Never mind Hooked on Phonics. Seattle Public Schools teachers say students are hooked on social media. School district lawyers allege the platforms are addictive on purpose—and to blame for a growing health crisis. And it’s serious enough that the district is willing to take the issue to court.
Anxiety, depression, and disordered eating are on the rise nationwide. According to Mental Health America, “Over one in 10 youth in the U.S. are experiencing depression.” The organization says depression hinders young people’s “ability to function” in school and elsewhere.
School district lawyers claim social media content directly affects schools’ educational success. Many schools have made changes. Administrators are finding more mental health experts, social media lesson plans, and teacher training necessary.
Seattle’s lawsuit includes supporting data showing that 2009-2019 saw a large increase in the number of public school students with mental health issues. Some students reported feeling “so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row” that they stopped doing some activities.
The district’s suit seeks to hold the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat accountable.
The companies “have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth,” the official complaint reads. It claims social media platforms “hook” students on their products. Further, the suit says they “recommend and promote harmful content to youth.”
Big Tech companies deny the problems lie with them. Meta owns Facebook. Officials say Facebook features more than 30 tools to support teens and their families. But studies reveal the company knew Instagram (also owned by Meta) negatively affected teenagers. The platform allegedly harms body image and worsens eating disorders and thoughts of self-harm.
Snap Inc. says it works to protect young people on its platform. “We will continue working to make sure our platform is safe and to give Snapchatters dealing with mental health issues resources,” the company says.
A Google spokesperson asserts that YouTube has “invested heavily in creating safe experiences for children.” YouTube offers parental power to set reminders, limit screen time, and block certain types of content on children’s devices.
The Seattle school district wants the court to order tech companies to stop creating a public nuisance and to award damages. It also wants the platforms to pay for treatment for excessive social media use.
If past performance is any sign, social media seems unlikely to change its ways. People—even children—must control their own behavior. Even if that means hitting “delete.”
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. — Proverbs 25:28
Why? Every person must accept responsibility for his or her own actions. That includes how we use our time and how we manage social media. But it also includes what we choose to promote to others for personal gain.
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Okay, get ready for a very opinionated read...
I am personally against social media! Let me list my problems with them:
1. TikTok - Like all social media platforms it feeds a lot of unhealthy thoughts and behaviors. A few of my friends have gone into serious depression because they aren't like the trending girls on TikTok. They don't have all the things to "make it." They aren't happy with who God made them to be because they aren't "popular". They are hiding their real selves to be what the world wants them to be. Now, I'm not saying that always happens... but more often then not, it does. Personal story:
When I was in grade 5 a boy in my class died because of TikTok. Now I know that sounds a little over dramatic, but it's true. Like I said a boy in my class died because of TikTok... he was home alone one afternoon after school, his family was going to be home in like an hour. He was on TikTok looking up tricks to do, when he came across these dare thingy's. Being a 10 year old boy he didn't really think things through, and he tried a dare. His family came home to find him dead. People on TikTok put those dares on TikTok knowing full well they were VERY dangerous and even deadly. If that boy had not been home alone when he did it, or if his family had come home earlier he might've lived. But that's not the point. The point is he died meaninglessly because of a dare someone posted on TikTok. My parents won't tell me what the dare was, all I know is that is was bad, that it went wrong (like it was meant to do) and a 10 year old boys life was cruelly ended. The people who posted those dares never should have been allowed to. The owners of TikTok should have settings and rules in place to prevent those kinds of things from happening, but they don't. Social media is not good, no matter what.
2. Instagram - Ditto Facebook, TikTok (minus the personal story) and YouTube...
3. Facebook - Facebook is terrible!!!! Okay, don't get me wrong... don't you love that you can just search up anyone under the sun and find out all about them?!?! Yeah, that's the problem. Do you know how many people have been stalked, kidnapped or murdered because some weirdo looked them up on Facebook and found out all about them and then was able to go and get them? Sounds creepy when I put it like that but it's true! Meta doesn't care about the safety of their users, they just care about the money. Did you know that large social medias have the right to sell your info to the highest bidder? Yep, it's true. When you get a social media app and agree to their terms and conditions, you give them free reign on your ALL your info.
4. YouTube - YouTube isn't that bad... I guess... I use it for my exercise, dance, art/craft videos etc. But it's not all good, there are inappropriate videos on there. And even though Meta says they have special settings in place to prevent those things from playing on kids devices, they are ways around those settings. So, YouTube is a good/bad.
5. Snapchat - Ditto YouTube, TikTok (minus the personal story) and Facebook...
Okay, I'm done. Thank you for taking the time to read my opinion. I hope I didn't offend anyone, it was, again, my opinion. I do hope however that maybe it gave you something to think upon. However in all of that I would just like to finish and say:
Social media can be okay if you have self-control, self-control not to watch those videos, to look up those videos, to believe the lies screaming at you from every post. But many young people these days haven't been taught to be careful, or to have self-control. Many of them don't know how to keep themselves safe. I pray for them, that they might have self-control and that they may might be wise in their decisions.
Oops!
That was longer than I realized!! Sorry :)
Sad story
My sister has issues with Snapchat streaks. She has like s 5 year streak she feels she can't lose
Sad story
My sister has issues with Snapchat streaks. She has like s 5 year streak she feels she can't lose
Sorry
It double posted
@ Cherith
Agreed to all of the above, I don't really have any social media, other than discord, which is more of a group chat app, and youtube, which I use for school, and I don't plan on getting social media, though I can see the usefulness in having it to stay connected with friends in other countries, or keep in the loop with what your school is doing, or promote a business, but there are a lot of downsides. Also TickTok can cause mental disorders beyond depression... and it isn't healthy to spend 5 hours a day on social media... to kind of put it in the words of Yoda, "When you look at social media, careful you must be, or it will consume you."
Funny Yoda line
I spend 6-7 hours on electronics
But I don't use social media unless you count email and Lego ideas or kids messenger
I spend most of my time on a game called Lightgliders. Since I have a rank on there. So I have to stop drama.
So I'm much about social media asides from what I have observed from my friends or sisters
One of my friends seems to have gotten victim mentality from Instagram and YouTube
Typo sorry
It changed
So Idk much
To
So I'm much
Sorry!
re funny yoda line
Yeah, I do tend to spend a lot of time on electronics it's closer to 3 or 4 hours a day, but for school related purposes, or if I'm reading books.
I do have a lot of friends on social media, but I haven't seen first hand the downside of it.
@ Cherith
um not sure if you noticed but Meta does not own YouTube Google does. The only one that I like would be YouTube because there is so much useful information on there, I don't like the shorts; it seems they are trying to compete with TikTok with them. Of course, if TikTok gets banned then... hurray! no more TikTok.