COM 202 Informative Speech Outline PDF

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Informative speech outline on social media. Taken with Mary Healey....

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Halley Myers November 1, 2017 How Social Media Changes Your Brain

General purpose: To inform Specific purpose: To familiarize my audience on the effects prolonged social media use has on brain chemistry and functioning Thesis: Social media usage effects brain areas correlating to attention, meta-awareness, empathy, and attitude.

Introduction A. Attention getter: By a show of hands, how many of you have been sitting in class, or lying in bed, and thought you felt your phone vibrate, only to realize your phone’s vibration actually never went off? This new neurological phenomenon, called phantom vibration syndrome, is one of the many consequences prolonged social media use has on our brain. In one study, 89% of test subjects said they experienced this phenomenon at least every two weeks. Though social media clearly has had an influence on society, my goal today is to inform you on the influence social media dependence has on our brain chemistry and functioning. B. Reason to listen: As college students, we all (or at least most of us) incorporate social media into our everyday lives, whether it’s watching Youtube videos, using Google+, or logging into Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. Because of how prevalent technology, specifically social media, is in modern-day society, I believe it’s an important subject to touch upon, and even more important to listen to. C. Credibility statement: a. What personally connects you to this topic? i. Although this topic is unrelated to my speech of introduction—where I discussed my motives in becoming a doctor/PA through first-hand experiences with my grandma and the need to help others— it’s still a topic I’m incredibly passionate about. In fact, part of the process in going pre-med is taking various biology and psychology courses, so I had an initial understanding but wanted to connect it to something that is an integral part of my daily life—social media. Though I first used these apps to connect with my friends, I’ve noticed how much time I’ve spent on these sites and wanted to do more research on how exactly it affects us. b. What type of research have you done to establish credibility? i. I’ve been conducting research using articles written by reputable authors explaining real studies that have been conducted by either them, their

colleagues, or other researchers. I also found that the articles I’ve incorporated into my presentation include links to the original studies, making it more credible. They also include information that correlates with other findings, not only building credibility, but accuracy. D. Thesis: With that being said, my goal today is to describe how prolonged social media use affects the brain areas associated with attention, meta-awareness, and empathy/attitude. a. First, I will describe how the new stimuli social media provides all day long, in addition to the multi-tasking seen between switching sites, affects attention. b. Second, I will examine how heavy social media use leads to a loss of cognitive control (i.e. meta-awareness), in addition to how it affects the brains’ reward circuity. c. Third, I will discuss how distractions arising from social media affects empathy and attitude. Restate Thesis A. Attention a. Multi-tasking i. Study conducted by Stanford neuroscientist Russ Poldrack  research on information going to the “wrong” part of the brain ii. Research on brain capacity iii. Research on brain’s ability to filter out interferences; memory 1. Study of participants reliance on Google to back up iv. Research on performance during actual task-switching tests B. Meta-awareness a. Loss of cognitive control; include statistics i. Average adult spends over 20 hours online each week; a third of that time is spent on social media platforms; Bureau of Labor Statistics 1. Compare to teen usage ii. Studies show that 63% of Americans log onto Facebook daily; 40% log on multiple times a day; The Berge Facebook Addiction Scale; IAD iii. Addition; 5-10% of internet users are unable to control how much time they spend online 1. Brain scans show an impairment of regions those with physiological drug dependence have 2. Clear degradation of white matter in the regions that control attention (as mentioned above), decision-making, and emotional processing (relating to the third point) b. Stanford research c. UCLA research; reward circuitry C. Empathy/attitude a. Low self-esteem i. Comparing self with others; UK study

ii. University of Michigan study iii. Research put forth by The British Psychological Society b. Jealousy c. Depression d. Nicholas Carr on empathy; distractions; socialization (counter-argument) Conclusion A. B. C. E.

Attention Meta-awareness Empathy/attitude Today, my goal was to describe how prolonged social media use affects the brain areas associated with attention, meta-awareness, and empathy/attitude. D. So next time you’re lying down after an exhausting day of classes, taking a study break (or a few, because we all know how that goes), walking to your next class, or waiting in line, instead of checking your phone, take a break from it and live in the moment. Social media addiction is a real thing, and the evidence is within us....