Presenter and media strategist, Max Stossel, delivered a presentation on the effects of social media on a teenager’s brain on Sept. 27, 2023. Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and many other social media platforms were mentioned, most of which students responded by raising their hands that they use the platforms. 

“If you were to tell us 100 years ago that we could have face-to-face conversations across oceans, our ancestors would have had their minds blown,” Stossel said during his presentation. 

When speaking about the effects of major social media apps on the emotional and mental health of everyone, Stossel made multiple points using statistics. After working for multinational brands and companies as a media strategist, he has found many statistics on the impacts of social media.

“Anyone who was using these apps three times less [than others] were feeling happier about their usage compared to those who use it two to three times more,” Stossel said. 

Stossel made points specifically about high school students, and how their use of social media can negatively affect their relationships, grades, and overall life. When it came to points like this, Stossel provided time for students to turn and talk amongst each other, discussing what impacts these apps have had on their own mentality. 

“I’m willing to bet that every single one of you has at least one app on your phone that you know is either terrible for your mental health, or is a huge time waste,” Stossel said. 

Stossel provided students then with a chance to take out their phones and delete any of those apps that either contributed to their mental health in a negative way, or was simply a time waste. Of apps deleted, TikTok held the majority. 

Stossel continues to provide speeches like this throughout the country, as well as performing TEDTalks. Many of these can be found online. All of his speeches have surrounded the topic of mental health and social media usage, leaning towards the teenage audience. Stossel does all he can to teach teens about the e