At a recent conference, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, called on students to stop using TikTok and Facebook. While some young people leverage TikTok for learning, many, including Dimon, view it as a distraction.
Speaking at the annual “Financial Markets Quality” conference hosted by the Georgetown Psaros Center, Dimon didn’t hold back. He remarked, “People waste an enormous amount of time. For most of you: shut down TikTok and Facebook. It’s a completely foolish waste of time.”
**Mental Health Risks Highlighted**
Dimon emphasized the importance of learning, advising students to “learn, learn, learn.” He argued that real education comes not from TikTok but from reading history and engaging with others. “You learn from figures like Nelson Mandela, Abe Lincoln, and Sam Walton. There’s no substitute for reading and conversing with people,” he insisted.
This isn’t the first time Dimon has criticized social media in 2023. In his annual letter to shareholders in April, he noted, “Social media has undeniable negative effects, from election manipulation to increasingly documented impacts on children’s mental health.”
Concerns about TikTok’s influence on youth are growing globally. The EU has been investigating the platform since February, citing its “rabbit hole” effect, which traps users in echo chambers of similar interests. This phenomenon poses risks to mental health, prompting the Brittany region in France to announce its withdrawal from TikTok over its adverse effects.