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Over 30 Million People from Texas to California Under Heat Alerts; Researchers Highlight Impacts of Internet Addiction on Teens; Average CEO Makes Almost 200 Times More than Median Worker. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired June 04, 2024 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Right now, more than 30 million people from Texas to California are under heat alerts. There is trapped air and a whole lot of sunshine that is creating a heat dome that's sending temperatures in the West into the triple digits. It's increasing the potential as well for heat related deaths.

CNN's Veronica Miracle is joining us now from Davis, California where there's an excessive heat warning that's in place there. Veronica, how are people preparing for all of this?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, Californians are certainly bracing for the heat, getting ready to crank up the air conditioning and go inside when at all possible this week. But, you know, here in -- here on the West Coast, rather, we love a hot summer. We are always prepared for it. We expect hot and dry temperatures in the summertime. But to get these temperatures this early in the season is actually quite unusual. We're still a few weeks away from the official start of summer, and we're already experiencing a heat wave.

So we're just outside of Sacramento, the capital city of California, and we are expecting to hit triple digit temperatures today. And in Sacramento, that usually doesn't happen until the end of the month. Triple digit temperatures also expected all throughout Central California.

And then in Death Valley, the hottest place in the world, they're expecting to hit 120 degrees by this Thursday. And even there, in the hottest place in the world, they don't expect to see those temperatures typically until about mid to the end of June. We are still very much in the early part of June.

[15:35:05]

So this heat wave certainly is kind of taking people aback to the end of June. We are still very much in the early part of June. So this heat wave certainly is kind of taking people back, throwing people off a little bit. The highest temperatures are expected tomorrow during this three-day heat wave -- Brianna.

KEILAR: 120, but it's a dry heat. That's what we Californians like to say, but it's a dry heat. OK, so I know you're also keeping an eye on the wildfire risk. What's happening there?

MIRACLE: Yes, as you can see in our live shot, it's quite windy. And these gusts are always a concern when it's hot and when it's dry. Those temperatures and those conditions coupled together can create disasters. As they say, it just takes one spark.

And when you have gusty conditions up to like 30 miles per hour today, firefighters are always concerned that that could spread into a wildfire. In fact, just over the weekend, about a couple miles south of us, there was a 14,000 acre wildfire. And that was before the heat wave and before these gusty conditions. So many departments around the area certainly keeping their eye on this and making sure that everyone is prepared in case anything happens -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Veronica Miracle, thank you so much for that.

And ahead, it's uncharted territory for a lot of parents these days. A new study revealing the impact of internet addiction on teenagers. So how it's affecting their mental health, we'll have that next.

[15:40:00]

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KEILAR: A new study is revealing the impact internet addiction is having on adolescents and the skyrocketing use of social media among young people around the world. The review suggests the excessive use of social media can affect the brain, impacting one's attention span, impulse control, and memory.

DEAN: Yes, I'm nodding along while you're saying this.

The criteria used to define internet addiction are the persistent preoccupation with the internet, withdrawal symptoms when away from the internet, and sacrificing relationships for time to spend on the internet over an extended period.

And here to talk about this more with us is the professor of psychology, Dr. Jean Twenge. She is the author of "Generations, The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silence, and What They Mean for America's Future." Thanks so much for being here with us.

You know, as we're talking through all of this, it is sobering and daunting, but I think any of us who've spent time around people, you know, all of us probably have a shade of this, but this is pretty troubling, this study.

DR. JEAN TWENGE, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY: It is. It really shows across a number of analyses that there's a link between spending a lot of time on the internet, feeling those symptoms of addiction, and that that shows up in the brain for adolescents, that it shows up in particular in those areas that are relevant for controlling attention.

And this is also relevant because we know that the more hours a day a teen spends on social media, the more likely it is that he or she is going to be depressed.

So there's all of these negative downstream impacts of spending excessive amounts of time on social media. And fortunately, Gallup found last year that the average teen in America spends almost five hours a day on social media. So this would be a really broad-ranging problem.

KEILAR: OK, so you're saying it affects the attention areas and it can cause depression. I mean, tell us a little bit more about what you're actually seeing in the brain when you're talking about heavy internet use, because it sounds like there's actually a depletion of important neurotransmitters and stuff like that.

TWENGE: Yes, you know, even though we do have this now, comprehensive meta-analysis, this area of research is still emerging. So we're still trying to figure out what causes what. It could be, admittedly, that there are teens who have impulse control issues and then they spend a lot of time on social media, so it's showing up in the brain.

So we really do need some more data to figure out what's causing what. For mental health, we already have a lot of great data showing that. For example, people who are randomly assigned to cut back or give up their social media use, after a week, two weeks, or three weeks, they're happier, they're less depressed, they're less lonely. So we know, at least there, with mental health, there's a lot of good data.

DEAN: And you know, it seems to me that this generation of kids, they're kind of the guinea pigs. Nobody really knew what this was going to do. they, you know, there haven't been studies just now, as you're talking about. The data is still emerging on a lot of this stuff. Studies are just being done. But how can parents start to determine if their kid is potentially addicted to the internet, and what can they do to try to prevent that and from them becoming addicted to social media?

