How to Get Rid of Your Technology Addiction | Maxx Viciedo | TEDxSaintAndrewsSchool

How to Get Rid of Your Technology Addiction | Maxx Viciedo | TEDxSaintAndrewsSchool



Imagine yourself at home, alone. What's the first thing you do with your time? If it's playing video games or scrolling through your social media feed, it's time for a change. In this talk, seventh-grader Maxx Viciedo explains how he chose to overcome an addiction to video games with hopes that you, too, can take back your power and be free of technology addiction. For people of all ages, technology is a big part of their life and seventh-grader Maxx Viciedo will be informing people about the addiction that it causes and its effects. Maxx Viciedo is a 13-year-old boy who enjoys hanging out with friends and playing tennis. He also likes playing video games with friends but knows too much can have a negative effect. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

[Applause] imagine yourself at home alone what's the first thing you do with your time i'm going to show you five different scenarios please clap if you do one of those options you can choose more than one be sincerely honest number one number two number three number four number five [Applause] the last slide being inside playing video games was definitely me all the time but now it's going outside and playing with my friends or starting i used to be addicted to video games but i'm not anymore and i'm going to show you how i overcame this addiction so that you can too let me take you back a couple of years have you ever played fortnite i'm not gonna lie i love that game ed wouldn't talk much else when i was in fifth grade this game played me like a fiddle instead of me playing it fortnite got me hooked like many other kids and the more i played the more i wanted to play which could be considered an addiction according to oxford medicine addiction involves craving for something intensely loss of control of its use and continuing involvement with it despite negative repercussions this definition pretty much described my relationship with technology i didn't notice i was addicted until i went over summer break all my friends were actively playing fortnite and i felt i was missing out so i played on my ipad a lot but this meant that i also missed out on making many memories with my family and in-person friends i had lots of fun but then school was about to start and i had a really tough decision to make play the game and continue my addiction or stop playing and wake up to reality i woke up and to convince you why you should too i'll show some studies that show just how addictive technology can be this technology that i'm talking about isn't google docs slides notes etc i'm talking about the most addictive technology playing video games watching tv and scrolling through social media excessive playing of video games affects your life in multiple ways including learning in school parenting science a guide for parents found that the more addicted you are the less focused you're in class which can cause you to slack off and get poor grades i know that this statement is true because it happened to me and maybe it's happening to you right now my grades were negatively impacted by my need to engage in technology and it made me not want to engage in other things like sports or outdoor activities however this might not be our fault according to reporter anthony cuthbertson of the independent fortnight hired psychologists to include addictive elements into the game to deliberately have a goal of getting users online for the maximum amount of time that's right fortnite programmers use a technique called state of the art behavioral psychology to keep you intensely hooked why did they do this well according to forbes article in 2019 fortnite generated 200 million a month in revenue no wonder they wanted you to play unfortunately technology addiction is not just about video games constantly i see students and friends using more and more hours of weekly screen time each week mostly on social media so social media is another big issue yeah i have snapping insta but it's different using the app then rather relying on it many kids depend on social media as their go-to app when they're bored this is where we all fall into the trap because as some video games social media is also addicting according to an article by harvard university researcher trevor haynes stated that positive cues on social media releases large doses of dopamine which is a chemical our brain naturally produces that allows us to feel pleasure every time we hear a ding or an incoming email message text or each like we get on tick tock or instagram gives us a dopamine hit but here's the thing about dopamine it doesn't simply create feelings of pleasure haynes stated that it motivates us to seek out more i mean think about that kids are getting small fixes of dopamine from technology during their entire day it's no wonder interest in our things like reading writing art nature sports or even conversations is winning we don't get the same fix or dopamine hit that we get from our technology because the pleasure found in other things does not provide that constant pleasure that technology does how sad is that no wonder we get bored so easily when screen time is taken away or god forbid we don't have a charger so you can see it's time to start getting more out of life and less out of our screens but how do you know if you're addicted according to cycom if you're constantly thinking about the past or future use you're not able to stay focused stay away or cut back and your moody are depressed when you're not using it then you're probably addicted i was so addicted that in the middle of class i would think about the next time i could play but now i'm free of that feeling so you may ask how did i start well the first thing is to talk to my parents about it i talked to my dad and he came up with a plan to help my goals and schedules yes you heard me right schedules and goals are one of the main ways to help curb your addiction creating schedules and following them is incredibly important because it enables you to organize your life in a way where you can manage it and feel in control of it make a list of things that you must be done before you can use technology you can check items off to show what is done and needs to be done which can make you feel accomplished you can add goals to your schedule which will help you focus more on them instead of having your addiction having your schedule written on paper or calendar will benefit you because it establishes a healthy routine and will show you what you have planned you can maybe include 30 minutes or an hour of down time in other words type time while my dad helped me plan a schedule that limited my screen time i also set regulations and time limits for myself every day i picked a random app such as tick-tock and lowered my screen time limit by one this may sound insane but the overall outcome has been great because now i expect to have less screen time and can focus more on outdoor activities like sports in fact this process possibly inspired me to develop an app that would allow other people to challenge themselves to limit their screen time slowly but efficiently my app will take away one minute each day from an app of your selection causing you to replace that time with a non-tech activity over time people will hopefully see changes in their addiction by noticing the amounts of time they spend on technology and other exploring other non-tech options in their lives so we all have two options we can choose to remain addicted to technology or we can choose to live life to its first i chose life i left my past behind and made my own future and you can't do i'm not saying you shouldn't ever be on technology i still play video games snap my friends and watch tv occasionally but now i do it after my work is done i'll never lay hand on my keyboard without getting my work done first or doing some kind of physical activity currently technology addition is not a clinical mental health diagnosis or at least not yet personally i believe that limited amounts of technology is not bad for you but too much of it can negatively alter your life so now you know how to ensure a positive relationship with technology create a schedule and stick to it set goals that you can achieve use a planner to plot your events during the day and own your tasks the key is not to do much too soon because then you are setting yourself up for failure think about it this way disconnecting from technology will only allow you the chance to better connect yourself with the world yes the internet seems to have all the power but it actually makes us powerless take back your power and take back your life thank you [Applause] you

#Rid #Technology #Addiction #Maxx #Viciedo #TEDxSaintAndrewsSchool

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