--- title: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement | TIME description: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement canonical: https://time.com/video/vQftro90/ og:title: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement og:description: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement og:url: https://time.com/video/vQftro90/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vQftro90/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement twitter:description: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vQftro90/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement [Watch (HLS stream): Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vQftro90.m3u8) (21:46)  _Published 2016-05-23. Arianna Huffington speech-Colby College 2016 Commencement_ --- Jul 27, 2023 8:08 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Arianna Huffington Speaks at Vassar College Commencement 2015](/video/MyFUef7a/) ### Arianna Huffington Speaks at Vassar College Commencement 2015 [Joel Stein Gets A Massage From Arianna Huffington](/video/IY0mdHnT/) ### Joel Stein Gets A Massage From Arianna Huffington [Time 100 Roundtable: Arianna Huffington](/video/4vDsnVTE/) ### Time 100 Roundtable: Arianna Huffington --- ## Transcript Time for me to introduce our speaker for Colby's 195th commencement, Ariana Huffington, who has so much in common with our student speaker, I hadn't know. [ LAUGH ] So we know Miss Huffington as an entrepreneurial internet pioneer, founder of the Huffington Post A bestselling author, a high profile analyst of politics, world affairs and trends. And we honor her today for her success and her enormous contributions to public discourse. We also invited her because she provides an example of what we hope our liberal arts graduates will take into the world. A true lifelong learner. Miss Huffington doesn't merely follow her curiosity, she digs in, researches deeply and then shares what she finds. Nine years ago, she had a wake up call that the intensity of her work life might not be sustainable. She literally collapsed. But then, beyond just making some resolutions and personal lifestyle changes, she undertook an intensive study of our sleep deprived society and the latest sleep research. This year she published The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life One Night At A Time, an immediate bestseller. But her generosity of spirit didn't end with her remarkable findings. In her 15th book this week, she presented a hard copy to each member of the class 2016. And now having seen all of you for this past week, it seems to me that This whole idea of sleep is something that you all should pay attention to. So, it's a great honour to present to you a women who embodies the virtues of hard work and a commitment to seeking out new insights, Arianna Huffington. [ APPLAUSE ] Thank you so much President Green, chairman of the board of trustees Bob Diamond, members of the platform party, thank you for the staff, students and families but who is Billy [ LAUGH ] Okay, Brandon, you do not have to talk after this. I can't leave without knowing the answer to this fundamental, existential question. [ LAUGH ] [ APPLAUSE ] So especially being here as a Greek immigrant, yes, that's a slight accent you hear. I am thrilled that I can finally say I made it to the Mayflower. [ LAUGH ] Or at least to the Mayflower Hill, and that there are 32 flags here, representing the 32 countries They'll have graduates today, and that's just such a great achievement for the college, for the families, for everyone involved, and I hope some of you have an accent. [ LAUGH ] As the mother of two not so long ago college graduates, I know that the hard work leading up to today is a team effort. So congratulations to all the moms and the dads and th grandparents and the siblings. But above all, congratulations to the class of 2016. And Brandon, a special congratulations to you, that was a great speech. I fully expect to hear a lot from you back in New York City and when you create the next Hamilton level heat, can you please promise me two tickets without having to mortgage my home. [ LAUGH ] And congratulations also to Bonnie Maldonado winning an award for engaged citizenship, it's just about the best it gets. And thank you [ APPLAUSE ] for all your doing to make our world a better place This is such an amazing day of contrast of a light being shined onto different worlds. One world that's ending after you pack things by 8pm, just in case you forget. And the other world is just beginning. And these two worlds are different in many other ways. New Phase. The world you're leaving is structured towards a purpose, organized to help you achieve that purpose. The model of the world you're leaving is looks mandiscanteum, but the world you are stepping into is extremely different. Frankly, it's a chaotic world. Filled with the clamor of buzzing, blinking, and flashing digital distractions. A world filled with data and starved for wisdom. If knowledge is the light of the mind, raw data is just fog and haze. And your challenge is to find your way through the fog, and not just to succeed in the world, but to change it. As Brandon said, the future is coming In heart. [ LAUGH ] But before I look at the future, I want to say a little bit about the world you're living. Because you may not know that, but I have stalked you in the last few weeks [ LAUGH ] On your social media accounts, your official Colby website, and your Tinder profiles. No, I'm joking about that. