforms are designed to monetize users' attention, and compares their inherent messages/values to past communication technologies. It argues these messages can negatively impact beliefs, worldviews, relationships and cognition.
😃 Using Social Media in Moderation
This concluding paragraph acknowledges social media's potential value, but urges moderation in usage. It argues we should consciously evaluate the value provided by these platforms relative to the time investment required, to avoid missing out on living.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡screen time
💡attention
💡opportunity cost
💡investment
💡incentives
💡perspectives
💡fomo
💡moderation
💡well-being
💡free time
Highlights
The dots on this screen represent an adult life in months assuming a life expectancy of 90.
About a third of that time is going to be spent sleeping.
On average, 18 will be spent driving, 36 cooking and eating, 36 doing chores and errands, and about 27 in the bathroom.
That leaves you with 334 months optimistically for everything else - this is where you pursue your passions and travel the world.
What you do with your time will literally determine the kind of person you become - the body, mind and character you will have in the future.
The average 18 year old in the US is on pace to spend 93% of their remaining free time looking at a screen.
Over 26 years of screen time would do to you - it's linked to mental health issues and cognitive consequences.
Social media platforms carry messages that affect what we believe - they influence how we see ourselves and the world.
The opportunity cost of this screen time is impossible to calculate.
There is a difference between how much time we say our screens are worth and how much time we give them - by design to increase engagement.
You are the product that social media sells - they profit by helping advertisers change your behavior.
Social media is free because you pay for it with your time - their profit is directly linked to how long they can get you to scroll.
Most of us are drastically overpaying for social media.
Figure out what value social media provides and how much of your time that value is worth.
Free time is your most valuable resource - do not give it away for free.
Transcripts
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
by providing space for constant
Evolution we can all transform how we
view ourselves and the world around us
bear with me everybody I'm going to
start off today on a little bit of a
heavy note but I promise things will
lighten up
the dots on this screen represent an
adult life in months assuming a life
expectancy of 90.
so if you're 18 years old right now
this is an optimistic estimate
of the months that you have left
take a second to take that in
probably not as many as you would expect
and I'm sorry to say that it does get
worse
because about a third of that time is
going to be spent sleeping
on average
126 of those months we'll go to school
and your career
about 18 will be spent driving
36 cooking and eating
36 doing chores and errands
and about 27 in the bathroom and taking
care of personal hygiene
so that leaves you with
334 months
optimistically
for everything else
so this is where you tick the boxes on
your bucket list
this is where you pursue your passions
and travel the world
and leave your mark
how you spend this time
is going to determine the quality of
your life
but this time isn't just something that
you spend it's also something that you
invest
because what you do with it will quite
literally determine the kind of person
you become
the body mind and character that you
will have in the future are being
actively shaped by how you choose to use
your time today
so take a second and ask yourself
what do you want to do with that free
time
what things do you want to do that you
haven't done
who do you want to spend that time with
what is worth investing it in
now I would be willing to bet that
scrolling through tick tock
binge watching Netflix
and playing video games probably did not
come to mind
but today
the average 18 year old in the United
States is on Pace to spend
93 percent of their remaining free time
looking at a screen
that is not counting time
for school
so wrap your head around
how sad that is
imagine getting to the age of 90.
seeing this visualization of how you
spent all your time after the age of 18.
and thinking about all the things you
could have done
that you did not do because you got
distracted
and I also want you to ask yourself
what do you think over 26 years of
screen time
would do to you
what is that an investment in
how would it change you
it's well established that there's a
link between High screen time and mental
health issues such as depression and
anxiety
but recently we've started to unveil the
cognitive consequences of excessive Tech
use as well
when we're staring at our screens we are
constantly switching our attention
between different pieces of information
the average Tick Tock is about 15
seconds long
and over 55 percent of web pages are
viewed for 15 seconds or less
and if you're switching your attention
every 15 seconds
for an average of 8 hours and 39 minutes
a day
you are training yourself to become
chronically distracted
think about what that will do to your
career
to your relationships
and to your ability to pursue the things
that matter most to you
unfortunately
the consequences of screen time are not
limited to our mental health and our
cognition
because every social media platform
carries a message that affects what we
believe
they influence the way we see ourselves
and the way we see the world purely
based on how they are designed
inherently says that your worth is
largely defined by what you look like
and what you do on vacations
it compels you
to capture all the most meaningful
moments of your life on camera and share
them with your entire social network
and it implicitly says
that it's more valuable to have a
thousand people that will give you
transient social approval then a few
that deeply care about you even when
it's not your best day
Snapchat inherently says that the
quality of our relationships is best
measured by the frequency of our
communication
regardless of what we're actually saying
you get a point added to your Snapchat
streak even if you just send a picture
of the side of your face with the
caption streaks
says that anything worth saying can and
should be reduced to an arbitrary number
of characters
it says that the world is black and
white
that it's more important to be updated
about everything than deeply informed
about anything
and when you start to compare the
messages these platforms are sending
with those of Technologies from the past
you begin to get a sense of what we
might be losing
because the inherent structure of a book
says that the world is complex and it
takes time to understand
it compels us to walk in the shoes of
other people and see things from their
perspective with context
and it forces us to focus on one train
of thought for an extended period of
time which nurtures our attention
and the letter tells us that our
communication doesn't need to be
frequent
it just needs to be deep
so when you factor all that in
it quickly becomes clear that the
opportunity cost of this screen time is
impossible to calculate
and I have never shown this
visualization to anyone that actually
wants to spend 93 percent of their
remaining free time staring at a screen
so there is a stark difference
between how much time we say our screens
are worth
and how much time we actually give them
and it is critical to realize that is
not an accident
that is by Design
it's a consequence of a business model
that has incentives which are
fundamentally misaligned with your
well-being
because you are the product
that social media sells
these services are free because they are
monetizing you
they profit by helping advertisers
change your future Behavior
whether that be where you spend your
time how you spend your money or even
who you vote for
in order to do that they have to do two
things
they need to figure out which ads are
going to influence you by collecting as
much data about you as they possibly can
and then they need to show you as many
of those ads as possible
so social media is free because you pay
for it with your time
their profit is directly linked to how
long they can get you to scroll
and every social media platform
is in a battle with each other to
capture as much of your free time as
possible
so let's run a thought experiment
I want you to ask yourself
how much would you pay
for your favorite social media platform
if it charged you a monthly subscription
fee
so pick the app that you use the most
and raise your hand if you would pay at
least five dollars a month
okay how about ten dollars a month
20.
I'm doing don't see any hands anymore
well let's do a quick calculation to
figure out how much we're effectively
paying for an app like tick tock
we'll assume that you value your time at
a rate of 20 per hour
and you're spending two hours a day on
the platform
or 30 days in a month so you're
effectively paying twelve hundred
dollars per month for tick tock
so when you start to do this kind of
analysis it quickly becomes clear that
most of us are drastically overpaying
for social media
my ask of you is this
figure out what it means for you to get
a good deal out of social media
platforms
in order to do that you have to do two
things
you have to ask yourself what value do
these Services provide
and second you have to ask how much of
your time is that value worth
now I want to be clear that I am not
saying social media is without value
it can be an incredibly powerful tool it
can foster relationships it can
introduce you to new ideas it can even
spark social movements but we need to
learn to use it in moderation
don't let yourself get to the age of 90.
only to look back on your life and
realize that while you were trying to
avoid fomo
you actually missed out on living
that free time is your most valuable
resource
do not give it away for free
thank you
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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