Last March, Max Stossel from Social Awakening spoke to Catholic Central High School students about the dangers of social media. He will be hosting a follow-up Zoom Q&A session on December 5 at 6 pm EST for anyone who wants to ask questions or share their thoughts on the subject.  

Max is an award-winning artist, media strategist, and the founder of Social Awakening, an organization that brings attention to how social media affects young people’s productivity, self-worth, social lives, communication, focus, and mental health.  

He has an extensive background in social media and used to work for a company designed to send notifications to distract people. Now he offers programs that work with parents and kids on social media best practices, and how to diminish distractions and improve focus in learning environments.  

Over the past seven years, he has spoken with over 100,000 students, parents, and educators all over the world, teaching them about social media’s impact and creating programs that minimize this damage.  

During his presentation at CC titled “We’ve Been Sneaking Into Your Brains,” Max talked about how certain apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, can make the user feel unhappy after using them.  

He explained that it’s easy to manipulate and enhance photos on social media, contributing to negative body images, mental illnesses, and eating disorders among young people, especially women. He also talked about how addictive social media can be for teenagers.  

Max provided tips for turning off phone notifications that can distract us and impact our natural sleep cycle. He ended the presentation by asking students to take their phones out and discussing the one social media app they use the most with their neighbor. Then he invited them to delete the app on the spot.  

In addition to speaking with students, Max hosted an online session for parents that night where he shared tips on how parents can support their children on social media.  

Parents, educators, and students interested in attending Max’s live Q&A session on December 5 are asked to register for the event on the Social Awakening website.