The Battle for Your Time: Exposing the Costs of Social Media | Dino Ambrosi | TEDxLagunaBlancaSchool

Summary

The 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

00:00

😲 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.

05:01

😤 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.

10:01

😃 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.

Keywords

💡screen time

Screen time refers to the amount of time spent looking at screens on electronic devices like phones, computers and TVs. It is a major theme in the video, which argues that young people today are spending too much time staring at screens. For example, it states that the average 18-year old spends 8 hours and 39 minutes per day looking at screens, not including time for school.

💡attention

Attention refers to a person's ability to focus on a specific task or stimuli. The video argues that excessive screen time is training young people's brains to be chronically distracted by rapidly switching between different information streams and social media feeds. It reduces their capacity for sustained focus and attention.

💡opportunity cost

The opportunity cost refers to what you sacrifice when choosing to spend time on one activity versus another. The main argument is that time spent scrolling social media comes at the opportunity cost of pursuing more meaningful activities like passions, relationships and personal growth.

💡investment

The concept of investment conveys that time should not just be spent but invested wisely towards becoming the type of person you want to be. The video urges young people to consider what their screen time is investing in - often depression, anxiety and distraction rather than meaningful personal growth.

💡incentives

Incentives refer to what motivates companies and drives their priorities. The argument made is that social media companies are incentivized to maximize user screen time instead of user wellbeing, because their profits come from advertising and data collection.

💡perspectives

Perspective refers to one's point of view. The video contrasts the perspectives and implicit messages carried by different technologies - social media feeds versus books. It argues social media narrows perspectives while books broaden understanding.

💡fomo

FOMO stands for 'fear of missing out' - the anxiety people feel from the constant fear they may be missing an experience someone else is having. The video urges people not to sacrifice living their own life while trying to avoid missing out on what others are doing.

💡moderation

Moderation refers to restrained and responsible use of something, avoiding excess. The speaker argues social media can have value but needs to be used in moderation rather than being allowed to dominate people's time and attention.

💡well-being

Well-being refers to positive physical, mental and emotional health. A core argument made is that social media's incentive structures fundamentally misalign with and even diminish users' personal well-being and happiness.

💡free time

Free time refers to discretionary time outside of obligations like work and school. The key message is that free time is extremely valuable and should be invested wisely rather than being given away excessively to social media.

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

Instagram

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

Twitter

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]