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Washington: Lawmakers in the US are pushing to raise the minimum age for social media access to 16 years in a bid to protect children and improve their mental health.
Senator Josh Hawley, who has put forth the bill, said, “For me, this is about protecting kids, protecting their mental health, protecting their safety. There’s ample evidence to this effect that big tech companies put their profits ahead of protecting kids online.”
Senior political analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum Kelsey Bolar said that the bill proposed by Hawley is controversial but “very important”.
She said, “This was a proposal put forth by Sen. Josh Hawley, and I do give him a lot of credit for starting a very important conversation regarding the harmful effects of social media on children.”
“We know that children and adults have very different brains. Children’s brains are very impressionable. We also know there’s a mental health crisis among children right now, and social media is directly tied to that,” she added.
According to the Common-Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, approximately 38 per cent of children aged between 8 and 12 and 84 per cent of teenagers use social media in the US.
The Making Age-Verification Technology Uniform, Robust, and Effective Act (MATURE) would put an age limit on all social media users, preventing anyone below 16 years from creating an account on social media platforms.
Is social media responsible for poor mental health?
According to new data released by Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rates of depression and suicidal thoughts have increased dramatically among American teenagers in a decade.
Many psychologists and lawmakers believe that social media is to be blamed for this exponential rise in severe mental health cases.
According to a Pew Survey, teenagers spend the majority of their time on apps like YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook.
Academic research and testimony from children show that America’s youth is struggling with poor mental health.
Experts believe that constant use of social media causes feelings of inadequacy, isolation, anxiety and stress among American youth.
Parents, schools sue social media platforms
A dozen of parents in the US have taken the extreme step of suing various social media platforms.
Last month, a number of public schools in Seattle sued major social media companies for exploiting the “vulnerable brains of youth” for profit.
A psychologist, Don Grant said according to a report by Scroll, “It’s like every night, kids all over the country sneak out of their houses and go to play in the sewers under the city with no supervision. That’s what being online can be like.”
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