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] And I must say, I'm a little sad I missed Dog Hound. [ LAUGH ] Even though as a vehement sleep evangelist, I should be frowning at the staying up all night part, it's in service of something so special. I loved what Hannah Schaefer wrote in the [ INAUDIBLE ] There is no better feeling than watching that sunrise with the people we love at the college that brought us together. [ APPLAUSE ] And after bringing in the sunrise together, I would hope that the Napping Club saw a surge of participation [ LAUGH ] Congratulations incidentally to the founder of the club Thomas Gregston. [ APPLAUSE ] Who is helping to correct a historical error of another Thomas, Thomas Edison, who was convinced that sleep was unnecessary Edison bragged that he never needed more than four or five hours and believed that America should follow his example on the brightly light path of progress and self- improvement. He called sleep an absurdity, predicted it would be eliminated. But I'm happy to say that in modern science Is silently on the side of Thomas Gexton and against Thomas Edison. And now I want to ask parents, and grand parents, and even some children to cover their ears for a moment. As I address one piece of carbon mythology. The business about the blue light on top of the Miller library. A light that will only go out when a virgin graduates. So sadly I have no research or wisdom to offer you on the connection between virgins and blue light. But I can offer you some research on the connection between blue light and sleep. And basically, blue light is kryptonite and the trouble is that our houses are filled with all this beeping, vibrating, flashing, blue light- radiating devices. And we have literally charging shrines everywhere for them. Because ultimately let's face it, we take much better care of our smartphones than we take care of ourselves and you guys need to change that. So as you're about to enter this new world that considers burnout, exhaustion and stress as the necessary price to pay for success, I want to recognize that it is a collective delusion and I hope that your generation will shatter it. Because you know, cultures often believe the wrong things. Did you know for example, that after the 1960s you had television ads for cigarettes. Often by doctors in whit coats who said things like I smoke menthols because they refresh my throat. Finally, the science of smoking caught up with the perception of smoking. But I hope it's not going to take as long before the science of sleep and sleep deprivation Catches up with the modern perception. And the reason why I'm so excited that you all have a copy of this leap revolution is because it will give you a competitive advantage to enter the workplace knowing the latest science, knowing the best practices. And challenging the Neanderthal norms that permeate so many workplaces, where people are congratulated for working twenty- four seven, which is the cognitive equivalent of coming to work drunk. So, as we know now from an every growing mountain of sleep science, every quality involved in job performance, creativity, productivity, problem solving, the ability to collaborate, is enhanced. When you actually take time to recharge yourself. So it's the person who has the self discipline and the confidence and the perspective to unplug and recharge who should be celebrated and promoted. And it's the ones who brag about only needing four hours of sleep that you should be worried off, especially if they're running for president. [ LAUGH ] Because you know there is the example of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who brags about how little sleep he gets. And how he always sleeps with his phone beside him. What effects does that have? Well, there is for starters, the inability to process even basic information. [ LAUGHING ] Mood swings, anger outbursts, emotional instability, false memories, the regurgitation of incomprehensible problems and of course the occasional retweeting of Mousilini [ APPLAUSE ] These are all as it happens symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, well except perhaps about the retweeting Mussolini part. That's just pure Donald Trump. So whether you're running for President or just entering the workplace, sleep is the ultimate performance enhancing drug. And you know there is a very simple, actually tiny step you can take right away as soon as you leave tonight. Did I mention by eight PM? And it has to do, very simply, with you resolving never to use an alarm clock again. Just think of it. If you get enough sleep, you don't need an alarm. And just think of it, an alarm, what a horrible word. It immediately invokes danger. A fight or flight response. So you wake up and start your day, before anything bad has even happened, with your body filled with a stress hormone, cortisol, and why? Incidentally, if you're asking how much sleep is enough, unless you have a genetic mutation it's seven to nine hours, about 1 % of us do have a genetic mutation, but just in case you skipped biology 101, you cannot train yourself to have a genetic mutation. But those of you who are not parents yet, and I hope it's all 500 of you, but you never know. There is actually a new discovery, a kind of gene editing. So if you wanted to give birth to a child that is a short sleeper and has a genetic mutation, you can actually edit the gene while the baby's in the womb. although, whether you want to bring up a baby that only sleeps for four hours, you may want to have a conversation with your parents first. [ LAUGH ] And when you wake up without an alarm, we have the good news that you are more likely to remember your dream And dreams have throughout history been the source of new ideas, insights, art, and scientific breakthroughs. The periodic table of elements, the Beatles Let It Be, even Google, were all conceived in a dream. As Larry Page put it, when a really great dream shows up, grab it. So to further destroy our collective delusion that burnout is essential for success, another thing I ask you to change, is our every day language around sleep and burnout. Language matters. It both reflects and it guides how we think about the world and what we value. But everywhere we turn, sleep deprivation is glamorized and