|
increasing minors' risk of contact with dangerous or harmful people, and increasing minors'
<br /> exposure to age-inappropriate and otherwise harmful content.
<br /> Harm to mental health
<br /> Maximizing minors' time and activities online is linked with worse psychological wellbeing in
<br /> minors in concrete and serious ways that cannot be ignored in the context of the current youth
<br /> mental health crisis.
<br /> Heavy users of digital media are more likely to be unhappy, to be depressed, or to have
<br /> attempted suicide.20 Two nationally representative surveys of U.S. adolescents in grades 8
<br /> through 12 found "a clear pattern linking screen activities with higher levels of depressive
<br /> symptoms/suicide-related outcomes and nonscreen activities with lower levels."21 The same
<br /> research found that suicide-related outcomes became elevated after two hours or more a day
<br /> of electronic device use.22 Among teens who used electronic devices five or more hours a day, a
<br /> staggering 48% exhibited at least one suicide risk factor.23 Of particular concern, a large and
<br /> growing body of research indicates a strong link between time spent on social media—some of
<br /> the services most relentless in their deployment of engagement-maximizing techniques—and
<br /> serious mental health challenges.24 More frequent and longer social media use is associated
<br /> with depression," anxiety,26 and suicide risk factors.27
<br /> Even if some of these documented associations are explained by children's underlying
<br /> emotional challenges, the design features that online platforms deploy to maximize
<br /> engagement are likely to have differential negative effects on these young people. For example,
<br /> children with more negative emotionality may seek endless scrolling as a means of dissociating
<br /> 21 Jean M.Twenge&W. Keith Campbell, Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being:Evidence from
<br /> Three Datasets,90 Psychol.Q.,311(2019). !]..p s://�auslarried i7c I:i.i7liri.i7il7. ov/308 a9387/
<br /> 21 Jean M.Twenge et al.,Increases in Depressive Symptoms,Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Suicide Rates Among
<br /> U.S.Adolescents After 2010 and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time,6 Clinical Psychol.Sci.3,9(2018)
<br /> https:Hdoi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376.See also Jane Harness et al., Youth Insight About Social Media Effects
<br /> on Weloll-Being and Self-Modulating Efforts,71 J.Adolescent Health,324-333 (Sept. 1,2022),
<br /> 10.1016A.jadohealth.2022.04.011;Amy Orben et al., Windows of Developmental Sensitivity to Social Media, 13
<br /> Nature Comm., 1649, (2022), 10.1038/s41467-022-29296-3
<br /> 22 Id.
<br /> 2s Id.
<br /> 24 See, e.g., K.E. Riehm et al.,Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and
<br /> Externalizing Problems Among US Youth,76 JAMA Psychiatry, 1266(2019),
<br /> https:Hdoi.org/10.1001/J`amapsychiatry.2019.2325; N. McCrae et al.,Social Media and Depressive Symptoms in
<br /> Childhood and Adolescence:A Systematic Review,2 Adolescent Res. Rev.,315(2017),
<br /> https:Hdoi.org/10.1007/s4O894-017-0053-4; H.Allcott et al., The Welfare Effects of Social Media, 110 Econ. Rev.
<br /> Am.629 (2020), https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20190658
<br /> 25 Jean M.Twenge&W. Keith Campbell, Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being:Evidence from
<br /> Three Datasets,90 Psychol.Q.at 312(2019). 17„GGpa„s/ pau„p„lain ci i7clai i7I„iri i7i„17 gcw/ CYf3 s....?.f/
<br /> 21 Royal Society for Public Health,#StatusofMind:Social Media and Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing 8
<br /> (MayMa 2017 17GG s: www.rs 17.or..u.sl< sGaGic up loaded dJ2ala27c-01a62-4Jc5-a2c0J55a8887cd0J.adE
<br /> ),.................p........./. .............................................p........................g.................. ............................../.........p....................................... ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................�.................
<br /> 27 Jean M.Twenge&W. Keith Campbell, Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being:Evidence from
<br /> Three Datasets,90 Psychol.Q. (2019). 17GG,� //p�usl:airid.i7clai i7lrri.i7il7. ov/308 s9387/
<br /> Testimony of Josh Golin, Fairplay, February 14, 2023 5
<br />
|