Schools Sue Social Media Giants for Harming Student Mental Health
According to a CBS News report, Seattle Public Schools – the largest school district in Washington – is suing social media giants, alleging they “exploit the psychology and neurophysiology of their users,” harming kids’ vulnerable brains for profit.
The lawsuit was filed against Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, as well as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and others, claiming the companies knowingly pushed products that harm young people. “Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the suit says, adding that their “misconduct has been a substantial factor in causing a youth mental health crisis.”
As stated in its complaint, Seattle Public Schools claims that it has seen a 30% increase from 2009 to 2019 of students who said they feel “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that [they] stopped doing some usual activities.” Those figures are in line with a nationwide increase in students experiencing persistent feelings of sadness and who struggled with suicidal feelings, planned, or attempted to take their own lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
When the pandemic hit in 2020, these issues have only increased, with “the U.S. surgeon general reporting last year that depressive and anxiety symptoms doubled among youth worldwide since the pandemic began.”
According to the article, social media has exacerbated the problem.
A 2022 Pew Research study found that 97% of surveyed teens use the internet each day, with 35% of teens using at least one social media platform – YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook – “almost constantly.” This excessive social media use has been linked to mental health decline. A 2020 study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that girls who use more than two hours of social media daily may experience higher rates of depression and suicidality.
“This mental health crisis is no accident,” the suit asserts. “It is the result of the Defendants’ deliberate choices and affirmative actions to design and market their social media platforms to attract youth.”
The problems with social media are inherent in their design, according to the complaint. Companies deliberately created designs that “promote excessive and problematic use” and manipulate the “biochemical reaction” within users’ brains as they engage with content on the platforms. As Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress, “an internal document from Meta made public last year that reveals the tech giant knew its photo and video sharing app Instagram was making 1 in 3 teenage girls feel worse about their bodies while also leading them to dangerous content, such as disordered eating.”
In December 2022, more than 1,200 families across the country sued Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Roblox for “allegedly knowing they were negatively impacting children.” This lawsuit is the first by a school district rather than individual families.
In a statement posted on its website, Seattle Public Schools said that its 55,000+ students have been “significantly impacted” by the rapidly-rising rates of mental health issues seen among youth. The lawsuit is the “first step towards holding social media companies accountable for the harm they have wreaked on the social, emotional, and mental health of its students.”
According to district superintendent Brent Jones, “Our students – and young people everywhere – face unprecedented, learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media.”
The district has mental health services in place but claims that families, “schools and taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for a mental health crisis that it says social media companies created.” The lawsuit asks that social media titans be held liable “for distributing material they know or should know is harmful or unlawful,” and asks for monetary damages to fund “education and treatment for excessive and problematic use of social media.”
In response, Meta issued an email statement saying it has developed more than 30 tools to support teens and their families and will continue to work closely with interested parties – experts, policymakers, and parents – to keep kids safe.
According to Reuters, Google described its heavy investment in creating safe experiences for children across its platforms and the introduction of “strong protections and dedicated features to prioritize their well-being,” while Snap cited its close work with many mental health organizations to provide in-app tools and resources for users, reiterating that the well-being of its community is its top priority. TikTok did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Cohen, Li. “Facebook, YouTube, TikTok among tech giants sued by Seattle schools for allegedly contributing to youth mental health crisis.” CBS News, 9 Jan 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-youtube-tiktok-sued-seattle-schools-youth-mental-health-crisis/.
Photo by Florian Schmetz on Unsplash