Now we have age restrictions on alcohol,
we have age restrictions on tobacco and we have age restrictions on gambling,
but we have no age restrictions on social media and cell phones.
It's as if an entire generation who are going through adolescence,
their parents have thrown open the liquor cabinet and said
"try the vodka, it'll help you get through the teenage years."
We know that we get a hit of dopamine when we engage with social media.
When our phones go buzz, bing, flash or beep.
That's why if you're feeling a little bit down, you pull out your phone
and you send 10 texts to 10 friends you know "hi, hi, hi, hi, hi..."
and you hope that somebody texts you back, because when they do it feels good.
There are other things that release dopamine, alcohol, nicotine, gambling, all release dopamine.
It's why they feel good and almost all addictions are dopamine based addictions.
We also know that almost all alcoholics discovered alcohol when they were teenagers.
You see, when we're very, very young,
the only approval we need is the approval of our parents.
Then when we go through adolescence, we make this transition
where we now need the approval of our peers,
very frustrating for our parents, very important for us,
it allows us to acculturate outside of our immediate families into the broader tribe.
It is a time of high stress and high anxiety, and we're supposed to learn
to rely on our friends.
Some people, quite by accident, discover alcohol and the numbing effects of dopamine.
And unfortunately, that connection becomes hardwired.
And then for the rest of their lives, every time they face significant stress,
they don't turn to a person, they turn to the bottle.
Now, as I said before, we know that social media and cell phones release dopamine.
Now we have age restrictions on alcohol,
we have age restrictions on tobacco and we have age restrictions on gambling,
but we have no age restrictions on social media and cell phones.
It's as if an entire generation who are going through adolescence,
their parents have thrown open the liquor cabinet and said
"try the vodka, it'll help you get through the teenage years."
That's what social media and cell phones do.
So, unfortunately, for too many people that connection is becoming hardwired.
And as they grow up, when they face significant stress in their lives,
instead of learning to turn to a person, they turn to a device.
Where we seek solace in social media.
Where we'll check an Instagram post, how many likes we're getting.
We'll check, we'll check, and we'll check...
And sometimes our own self-worth comes from how many followers we have,
it can become devastating to us when somebody unfollows us.
The only way that we stand away from stress when we face it.
In other words, an entire generation is growing up having not practiced
or learned coping mechanisms for stress.
This is very, very serious for social animals that need each other.
Where we haven't learned those skills.
And it's even worse, because if you want to go on a date,
you don't have to learn to be like, "heeeeeey..."
You just swipe right. You just got a date.
You can have four dates in an evening.
And if you don't like the person,
you don't have to learn to say no when you mean yes, and yes when you mean no,
you just swipe left. It's done.
In other words, the social skills aren't developing.
And so, there's an entire generation that's growing up with lower self-confidence
going into a workforce, having their self image shattered,
not knowing necessarily how to deal with all the stress that they're facing of growing up
and starting in a career and finding out where you fit and all of that good stuff,
and instead of turning to a person we're turning to devices.