On early Sunday mornings, I find myself lying in bed, scrolling through my TED Talk app, contemplating which one to watch. This situation arises often, as I am easily seduced into the world of quick knowledge and interesting topics, every video luring me into a 20 minute long trap in which I cannot escape. Some may call it an addiction, I prefer the term “appreciation”.

So what if I’m awake until 3:30 AM watching a talk on strange answers to a psychopath test? Yes, there are things to do and places to be that next morning; however, I’d like to argue that I’m using my time wisely, all in the pursuit of worldwide awareness and knowledge. It’s a mere matter of prioritizing, and in my opinion, what’s the harm in watching a couple of TED Talks here and there? Okay, maybe more than a couple...Three right after one another...Five…Fine! Ten TED Talks, that’s as high as I’ll go.

All joking aside, I firmly believe that TED talks are not only a free gateway to expanding one’s perspectives of the world, and may I add, all for the price of $0, but, it’s also a safe space where one can relax and reflect on personal and global issues. There are too many moments to count in which I would resort to watching TED talks after a long day at school, or after a particularly bad day, for they served as a therapeutic escape, one in which I could easily access and carry around wherever I wished.

The first time I was introduced to TED (for the purpose of this article, let’s just pretend that TED is a gender-neutral human who can reciprocate all of the feelings I have for them), I was in the 8th grade. Now, I was the new kid at the American School of Kuwait (shoutout to the ASKers), and was super excited to create exciting memories and to meet new friends. Little did I know that I would be meeting the ultimate companion, TED.

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We were first presented to one another during my Honors English Course, where my teacher showed us a video about the Psychology of Evil (thus initiating my interest in Psychology). You could say that it was love at first sight, for I felt deeply captivated by the wonders of TED, and all that they had to offer me. What started out as a hobby became a dependance on the application to seek out answers to my many questions. TED never disappeared throughout my high school career, making a few appearances here and there in certain classes, only reaffirming my love for them.

The ability to resonate with millions of viewers grants the speakers on TED an unparalleled power that is just absolutely astonishing. I don’t know how they manage to do it, but not one of the topics are boring or dry, and each one is able to tug at the heartstrings and to stimulate the minds of individuals worldwide.

TED, thank you for the free therapy, and in hindsight, I shouldn’t have written this because I want to be a therapist and I probably just got rid of a lot of potential clients, but hey, this shows that I really care about you. Keep coming up with nothing else but ideas that… you guessed it…. are worth spreading.