raise your hand if you have social media
wow that's almost everybody now raise
your hand if you have ever looked at
your feed and felt left out or lonely
yeah I know quite a bit well you're not
alone many people especially teenagers
struggle with feelings of loneliness due
to social media usage a study published
by the University of Pittsburgh found
that people who use social media heavily
which is two hours or more a day
reported feeling isolated two times more
than the people who only use social
media for half an hour a day or less and
depression can stem from these feelings
of loneliness because of social media
teenage depression is at an all-time
high in fact a study published in the
Journal of abnormal psychology said that
teenage depression has risen almost 60
percent between the years 2009 and 2017
this directly correlates with the rise
in social media and with this rise in
depression comes a rise in suicide
suicide is now the second leading cause
of death in ages 10 to 24 years old
globally right behind accidents such as
car crashes but enough of the harrowing
statistics I have two true stories let
me begin with Rebecca's Rebecca an
Agnello was a student at Grand Island
High School there she played violin in
her school orchestra and she was a
member of the Grand Island Ski Club she
was a very caring girl she loved
babysitting and taking care of her pet
rabbit when she wasn't in school or
taking part of the many clubs she was in
she loved spending time with her friends
and family but on December 20th 2015 she
unexpectedly took her life she was only
14 years old when her father reflects on
her death he said that social media
definitely had a role he said that
social media creates false feelings of
closeness with others and that's how
Becca fell he said it was particularly
painful for Rebecca when people wouldn't
respond to her on social media my second
story is of Braden speed he was 18 when
he took his life last October he was a
senior at prosper high school his
parents described him as charming
athletic and sweet with the twinkling
smile and beautiful eyes he looked a
little younger than his age but his
demeanor was much more mature and
because of that he found a safe haven
and band where most of his friends were
seniors that was lost during his
sophomore year when most of his friends
graduated throughout the rest of high
school Braden would use social media as
a way to measure himself who had the
most followers likes and comments or
questions that mattered to him he would
spend hours on his phone looking at
pictures of his friends at parties that
he wasn't invited to that was hard on
him his struggle ultimately ended
because of his struggle with social
isolation and the depression that
stemmed from it unfortunately his
situation is all too common in fact in
one year almost 15 kids per every
100,000 will commit suicide
the constant interconnectedness of our
world can be both a bliss and a
nightmare when social media was
originally created it was meant to bring
us together but ironically it ended up
driving us apart this is because of one
misconception about social media that
it's an alternative to face-to-face
interactions in reality there's no
substitute to in-person interactions
this is because how someone acts on
social media is completely different
than how they would act in person this
phenomenon is called the online
disinhibition effect this is where
people are more confident online so they
post things that they normally wouldn't
say in person
a recent dispute among Gayle King Lisa
Leslie and CBS about Kobe Bryant is a
prime example basically Gayle King
was interviewing Lisa Leslie about her
friend Kobe Bryant and Bryant sexual
allegations came up
CBS posted a 30 second clip meant to
entice viewers to watch the full
interview this clip which was taken out
of context was only about King asking
Leslie about the allegations against
Bryant many got mad and Gayle King
received death threats and nasty
comments because of this one comment
that stuck out in particular was one
that said cowardly disrespectful and
classless Gayle King you aren't half the
human being Kobe Bryant was I think it's
safe to say that the person who
commented this would not have said this
to Gayle Kings face so the question
still remains how are we gonna solve
this ever-present social media issue
when asked researchers and psychologists
say that limiting our time spent on
these apps is the best way as a teenager
I realize it's very hard to follow that
advice in addition to trying to limit
our time on these apps we can also
reconsider the content of our posts
here's a few things we can change first
of all we want to try to avoid posting
exclusive posts a good rule of thumb is
to put yourself in your followers shoes
for example we shouldn't post pictures
we're only a select few were invited
don't get me wrong
taking pictures with friends is a great
way to preserve memories but posting
them online just reminds followers that
they weren't invited the only people who
need those photos were the people in
attendance secondly hate comments must
come to an end as mentioned before these
comments are easily recognized and quite
common for instance these types of
comments usually flare up around
elections this is because normally
civilized friends are insulting each
other on social media because their
political views differ here's a few
things we can do though we can post
inspiring public events like a concert a
sports event or even a TEDx speech we
can strive to post original ideas that
foster connectivity
based on shared interests these ideas
include how we can better help our world
ourselves and our community we can
Harbor positivity by posting wholesome
things such as one's plants animals
scenery inspiring objects books and
shows for instance I have a neighbor
that owns three cats whenever she post
pictures or videos of them it warms my
heart and it makes my day we need more
stuff like that on social media as I
mentioned before Braden's and Rebecca's
situation is all too common social media
users need to build people up instead of
tear them down the reason why I chose to
speak on this topic is because it hit
close to home in my school we had a
recent tragedy the boy who took his life
was a senior named Lance illipe his
friends recall him as always having a
smile on his face and they're being very
joyful and because of that nobody saw
how isolated he felt on many days I
wonder if Lance had the benefit of a
more mindful social media than he might
still be with us today so I ask all of
you to pause before you post thank you
[Applause]