FILE - This combination of 2017-2022 photos shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on mobile devices. (AP Photo/File)
Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson United School Corp. is joining school districts nationwide in a lawsuit against social media companies to call attention to social media’s effects on youth mental health.
The school board voted unanimously to authorize litigation against social media companies at its Aug. 13 board meeting.
What started as a single lawsuit filed by a California school district has morphed into several joint efforts by schools nationwide to combat students’ mental health crises driven by social media. More than 70 schools in Indiana have opted into the same lawsuit, Superintendent Matt Prusiecki said.
The district is represented by Missouri-based Wagstaff & Cartmell, which is representing other Indiana school districts in a lawsuit against TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. One nearby school district, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., joined the suit in January, The (Columbus) Republic, a sister newspaper of the Daily Journal, reported.
Indian Creek teachers are seeing the impact of social media in their classrooms. Social media has resulted in the diversion of resources in an attempt to abate and prevent its use and has resulted in harm to Indian Creek students, according to the resolution to authorize the litigation.
The district opted to join the lawsuit to help it gain traction and illustrate the wide-reaching impact that social media has on children, Prusiecki said.
“The whole point of it is to try to keep social media companies in check, as far as trying to exploit any type of monetary gain at the expense of our children,” Prusiecki said.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy issued an advisory on social media and youth mental health last year calling attention to the “growing concerns about the effects of social media on youth mental health.” He also called for safety warning labels on social media in an op-ed published by The New York Times.
Indian Creek schools used Murthy’s advisory as a basis for authorizing the litigation.
Murthy says social media has both positive and negative impacts on children and adolescents. It can be positive by serving as a source of connection for youth who are marginalized, such as LGBTQ+ community and people with disabilities. However, they are also commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate and harmful content on social media as well. Nearly two-thirds of adolescents are “often” or “sometimes” exposed to hate-based content online, according to the advisory.
Those who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health, according to the advisory. Teenagers spend an average of 3.5 hours a day on social media, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Surgeon General.
Up to 95% of youth ages 13-17 report using a social media platform. Nearly 40% of youth ages eight to 12 report using a social media platform, the survey says.
Social media may perpetuate body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, social comparison and low self-esteem, especially in girls, Murthy said in the advisory.
It was also reported that students are “glued to their phones” now more than ever and that “a growing number of educators” want to change how students use social media, the advisory says. Murthy concluded there is a “consistent relationship between excessive social media use and depression among youth.”
Murthy says the effort to make social media safer and healthier for youth is an effort that should involve groups across the spectrum including policymakers, technology companies, researchers, families and the youth themselves.
Parents and caregivers can make plans in their households to make social media safer and healthier for youth. Murthy recommends establishing “tech-free zones” that help protect sleep and foster in-person relationships, teach children about responsible online behavior and model that behavior.
Policymakers can take steps to strengthen safety standards and limit access to make social media safer, support digital and media literacy and fund additional research, Murthy recommends.
Children and adolescents can adopt healthy practices like limiting time on platforms, blocking unwanted content and being careful about sharing personal information on platforms, Murthy recommends.
Scientists are concerned that a lack of access to data and a lack of transparency from technology companies have been barriers to understanding the full scale of the impact that social media may have on youth mental health. Murthy also calls on technology companies to be more transparent and share data with independent researchers to increase the collective understanding of social media’s impacts.
