Mental health and child experts are reminding parents about the overuse of social media during the holidays. Attorneys general from 42 states have put together a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook. The dozens of AGs claim the company’s products are responsible for harming the mental health of adolescents.
As the legal battles begin to unfold, parents are urged not to ban all social media use for their kids. Child psychiatrist Dr. Leslie Hulvershorn [from Indiana University Health] says research shows total bans by parents actually do more harm than good. And Hulvershorn adds, “There is some research that absolutely no access to social media or devices is not effective, that kids tend to sort of figure out how to get there. So, some happy medium where there is some degree of supervision, some degree of autonomy.
According to the Pew Research Center 69% of adults and 81% of teenagers in the U.S. use social media. Louisiana is among the 42 states which are part of the federal lawsuit against Facebook parent company Meta. Arkansas and Texas are not among the list of states.
Many people ask why is this legal fight only happening now? Authorities explain that years-long investigations have been underway. Accusations by former employees have provided investigators with valuable insight, like the ways in which Meta profited from creating knowingly addictive platforms for children and teenagers. They push users to descend into “rabbit holes” to maximize engagement. Authorities, for example, learned that features like infinite scroll and near-constant alerts keep the child or teenager staying put.
Shreveport Psychologist Dr. Bruce McCormick talks about the power of offsetting anxiety. “Something that makes your anxiety go away, even for a moment. And if an anxious person, to get on Facebook, have their mind eased a little bit, just a little bit, just ten minutes of not being so worried. That is so reinforcing, they’re going to go back, and they’re going to go back.” Dr. McCormick says social media use has become a permanent fixture in society. It’s not going anywhere.
The key, according to Dr. McCormick, is how we choose to use social media platforms moving forward. But some platforms have such an addictive aspect to them that the threat of overuse or abuse will continue to be a concern. He cautions, “More time spending on one thing, you’re not doing something else. The more time you’re spending in a mindless Facebook world, it’s the time that you’re not meeting people, or doing something else that helps you with your sense of self satisfaction, or knowledge or competence. And I’m seeing it more and more with my clients.” In fact, Dr. McCormick says asking clients to lessen their amount of time on social media has been met with strong resistance to the idea.
