Social media isn't bad: you're just using it wrong | Eva Amin | TEDxCherryCreekWomen — Transcript

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1. 0:00Transcriber: Phan Thanh Hang Reviewer: Zsófia Herczeg
2. 0:19The other day, I was scrolling through Instagram,
3. 0:23and I come across this post that says social media is bad.
4. 0:27So I think to myself,
5. 0:29Hmm, I’m looking at a post about how posts are bad.
6. 0:32(Laughter)
7. 0:34Oh, but that's not even the best part.
8. 0:35The best part is I click on it, and the caption says,
9. 0:39“Save this for later as a reminder.”
10. 0:42So basically, they want me to get off social media
11. 0:46but to get back on so I can reread
12. 0:49why I shouldn’t have been on in the first place.
13. 0:51(Laughter)
14. 0:54This got me thinking,
15. 0:55and I realized that it’s so often taught that social media is this horrible thing.
16. 1:00In fact, at the beginning of each school year,
17. 1:03most high school students are sat in a safety assembly.
18. 1:06And part of the safety assembly talks about safety on social media.
19. 1:10They tell you how you’re going to get catfished or kidnapped.
20. 1:13But they stop there.
21. 1:15They don’t tell you how you can use it in a safe and beneficial way.
22. 1:18And unfortunately, those are very real things
23. 1:20and do happen way more than it should.
24. 1:23But the way to stop that is to teach teens how to use it in a beneficial way.
25. 1:28You know, I think a lot of people don’t realize the true impact
26. 1:31that social media has on us.
27. 1:34In fact, I didn’t realize the true impact
28. 1:36until one day my English teacher, she said,
29. 1:39“Class, what is the purpose of children’s books?”
30. 1:43So I thought to myself,
31. 1:44OK. Well, there’s multiple different reasons for children’s books.
32. 1:48But one of the biggest ones is to teach children lessons
33. 1:51without them realizing that they’re learning.
34. 1:54Looking back, I learned not to take food from strangers
35. 1:57because Snow White ate a poisonous apple.
36. 2:00See, back then, it was children’s books.
37. 2:03But it’s no longer just children’s books.
38. 2:05It’s all the content we’re choosing to surround ourselves with:
39. 2:08TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, all of it.
40. 2:12I’m currently reading this book.
41. 2:13It’s called “The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down.”
42. 2:18And the author of this book, they say
43. 2:20the world is neither good nor bad.
44. 2:23It’s just there.
45. 2:26And the way we perceive the world is based on our individual experiences.
46. 2:30So let’s think about that from a social media standpoint.
47. 2:34There are 7 billion people in this world.
48. 2:37And in our day-to-day lives, we don’t even interact with 1% -
49. 2:41in fact, it’s far less than 1%.
50. 2:43So the way we learn about life outside of just our little bubble
51. 2:46is do things like traveling.
52. 2:48But unfortunately, we can’t always be traveling.
53. 2:51So another primary way we do this is through social media.
54. 2:55Therefore, if your social media is filled with drama, toxicity
55. 2:59and things that make you feel bad about yourself,
56. 3:02naturally, you’re going to view the world as more of a negative place.
57. 3:07Whereas, if your social media is filled with positivity
58. 3:09and things that align with your goals,
59. 3:11you're going to view the world as more of a positive place.
60. 3:15See, the problem isn't social media.
61. 3:17The problem is how you’re choosing to use it.
62. 3:21I hear a lot of stories about people
63. 3:23having these bad experiences on social media,
64. 3:25and I’ve had social media for a while now.
65. 3:28And honestly, the only scary thing on my Instagram
66. 3:31is when I look at my archived posts
67. 3:33and see what I used to post in middle school.
68. 3:36(Laughter)
69. 3:37But other than that, it’s been a pretty positive experience.
70. 3:41So what’s my secret?
71. 3:43How do I keep my social media this positive, uplifting place?
72. 3:48Well, there's four groups of people you should be following.
73. 3:52The first: friends, family and positive acquaintances.
74. 3:57Now, I truly mean positive, because so often I’ll hear someone say,
75. 4:01“I don’t like this person. They’re so mean to me.”
76. 4:04But then, you’ll go on their Instagram and guess who they’re following -
77. 4:07that person who’s so mean to them.
78. 4:10Why surround yourself with that toxic energy
79. 4:12if you have the choice to simply not?
80. 4:17The second group:
81. 4:19people who align with your goals.
