“We must protect ourselves and our children from the unwanted, addictive, and deceptive influence that is being driven by the Social Media Industrial Complex. ~Joe Contrera

122 years ago, one of the milestones in the history of filmmaking was surpassed when Edwin S. Porter directed and photographed the very first narrative film, The Great Train Robbery. A movie that was loosely based on the events of August 29, 1900 when Butch Cassidy’s ‘Hole in the Wall Gang robbed the Union Pacific Railroad and escaped with $5000 in cash ( A modern day $193,000 equivalent).

Today, a similar great robbery is taking place, a robbery that you won’t read about on Social Media because it is Social Media that is committing the crime.  And while the Great Train Robbery was filled with violence, robbery at gunpoint, a posse, a great chase, and the eventual demise of the bandits, this robbery is so much more subtle and deceptive because the robbers don’t have guns, they have your focus and attention.

I am referring to The Great Brain Robbery which began in 2010 with the introduction of the smartphone and the  theft of our ability to think for ourselves. It can be scene-d in the use of Chat GPT to cheat on exams, the algorithms that brain-wash you into thinking that watching 3 hours of Tik-Tok reels is normal, or simply the algorithms that create chaos and anger in order to keep you engaged on the platform for hours at a time so you can be exposed to the maximum number of ads.

One of the major differences between the Great Train Robbery movie of 1903 and the Great Brain Robbery which started in 2010 with the introduction of the smartphone is that while the Great Train Robbery involved adults, The Great Brain Robbery began by targeting our children.

Protecting Your Brains

Recently, the country of Australia banned social media accounts for children under Under-16 years old. The ban prevents kids from using major social media services including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and streaming platforms Kick and Twitch.

If you believe this is an infringement of the rights of children, I recommend you read the book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt.  I truly believe it will change your mind when you read and see the statistics of what Social media has done to our kids’ mental health.

What is admirable about the Australian ban is that punishes those who are perpetuating the robbery. Those being the social media companies who will be fined and punished for any serious or repeated breaches.

Lobbying Up Washington

And while $5000.00 dollars in 1903 seems like a lot of money, Meta (Facebook) alone spent $19.7 million in the first 9 months of 2025 on lobbyist for members of Congress to protect their interests.

That is 1 lobbyist for every 6 members of Congress in order to assert their agenda and their greed at the expense of our kids. I have since deactivated my Facebook Accounts for this very reason. Yes, deactivated the account, you see they will not let you delete it immediately and instead give you a 30-waiting period…just in case they have a chance to reel you back in.

Holiday Take Back Your Brain Challenge

It does sound a bit righteous to blame the social media companies when it comes to exploiting kids. However, as adults it is on us to take back control our brains and our time. We just have to decide our brain and our time is worth fighting for.

Yes, fighting for, because this is a fight and you are up against a trillion-dollar industry that is hell-bent on making you dependent on them.

So as the holiday season is upon us, here are 5 ideas you can take back control of your brain:

1. Stop wasting time on social media, vow to swear off Facebook, Tik-Tok, etc. for the next 14 days. At a minimum limit yourself to 30 minutes per day.
2. Stop binge watching television for the next 14 days. Limit yourself to just an hour or two of television time per night. It is only  for 2 weeks my friend, if you realize you can’t do it, it might help you awaken to the realization of how addicted you might be to television or social media.
3. Sign up for a 30-Day Free Trial of Kindle unlimited, you can cancel anytime and you can have your choice of unlimited books to read for 30 days!
4.  Volunteer to help others even for just one day. We all have some group or cause we are passionate about. Just google volunteer opportunities near me and see how many places there are that need help.
5. Make a commitment to do just one holiday activity with your family. I searched and found a list of 25 holiday activities on the Tony Robbins blog post. I searched and found 101 Ideas for Holiday Family Fun in Phoenix. Again, just search locally and you will find quite a few activities that revolve around the holidays. Here is a link of Holiday Traditions you can do with your family or friend.

Now these are just a few ideas, imagine what you can come up with if you take back control of your brain and start thinking for yourself again?

I hope this blog post and the ideas and data I shared will cause you to at least take a long-hard look at how much time you might be spending letting social media influence your brain.

It is up to us to protect our kids and ourselves from The Great Brain Robbery that is taking place everyday all over the world!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!