Are courts and laws catching up to screen time?
A California jury in March decided social media giant Meta and video streamer YouTube intentionally created products addictive to kids. It was more a decision about bad business than hard science. But it implies the public — especially parents — are noticing all that screen time is doing something to their kids they don’t like.
The 20-year-old plaintiff testified she had become addicted to social media when she was a child and it aggravated her mental health issues. The jury awarded her $3 million in damages and recommended another $3 million in punitive damages, pending the judge’s agreement. The same week, a New Mexico jury determined Meta’s platforms harm children’s mental health and safety, violating state law.
It was a moment much like the fall of Big Tobacco in 1994. The jury’s decisions will hardly end social media or streaming video, but they come at a time of changing perceptions about social media and screen time, and could open the door for future civil lawsuits that would hold companies accountable for psychological damage to children. It might also lead to new laws.
In January, the Australian government became the first country to ban social media for kids under the age of 16. Kids there cannot set up new profiles and must close any existing ones. Their legislation was based on their own study that determined kids were being exposed to harmful content, including the promotion of eating disorders and suicide. In June, Britain followed with a similar ban. Turkey, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates have also passed under-age bans. Canada and countries across Europe are debating restrictions or outright bans as well.
The U.S. House of Representatives in July passed the KIDS Act, which would restrict children’s (under the age of 17) use of certain online platforms, but creates no outright ban. The bill is currently stalled in the Senate. Regardless, the public appears ready and several states are already acting, including California.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found more than half of Americans support a ban on social media for kids under the age of 16. To be exact, 65 percent of parents of kids under 18 supported a ban and 52 percent of people without kids still supported a ban.
A trimmed back version of California’s Phone-Free School Act went into effect on July 1, which essentially bans cell phone and social media use in public and charter schools, but pressure from the Association of California School Administrators led to a last-minute rewrite that now excludes high schools.
Two bills currently making their way in the state legislature are intended to provide better media literacy and awareness in K-12 classes: AB 2071, which would add digital wellness to middle and high school health courses, and AB 1766, which aims to include health instruction in how to avoid exploitative and false online content. — Shawn Price
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