TikTok Is Killing Our Kids

If you’ve been following my updates, you know how I feel about TikTok.

First, the good stuff. TikTok’s algorithm has been and is by far the best in social media. There is no other app that learns quicker about what will keep a person engaging in videos on the app. They’ve done this so well that they might me the most influential media company on the planet, or at least the United States.

But, and this is a very large but, I believe that TikTok, owned by Chinese interests, is a security risk for the United States. Because of their influence, TikTok can easily turn sentiment whichever way they want. If China wants American citizens to feel any certain way about an issue, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to pull this off. Why do you think that TikTok has been spending tens of millions of dollars advertising the good things creators are doing on their platform? Why do you think TikTok has promised almost a half billion dollars to go to creators? They don’t need to do that. It’s called excellent public relations.

But, there are many who disagree with me about TikTok. My kids think I’m crazy, like my whole TikTok problem is a conspiracy theory.

Sadly, it’s real and it’s even worse than I thought.

TikTok knows their app is severely hurting kids, and they simply don’t care.

Confidential material was just released regarding TikTok communications as part of a two-year lawsuit by 14 US attorney generals. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok actively and maliciously had the intention of addicting children to the app while fully aware of the harmful effects.

According to NPR, partially redacted documents show TikTok executives “speaking candidly about a host of dangers for children.” Apparently, their own research says:

“Compulsive usage correlates with a slew of negative mental health effects like loss of analytical skills, memory formation, contextual thinking, conversational depth, empathy, and increased anxiety.”

Let me repeat this please.

And yes, you can become addicted to the app. Again, TikTok’s own research found that users can become addicted in just 35 minutes, or watching the equivalent of 260 eight second videos.

Amazing. In just 35 minutes on the app, your child will be addicted, which can quickly lead to loss of analytical skills, memory and increased anxiety, which as we know, has been leading to, according to many parents out there, suicides and death.

And the beat goes on. Sleep is negatively affected. School. Relationships with others.

But none of this has stopped TikTok from releasing more and more dangerous features.

Here’s the truth. TikTok is killing us. And they know it.

So now it’s up to you. What will you do about it?

A Small Request – I Could Use Your Help

My big cause for the past 20 years has been speech therapy for kids (and families) who cannot afford it.

You may know my story. My oldest was diagnosed on the autism spectrum and couldn’t speak in more than grunts by the age of three. Aggressive speech and play therapy helped them get to a point where they didn’t need a tutor by age eight. This year, they graduated from college with a degree in cybersecurity.

In 2007 my wife and I started fundraising for kids in similar positions who didn’t have the financial resources we did. In 2014, we started Orange Effect Foundation. We are proud to have over 400 speech therapy and speech technology grants out to children in 39 states.

We cannot do this without financial support from people like you.

Our big upcoming fundraiser is OEF’s Night at the Races. It’s a super fun time where everyone bets on horses (it’s played on a big screen) and we raise money for OEF.

If you are in Northeast Ohio, please join us on November 8th in Cleveland. If not, please sponsor a race or a horse. Sponsoring a horse is just $20 and YOU GET TO NAME THE HORSE. Just click here.

Anything helps and makes a difference. Thank you!

My Speaking and Interviews

I’ve been on the interview circuit lately.

Here’s me on the Lay of the Land podcast talking about building a content business in Cleveland.

Here’s me on LinkedIn talking for 60 minutes on not building your business on rented land (social media).

And if you’d like to see me in person, I’ll be in Las Vegas speaking at Author Nation on how you can build a business around a book (November 12).

Using Habits to Stop Creative Resistance

My friend Jim Kukral recommended a book by Steven Pressfield called The War of Art. Now, when Jim recommends a book, I always listen. He’s one of those friends who always comes through with a great recommendation.

But I was surprised I didn’t already read this book. I love Pressfield, and the book is entirely about the creative process, which is sort of my area. Well, I dug in…and was blown away.

The book is about one concept, called the Resistance. The book covers a variety of areas, but the key is this: The Resistance, which is inside all of us, will do whatever it can every minute of the day to stop us from doing.

Doing what you say?

Well, anything.

It could be writing that novel or starting that business or eating better or exercising or learning that language or helping others or loving others. It’s like the force from Star Wars. It literally is all around us but cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled.

Sometimes a book comes along at the exact right time, and this one did for me. I’m currently in the middle of writing two books, both of which the resistance is pushing hard to win. And if I keep going the way I’m going, the resistance will win.

In one part, Pressfield talks about what resistance feels like. He says, “First, unhappiness. We feel like hell. A low-grade misery pervades everything. We’re bored, we’re restless. We can’t get no satisfaction. There’s guilt but we can’t put our finger on the source. We want to go back to bed; we want to get up and party. We feel unloved and unlovable. We’re disgusted. We hate our lives. We hate ourselves.”

Maybe you think Pressfield takes this too far, but if you are a person who creates things as part of your existence, he hits the bullseye with this description.

Now, how do you fight back against the resistance?

In Pressfield’s antidotes to the resistance, he mentions Somerset Maugham, who was asked if he wrote on a schedule or when struck by inspiration. He says, “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.”

Beating the resistance means you need to create habits.

When I decided to run my first marathon, I created a 20-week schedule of runs. I would run four days per week, every Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The first week I ran 9 miles total. By the 17th week, I was running 30 miles a week and went on to beat my time goal. I succeeded by creating a habit, even though I started by hardly running at all.

Dr. Peter Attia, a Canadian author and physician, says a similar thing when adding workouts to your week. The key, to Attia, is just creating the habit. If you think being healthy means walking or running or whatever for two hours per week, simply start with the habit three days a week. So, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you are going to get up, go outside and walk around the block. That’s it. Will it make a long-term difference in your health? Not yet…but it creates the habit. Once you create the habit, walking five minutes, then ten, then fifteen minutes is so much easier to accomplish.

According to a 2009 study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes approximately 66 days to create a habit. So, let’s make it simple…that’s nine weeks. Anyone can do anything over nine weeks.

Are you a writer? Do you want to eat better? Do you want to create a newsletter?

Do something so small as part of that process for nine weeks. So for me, my goal is to get up every day for nine weeks and write one sentence. So easy, correct? Anyone can do that. I can do that. Then, before you know it, that one sentence becomes two, and before long, I’ve defeated the resistance. And you can too.