On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Social Awakening founder Max Stossel came to Heschel to discuss the psychological impacts of social media. Social Awakening is an organization that strives to help youths succeed in our modern, chronically-online world.
Stossel, who used to work in the social media industry as a media strategist designing notifications to distract people and running social media accounts for large corporations, explained that apps such as Instagram and TikTok do not prioritize users’ wellbeing or mental health; instead, they aim to keep people scrolling as long as possible with the primary goal of making money.
Stossel also explained how these apps manipulate our psychological tendencies down to the most minute detail; for example, apps use notifications with the color red to instill a sense of urgency.
He highlighted that apps constantly send trivial notifications to encourage scrolling. Snapchat, for instance, alerts users when someone starts typing a message, whether or not the message is ever sent; users often rush to the app upon receiving this insignificant notification.
Stossel expanded beyond social media and said that dependence on and addiction to iPhones severely harm our attention spans and social skills. He displayed statistics suggesting that people are often unhappy while scrolling, yet they do it anyway; for some reason, a combination of FOMO and stress successfully urges millions of users to waste hours upon hours watching brain-rotting content.
Stossel also drew frightening connections between social media and gambling addictions, harping on the idea that gambling is illegal for minors, and both social media and gambling create unhealthy dopamine responses.
Junior Zachary Altman said, “It seemed like the whole student body was very engaged; this is a topic which really resonates with everyone.”
Many students have since made changes to their social media habits. Some deleted TikTok or Instagram and others downloaded an app called One Sec, which Stossel recommended to limit social media use.
Junior Rose Harnoy said, “I thought the way he presented this topic kept me very intrigued, and, since this talk, I downloaded the One Sec app and stopped using TikTok.” Harnoy continued, “the One Sec app makes it so when you try to open a certain app, the screen goes blank for a second. It shows you how many times you’ve opened the app that day and makes you take a long, deep breath, before asking you if you’d still like to go to the app. Most of the time, it’s like a wake-up call, and I choose to turn off my phone and go do something else.”
Senior Olivia Levine said, “I thought the program was really well done and kept people very engaged.” Levine continued, “Since the program, I’ve turned off most of my social media notifications.
Junior Caleb Creizman said, “I deleted Instagram during the programming.”
Even those who did not make any active changes to their lifestyle admit that Stossel’s presentation resonated with them deeply.
Junior Pierce Malter said, “…my relationship to my phone has become more conscious after Max Stossel came to talk to us. I haven’t deleted any apps or downloaded any new apps, but I definitely think what he said was very valuable.”