TTYL, A Tech-Free Community Dedicated to Human Connection
This blog post is written by the founder of TTYL, Liana Pavane. TTYL allows you to unplug and be yourself while having meaningful interactions with the people around you. The founders of LOG OFF strongly suggest looking into TTYL and the plethora of resources they provide. https://www.ttylnyc.com/about-ttyl
When I was a teenager, the rise of technology and social media was just beginning to
spike. Snapchat wasn’t around, and Instagram was starting to get on people’s radar. I
got my first iPhone senior year of high school and my first Instagram account with it. I
had no idea how much time it was about to take over my life.
Flash forward to college where I first fell victim to the addictions of technology. Social
media was the culprit, and I was on my phone 24/7 (even when I was watching Netflix).
My phone would die two times a day, and whenever I got dressed for a party, a
photoshoot would be the designated pre-game. We would take hundreds of pictures to
get the perfect shot for Instagram. The idea of looking picture-perfect became one of the
most important parts of my life in college (which is wild to look back on now).
I dreamt up the idea for TTYL—a tech-free community dedicated to human connection—
immediately after I graduated from college. I was on vacation with my family, scrolling
through my phone, and I instantly felt FOMO for my friends back home. At that moment I
stopped myself and thought, “Wait, I’m in a foreign country right now. Shouldn’t I be
living in the moment? Shouldn’t I experience my life versus scrolling through someone
else’s?” As a kid, I was brought up in a very healthy tech household. I wasn’t allowed to
watch TV during the week, and I never learned how to play video games. How had I
become dependent and obsessed with my phone?Something had to change, and it started with putting my phone away. That’s whenI first started researching the effects of screen time and technology.
Being a young adult is an extremely vulnerable time in an adolescent’s life. Your brain is
going through major developmental changes, specifically around the prefrontal cortex,
which is responsible for planning and problem-solving. According to Psychology Today,
“two recent studies have found that dopamine and cortisol levels—along with a gene
called DCC—are part of a chain reaction that dramatically influences teenage
development and connectivity of the prefrontal cortex.” Maybe not so ironically,
dopamine is one of the main hormones released when we scroll through social media.
These apps are strategically designed to be addictive, and therefore, strongly influence
young adult’s minds.
Social media was created to release copious amounts of dopamine through likes,
comments, and followers. Today, teens are taught to believe the higher their social
media presence is, the more socially acceptable they will be in real social situations.
However, the opposite has proven to be true. The more time teens spend on social
media, the lower their self-esteem becomes. In a study conducted by The Royal Society
Of Public Health, “Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all led to increased
feelings of depression, anxiety, poor body image, and loneliness.” The more adolescents
from the ages of 14-24 spend on social media, the more dissatisfied with themselves
they become.
Being a teenager is already tough enough. You have to deal with bullies in the
classroom, and now cyberbullying is at an all-time high as more and more platforms
emerge. I remember in my high school, there was a GIF going around making fun of a
fellow classmate. That was a decade ago. Today, teenagers are not only being bullied
behind their backs online, but they also have to deal with the inadequacy they feel when
comparing themselves to their classmates, influencers, and celebrities every day...right
at their fi