Social Media: Regret and Regulation
Kids are asking for our help; another of my occasional posts
Last week I spoke at the annual conference of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, talking about teenagers, sex, consent, porn…all the usual stuff. After a while, the discussion turned to the addictive nature of social media, the harm it’s doing to teens, to policies that might help.
Maybe you’ve seen the reports that social media is linked to depression, anxiety, negative body image, eating disorders. Maybe you’ve read about the exposure to content promoting suicide, Maybe you saw the surgeon general’s call for warning labels on the platforms, similar to those on tobacco products. Even if you know all that (though especially if you don’t), I urge you to read the essay in today’s Times, “Gen Z Has Regrets.” It reports on a nationally representative survey of young adult’s attitudes toward social media use. Unsurprisingly, it turns out respondents spend a lot of time on those platforms: over 60 percent clock four hours a day; nearly a quarter scroll for seven hours or more.
Despite that investment, sixty percent of them also said social media had an overall negative impact, versus less than a third who said its impact was positive. In terms of their own lives it’s a little different: 52 percent said social media has benefited them; 29 percent said it has hurt them personally. The authors add:
Although the percentage citing specific personal benefits was usually higher than those citing harms, this was less true for women and L.G.B.T.Q. respondents. For example, 37 percent of respondents said social media had a negative impact on their emotional health, with significantly more women (44 percent) than men (31 percent), and with more L.G.B.T.Q. (47 percent) than non-L.G.B.T.Q. respondents (35 percent) saying so. We have found this pattern — that social media disproportionately hurts young people from historically disadvantaged groups — in a wide array of surveys.
If any other product was as demonstrably harmful and addictive to so very many children, the authors write, we would’ve regulated the heck out of it a long time ago.
I could not agree more. Our children are telling us that social media use has become as much of a public health issue as, say, vaping. Significant percentages of respondents said they wished that social media had never been invented. Nearly half would not let their own children have a smartphone before high school. 69 percent support legislation requiring companies establish a child-safe option for users under eighteen.
That’s what I was talking about with the assemblywomen and senators.
In California, Senate Bill 976, which has bipartisan support, is now on our governor’s desk. (I worry the signing is being stalled for unrelated political reasons—Newsom appears to be refusing to sign bills authored by senators. Not good.) The bill, also known as the “Protecting our Kids From Social Media Addiction Act” would by default prohibit platforms from pushing addictive algorithmic content to minors based on their searches; it would stop notifications between the hours of eight and three on weekdays during the school year, and between midnight and six all year; it would limit use to an hour a day and automatically make their accounts private. Parents could change any of these settings if they so choose. Won’t children just lie about their age? Maybe, but there are absolutely ways that these platforms can determine that someone is likely a minor posing as an adult to avoid restrictions. If you are a California resident, I urge you to write to the Governor’s office urging him to sign this bill ASAP.
Nationally, the House of Representatives is considering the Kids Online Safety Act. The California bill goes further and is more rigorous (and will provide a national model in the state where social media was invented) but that, too, is a start.
Yesterday, Meta responded to these efforts by preemptively unveiling a plan for “teen accounts”; perhaps predictably, what they are offering is the bare minimum and does absolutely zero to address the intentionally addictive nature of their products. So don’t be fooled. This is primarily an attempt to avoid regulation.
This generation of parents had no idea how much of our job was going to be about managing our children’s media exposure. It is overwhelming, it is exhausting, and it’s the cause of a lot of friction in homes with adolescents. Trying to control it can feel like playing Whac-A-Mole. During lockdown, a lot of parents understandably gave up entirely, because that glowing screen, despite its risks, was our children’s only way to connect with friends.
Social media platforms can—and should—be fun. But they also have the capacity for harm baked into their design. Kids need education and guidance from adults (who also need education and guidance) to ensure they use them well and safely. They also need regulation that protects them from companies that spend millions to keep teens staring and scrolling at the expense of their mental and physical health and well-being.
Let’s not allow another generation to live with “regrets.”
Thank you, Peggy! Amen.
Wise words!!