Andrianna Kalyviaris

Maciejewski

ALC

10/9/18

Ted Talk Essay

Have you ever thought that our screens make us less happy? Adam Alter a psychologist

and also the author of two bestselling books, I​rresistible​ and ​Drunk Tank Pink.​ Alter talks about

why our screens makes us less happy and our tech addictions. Alter’s research is mostly about

judgment, decision making and social psychology. Alter argues convincingly that our screens

make us less happy by using logic and emotion.

Alter presents an appeal to logic by using research and facts. Alter explains his research

about Steve Jobs. “In 2010, Steve Jobs, when he was releasing the iPad as a device that was

“extraordinary” and “the best browsing experience.” These facts explain when the screens were

released. This quote shows logic because he is explaining facts that he researched. Another

fact that Alter explains is the average 24-hour workday at three different points in history. “What

I’m showing you here is the average 24-hour workday at three different points in history: 2007 --

10 years ago -- 2015 and then data that I collected, actually, only last week. And a lot of things

haven’t changed all that much.” And “That leaves this white space. That's our personal time.

That space is incredibly important to us. In these quotes Alter wants us to notice that half our

time is working and the other half is our personal time. This quote is showing logic because

Alter is explaining facts.

 Alter presents an appeal to pathos by using his own experience and facts. Alter says

“What’s interesting about these dating, social networking, gaming, entertainment, news, and

web browsing -- people spend 27 minutes a day on each of these. Were spending three times

longer on the apps that don’t make us happy.” Alter is explaining that were spending a lot of

time on our screens and that our screen don’t even make us happy. This quote shows pathos

because it’s showing emotion of how our screens make us unhappy. Another quote that Alter

says is “one of the reasons we spend so much time on these apps that make us unhappy is

they rob us of stopping cues.” “There is no stopping cues. The news feed just rolls on, and

everything's bottomless: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Email, Texting, the News.” Alter is

saying that everything on your screen is bottomless and you can just keep scrolling even it

makes you unhappy. This quote shows pathos because it’s showing emotion.

Alter’s Ted Talk was persuasive and effective because he makes you realize how

much time you actually spend on your screens and how unhappy it makes you. For

example on this Ted Talk the a lot of the comments agreed with him, so Alter was

persuasive. Two of the comments are “Agree. With cell phones and pads we can do a lot

of things, but the experiences are all virtual. We need to spend more time in the real

world and less on the screen.” and “I really agree with your idea. Because we are

addicted to smartphones or screens. Those are thoughts that make us convenient, but

we feel they are more bothering. As you said, they have no stop cues! So they make us

keep going, never ending. I will try to get rid of my smartphones addicted life for a

moment everyday. Thank you.” These comments from Alter’s Ted Talk shows how

persuasive and effective he was. Alter did convincingly argue how our screens make us

less happy by using logic and emotion. The audience can learn not to go on there
screens as much. Next time I’m on my phone or ipad, I’ll remember to try to not stay on

my phone/ipad as long as I usually do because they actually do make you unhappy.

Work Cited: ​Alter, Adam. “Why Our Screens Make Us Less Happy.” T​ ED: Ideas Worth Spreading​, 

Apr. 2017, www.ted.com/talks/adam_alter_why_our_screens_make_us_less_happy.