A wave of recent changes is leading to a rising hope in bringing widespread awareness to the dangers of online content and tech usage, and opening the door for real solutions for parents.
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The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, has requested that Congress require a surgeon general’s warning be posted on all social media platforms that would state that “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents”, he wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
“A surgeon general’s warning? Like that thing on cigarette packets that says they’ll cause cancer?”
Exactly. The problem of social media is deadly serious. Let’s review some statistics:
- Nearly 50% of teens say they are online “almost constantly”, according to Pew Research.
- Teen depression is a major epidemic in the United States.
- Emergency room visits and suicide rates for teens have risen dramatically since 2010 (the approximate time widespread smartphone adoption began).
While social media can’t be blamed entirely, it most certainly is one of the main causes for these issues (if you’re not convinced on that or want to go deeper, I recommend reading “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt). Dr. Murthy roughly quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous saying, “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children”. Technology and social media specifically flooded our world so quickly, but now that we are catching on to its negative effects, we need to take action.
And taking action we are!
Here are a few highlights of recent major changes being taken surrounding internet safety in America.
PornHub Takedown
PornHub, the world’s largest online pornography site (by content and traffic), and a notorious offender of hosting and profiting off of CSAM, is making itself inaccessible in over a dozen US states in protest to these states passing age verification laws. These trailblazer states are making an exciting first step in protecting children from the plague of accidental and forced exposure to pornography that has a majorly detrimental impact to kids’ developing brains. I hope to continue to see parents across the country step up and put pressure on their officials to pass more laws like these.
No Phones In School?!
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest school district in the country, has moved to ban cellphone use during the school day. It’s common sense (and backed by statistics) that kids using their phones during the school day is bad for their education, attention spans, and mental health. But because phone usage became so commonplace and hard to control, schools have struggled to catch up… until now! Local leaders, with the support of communities of concerned and caring parents, are working on implementing things like “phone lockers” to keep kids off of their phones while at school. If this catches on nationally, I expect to see significant improvements in education scores and mental health for Gen Z.
You and Yours
Top-level leaders won’t (or at least shouldn’t) make any changes that their constituents don’t want. Thankfully, people all around the country are taking their own steps to advocate for their kids and the people around them and catalyzing change. Whether it be through improving internet safety in your own home and sharing your practices and experiences with people around you, hosting events at your churches and schools, voting for candidates who promise to advocate for you, or whatever other way you can find to get involved, every person matters in this battle. We can all support one another and work towards improving tech for the coming generations.
Wherever you’re at in your internet safety journey, there are always great things you can do to continue improving life for yourself and those around you. Check out the rest of my blog to learn more about a variety of internet safety topics, and feel free to reach out to me to talk more about the individual needs and questions you and your family have.
Until next time!
Casey