82. 4:21Now for me, my future goal is to create my own business one day
83. 4:25so the types of people I follow
84. 4:26are people who have started their own businesses.
85. 4:29People who give financial advice or investing advice
86. 4:31or just business in general.
87. 4:33Because the easiest way to achieve your goal
88. 4:37is to ask someone or watch someone who’s already done it.
89. 4:42The third group: people who inspire you.
90. 4:45Now, this is different from people who align with your goals.
91. 4:48I was a gymnast off and on for about 12 years.
92. 4:51I wanted to go to the Olympics.
93. 4:52I truly thought I was going to go to the Olympics.
94. 4:55In fact, I used to write “Dear Future Me’s” to myself,
95. 4:57and I was reading them a few weeks ago, and all of them started with:
96. 5:01“Dear Future Me, are you in the Olympics yet?”
97. 5:04Unfortunately not.
98. 5:06But my point is, at the time, going to the Olympics was my goal.
99. 5:10So the types of people I would follow
100. 5:11were people like Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas.
101. 5:15However, going to the Olympics is no longer my goal.
102. 5:18Yet, I never unfollowed those people because they still inspire me.
103. 5:23The fourth group:
104. 5:25entertainers.
105. 5:27Now, of course, social media is an entertainment platform.
106. 5:29And I'm not telling you not to use it as one.
107. 5:31I’m just telling you to be mindful
108. 5:33of the types of entertainment you’re consuming.
109. 5:36A great example of positive entertainment are your favorite artists,
110. 5:40people like Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, whoever it may be.
111. 5:44As long as what they’re posting makes you feel good about yourself.
112. 5:48See when you start to categorize your following into these four groups,
113. 5:53not only are you going to be happier,
114. 5:55but opportunities are also going to start to come to you.
115. 5:58Back in May, I came across this ad on Instagram.
116. 6:02It was for this program called BETA Camp.
117. 6:04And BETA Camp advertised themself to be the six-week program
118. 6:07where they challenge teens to create a revenue-generating startup
119. 6:11with the help of business mentors.
120. 6:13Now, this sounded perfect for me,
121. 6:14but of course, at first, I was skeptical,
122. 6:16as you should be with ads you see on social media
123. 6:19because a lot of the time they’re going to be fake.
124. 6:22But I was safe about it.
125. 6:23I looked at their Instagram;
126. 6:24I looked at their website and turns out it was real.
127. 6:27And I successfully created a revenue-generating startup
128. 6:30in just six weeks.
129. 6:31Now, was it good?
130. 6:33Absolutely not.
131. 6:35(Laughter)
132. 6:36Did I make money? Yes.
133. 6:38So I’d call that a win.
134. 6:39But through that program,
135. 6:41I was then offered a fellowship to continue this journey
136. 6:44throughout the school year.
137. 6:46Through that fellowship, I was able to take two additional classes:
138. 6:49one about creating a platform and one about investing.
139. 6:53So my point is,
140. 6:55just because my social media reflects my goals,
141. 6:58I was given opportunities that align with those goals.
142. 7:02Now, how does this work?
143. 7:03Well, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, whatever it may be,
144. 7:07all these social medias love making money.
145. 7:10How do they do this?
146. 7:11They put things on your feed based on what you’ve interacted with in the past
147. 7:15or based on the people you follow.
148. 7:17So follow positive people, follow people who align with your goals.
149. 7:22Now, before you all leave today I have two asks.
150. 7:25My first ask is to start being mindful of the types of content you’re consuming.
151. 7:31Start welcoming the positivity and blocking out the negativity.
152. 7:35And my second ask:
153. 7:37Stop participating in spreading this idea that social media is this horrible thing.
154. 7:42Instead, educate on the dangers
155. 7:44while encouraging people to use it in a positive way.
156. 7:48Now, I've said a lot today.
157. 7:50So to sum up everything I've said,
158. 7:52I’ll leave you all with one of my favorite quotes.
159. 7:55It goes a little like this:
160. 7:58“Nothing of me is original.
161. 8:00I’m a combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”
162. 8:03Now, that's a beautiful quote, but I'd like to add on to it.
163. 8:07I’d like to say,
164. 8:09Nothing of me is original.
165. 8:11I’m a combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known
166. 8:14and the content I’ve surrounded myself with.
167. 8:17Thank you.
168. 8:18(Applause) (Cheering)