TWENGE: Yes, that's a great question. And I have three adolescent kids myself, so this is something I think about a lot, not just in terms of research, but in terms of my day-to-day life with my family. That we have this generation of kids where we just, most of us, just game smartphones, and they can get on social media even though they're not old enough for it. And it is, they're guinea pigs.

[15:45:00]

And we have skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety and self-harm and suicide. So as parents, we have to try to stem this tide, and we're in an almost impossible position because age isn't verified to open a social media account. You don't need parental permission. Almost everybody's got a smartphone.

But we can do a few things. No phones in the bedroom overnight. It's my most important rule. That's for adults, not just for kids. And delay, if you have younger kids, delay giving them an internet-enabled smartphone as long as possible. In my house, the rule is get your first smartphone until you get your driver's license.

KEILAR: I like that. That's a good rule. I'm going to tell my kids that's what you do.

OK, so I wonder, because if you look at the DSM-5, which is, you know, the manual for different psychological disorders, et cetera, the internet addiction or an internet addiction disorder isn't listed in there. Things like internet gaming disorder are listed in there. I wonder if you think internet addiction order should be in there or maybe that it will be soon.

TWENGE: It might be. You know, there's still a lot of debate in the field as to whether we should call this an addiction. I do think it is remarkable how many people talk about their social media and phone use using the language of addiction. We've even seen this in a few studies where people are asked to give up or cut back on social media. If those studies last a day or two, people feel worse. It's very similar to the pattern that you see with other addictions that those first couple of days there are withdrawal symptoms.

And then after that, it gets better. If people come out of it and use their time in other more productive ways, then that's where you see the reduction of depression increases in happiness.

KEILAR: Yes, I think, look, I think so many parents can connect with that as they've tried to wean their child off of whatever technology it is. They see that withdrawal. And then they see the improvement in a child who's more engaged. Dr. Twenge, great to have you. This is such a wonderful conversation. We need to keep having it. Thank you.

TWENGE: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: All right, so how long do you think you'd have to work to make as much as your company's CEO? 200 years sound about right? I know. We have some brand new data on just how much CEOs are paid compared to their average employee.

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KEILAR: A new study finds top bosses are making even bigger bucks than their average worker. Just how much? 196 times more, and that exceeds last year's finding of 185 times more.

The CEO Pay Survey by Equilar and the AP examined the salary packages of more than 340 executives.

DEAN: And it found that half the company's research, the average employee would have to work for nearly 200 years to earn what the CEO made last year.

CNN reporter Matt Egan took a deep dive into this study. Matt, how put this sort of pay gap, 200 years, into context for us?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Jessica and Brianna, startling numbers. Listen, it's a great time to be a CEO. And CEOs, they've made more money than workers forever, right? But it's that pay gap that is so startling and the fact that it is growing. Now here's why that's happening. It's because CEO pay is increasing rapidly, much more rapidly than worker pay.

The median CEO in the S&P 500 made just over $16 million last year. That's up 13 percent from the year before. Now the good news is employers are making more money, but at a much more moderate pace, up 5 percent to just over $81,000.

Now to take this a step further, that means the annual pay hike for employees last year, it was about $4,300. For CEOs, $1.5 million. Again, that's just the increase.

Now these numbers are obviously tough to swallow for workers because a lot of people are struggling with the high cost of living, right? I mean, daycare, rent, car insurance, home insurance. It is very expensive right now.

Moody's Analytics found that the average American is spending over $1,000 more than they were three years ago for the same basket of goods and services. Now, workers are making more money, but almost all of that pay hike is being swallowed up by higher costs.

KEILAR: OK, why? Why are they making -- OK, 13 percent, let's just round it up to 15 percent. They're making like a three-time increase over the average worker. Why, Matt?

EGAN: Well, it's because CEO pay is really heavily influenced by stock prices. And it was a gangbuster year for the stock market last year. This study found that stock awards for the median CEO increased last year by 11 percent to $9.4 million. And this really accounts for the bulk of CEO compensation.

And when you look at the highest paid CEOs, one name stands out more than any of them, and that's the CEO of Broadcom, Hock Tan. Last year, he raked in just over $161 million in total compensation. Most of that was in stock awards as Broadcom's share price went up.

[15:55:00]

The company noted that the market value of Broadcom spiked during Hock Tan's tenure. But listen to this. That means that he made more than 500 times his median employee. Jessica and Brianna.

DEAN: Wow. Wow. All right, Matt Egan with some sobering numbers. Thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As we approach now the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the U.S. is honoring one of its heroes. Army medic Corporal Waverly Woodson Jr. was just posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

[16:00:00] It's the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the Army.

DEAN: Corporal Woodson was part of the all-black 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, which deployed balloons to protect soldiers from Nazi fighter planes. He was seriously wounded during the invasion of Normandy but spent 30 hours treating fellow soldiers throughout that attack. Woodson died in 2005 at the age of 83.

KEILAR: And this means so much to his family. It is obviously well overdue. So congratulations to them.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.