celebrated. You snooze, you lose. I'll sleep when I'm dead. And that goes hand in hand with how we glamorize burnout. I'm slammed is a way of saying I'm important and that means so much demand. And look at the other similar to word that we are using in everyday language I'm swamped, I'm drowning, I'm under water, I'm crazed I get back to you when I up for year. In any of the context hearing a friend say something like which would make you call 911. And leaving in that state of mind a perpetually stressed out fight or flight state of mind, always on the edge of burn out, not only has serious implications for our health, our productivity and our happiness but it also makes it much harder To maintain that warmth and goodness and joy that Brandon said call me is famous for. So there is one last thing that I want to ask you to change and that's what you do with your attention. It's one of the most important currencies available to you and one which is only going to increase in value Tell you. And I talk to many people in the tech world and let me tell you that at the center of their business plans for growth is your attention. They want it. And in the world that you are entering you attention is truly the most valuable currency of the digital age. Companies may be using different algorithms, different bells and whistles to get you to part with your attention. But attention is the unifying Holy Grail. The grab for your attention is the new Gold Rush. So Colby graduates you are really Sitting on a gold mine. A gold mine you're carrying with you all the time. And mining a little bit of your attention right now, or at least I hope I am, although I'm probably the only commencement speaker in the country who would actually consider it a personal victory if you're asleep right now. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] Now, how many of you here are on Snapchat? Okay, how many of you know DJ Khaled? Okay, here is my date at the Whitehouse correspondents dinner last month. And you know what he would've said if he was here now, he would have said, call me graduated, they want your attention. And Major [ INAUDIBLE ] your attention is the most valuable thing you got. So don't give it to them without getting something in return. There has to be part of our attention that is not available to be constantly captured and colonized by social media, by text, by email. We need to reclaim part of our lives and to nurture the idea or attention as something sacred that needs to be safeguarded and protected. Until this becomes, with your help, a new cultural norm. The world you're heading into is a world in which always being connected as become a status symbol, a sign of success. It's a world riddled with anxiety where if someone emails or texts you And you don't immediately respond people go crazy, have you noticed that? If you wait 15 minutes before responding to a text and they are practically calling local emergency rooms to find you. We need to change that because this has become our 21st century's Frankenstein monster. Fortunately there is a growing cultural awareness of this problem and even a word to describe the alternative of formal, fear of missing out and that drama joy of missing out. Missing out on the insignificant, the transient, the trivial, in order to not miss out on your life. And now you [ APPLAUSE ] have a chance to change this. And those who take the lead will be the new pioneers. The early adopters. Until you get to a place where it's normal and acceptable to give each other permission to disconnect from technology and truly reconnect with each other and with ourselves. And there is an added layer of significance to this given that Colby was the first college in the country to issue email accounts to all its students. So I just want to ask, are you regretting it? Email, as we all know, is one of the major attention thieves. In the past decade, we've gone from an estimated 12 billion emails a day to 215 billion. And according to a recent study, it takes 67 seconds just to recover From each email that lands in your inboxes. So as you leave here today, I hope you take with you a renewed and zealous commitment to safeguarding your attention. And I hope you write about it on the Huffington Post. And to make it super easy, I am now going to give you my email address. Which is very simple, Ariana and having done [ UNKNOWN ] . com, one good thing if [ UNKNOWN ] wants to find a company is make sure you get the good email address. And before I leave you, there is a short list that I have drawn of some of the things that will be different When you have succeeded a change in the culture of burnout and sleep deprivation. First of all, the saying I'll sleep when I'm dead will be unceremoniously tossed into the dust bin of history. People will list their healthy sleep habits on their resumes, on their LinkedIn pages, and on their Tinder profile. And definitely on the presidential campaign websites. Sleeping pill TV commercials will be a thing of the past no more beautiful happy people leading perfect lives while a narrator reads a terrifying list of side effects. and because we're all addicted to our devices, an app will be created- I'm actually working on it- it turns our smartphone into a " dumb phone" for special times. Commencements, weddings, your honeymoon, dinner with your children: all times that deserve your undivided attention. And you will note be able to override it. Those of you who master the ability to be alone with yourselves, undistracted by all the endless digital claims on your attention will rule the world. And this in the end is my wish for you. That you will use this newfound mastery and [ UNKNOWN ] ambition, your creativity, and your wisdom, not just to rule the world, but to do something far more important, to change the world. Congratulations to the great Colby class of 2016. 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