Social Awakening Founder Max Stossel Speaks to Students about the Impact of Social Media

 

As a former social media strategist with an extensive background running social channels for multinational brands, Max provided a unique perspective on the role of technology in homes, school and society and engaged students in a dynamic discussion about the negative impact of social media on mental health and how to help manage that impact.

 

“One big thing I hope you take away from me being here is, with social media, what are you doing on purpose; what are you doing because you actually want to?” Stossel questioned the students. “And what kind of weird patterns and holes have you fallen into that you would never actually choose for yourself?”

 

Stossel provided perspective from his past roles in the industry and noted that students are fighting against people whose job it is to continue building these technologies in ways that increase daily social media usage. He followed with statistics demonstrating that people’s happiness directly correlates to their social media usage — those who use social media more, are less happy, and vice versa. 

 

“We often turn to our phones or social media in a moment of boredom, loneliness or anxiety,” Stossel said. “In those moments, figuring out what we actually want to do instead is really helpful for our lives … It might be as simple as calling a friend instead of scrolling through Instagram … you get to decide how you actually want to spend that moment.”

 

Stossel closed by reminding students that things they see on social media are often not real. He provided this through a shocking and impactful video of a content creator photoshopping a piece of pizza into an image of an attractive woman to show how easy digital manipulation is and how social media can exacerbate body image issues.

 

“Where I’m most concerned is … how this stuff starts to change the people that we are, how we see ourselves, how we see each other and how we see the world,” he said.

 

Following the presentation, students were able to ask questions and continue the discussion through a breakout session with Stossel.

 

Newark Academy’s Signature Speaker Series brings distinguished individuals from around the world to address the NA community, enriching students’ understanding and broadening their intellectual horizons.