CIGARETTES, ASBESTOS, AND lead paint were all commonplace for decades before the public fully understood their long-term damaging health impacts. Since these items were cheap and widely available, they were used without most giving it a second thought, that is, until the dangers were revealed. Fast forward through a few exponential leaps in technology and, today, we are faced with different but equally dangerous sources of risk that are as much of a household staple as bread and milk, namely, phones and computers.
With technology, though, we have the additional allure of convenience. What are the consequences of having instant access to any and every bit of information at our fingertips? The proliferation of social media platforms has brought about unprecedented challenges, even addictions, particularly for our children and teenagers.
As we have done in the past through prohibition, regulation, and taxation of clear harms, it’s time to take stock through public policy of the toll taken by this ubiquitous technology.
Research has consistently shown a concerning correlation between increased social media usage and deteriorating mental health among our youth. Adolescents on social media are commonly exposed to extreme, inappropriate, and toxic content with minimal filters. Those who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to the US surgeon general. This is deeply concerning, as a recent survey of teenagers showed that, on average, they spend 3.5 hours a day on social media.
Social media platforms have become breeding grounds for cyberbullying. Stories of online harassment leading to suicide and social estrangement feel all too common. Excessive content consumption has also been linked to addiction-like behaviors and diminished attention spans, hindering academic progress and real-world social interactions.
But this isn’t news to companies who profit from youth directed advertising on social media. They know that social media is unsafe for youth engagement but exploit them for pure financial gain.
The line between social media’s obligation to its shareholders and its moral obligation has blurred. A new study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health argues that social media companies “have overwhelming financial incentives to continue to delay taking meaningful steps to protect children.” In fact, that same study calculated that the six major social media companies, which include Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, among others, extract close to $11 billion in ad revenue from users under the age of 18 years old.
The CEOs of multiple social media companies testified in January before federal lawmakers as part of a bipartisan inquiry by the Senate Judiciary Committee into this alarming trend. The overarching question posed was, what responsibility do these companies have to their users, particularly those most vulnerable?
According to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, “Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.”
Clearly, we cannot trust social media companies to do their due diligence when it comes to putting the well-being of our youth first.
As policymakers, not only can and should we take steps to strengthen safety standards and disincentivize potentially damaging media practices, we should also hold these companies’ feet to the fire where it matters most: their bottom lines. Now, just like we tax cigarette companies, and sued the Sackler family for harm done to families by opioids, we need to hold social media accountable.
This session, I have filed S.1892, an act taxing the mental health impacts of social media. This bill would impose a graduated tax on social media companies that collect consumer data, based on the number of users they serve in Massachusetts.
The bill provides that 90 percent of the revenue generated from the tax would go into a Mental Health Resilience Fund dedicated to innovative solutions to improve youth mental health, including providing mental health counseling in summer camps and afterschool programs and in-home therapy for children in crisis.
The other 10 percent would go to community access TV supporting digital and media literacy. By redirecting resources toward resilience initiatives, we can intervene early, mitigate long-term harmful ramifications, and foster healthier spaces for our children to relate to others.
Just as other public health initiatives target risk factors to prevent the spread of disease, proactively addressing what is by far the most extensive root cause of the mental health epidemic for our youth only makes sense. We must hold social media platforms accountable and let them know that predatory engagement metrics for profit cannot be put above our children’s well-being.
Susan Moran is a Democratic state senator from Falmouth.
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