AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The American Psychological Association (APA) is calling on social media platforms to create “special protections” to help offset the negative effects of social media usage for children and teenagers.
A new study from the APA found people under the age of 25 have more vulnerabilities that social media companies may take advantage of. This includes responses to social feedback, relationship skills, malicious actors and the need for sleep.
“Platforms built for adults are not inherently suitable for youth,” the study says. “Social media use, functionality, and permissions/consenting should be tailored to youths’ developmental capabilities.”
State Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville — who authored and passed the SCOPE Act during the last legislative session — said parents cannot bear all of the responsibility when it comes to oversight of social media for kids.
“Our children’s attention span is a commodity for these platforms. And they, unfortunately, have a financial incentive to maximize that attention span,” she said. “I think we’ve seen clearly that if government doesn’t try to intervene on the behalf of our children, the industry isn’t inclined to do anything outside of what serves a profit motive.”
The SCOPE Act, which stands for “Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act” goes into effect in September. It aims to protect minors from potentially harmful content on social media platforms. It gives parents and guardians more tools for shielding their kids from “addictive algorithms” and prevents social media companies from collecting private information about minors.
“We have a population of citizens who are not mature enough — intellectually, emotionally, developmentally — to handle some of some of the effects that social media has created,” Slawson said.
Study cites potential psychological harms to adolescence
According to APA, children and teenagers lack a strong ability to control impulses, which often leads to “infinitive scroll,” and distraction.
“The lack of time limits on social media use similarly is challenging for youth, particularly during the school day or at times when they should be doing homework,” the report says.
Difficulty to put screens away can lead to a lack of sleep, which researchers say has greater developmental consequences. It cited using social media too late at night as “the predominant reason” teens get less than the recommended amount of sleep.
The report calls on lawmakers and social media companies to change platform features and policies. `
Brooke Shannon, an Austin mother of three, decided not to allow her kids to have smartphones until at least eighth grade. She and her husband only just allowed their oldest to get social media, and they use parental controls to only allow 30 minutes of usage on one app each day.
“A lot of parents will say, ‘Well, aren’t you worried about your kids being left out?’” she said. “And it’s so ironic to me because when we say yes to social media, we’re giving them a device that showing them in a million ways how they’re being left out.”
It’s why Shannon founded “Wait Until 8th,” an organization that encourages other parents to take a pledge to do the same.
“Somewhere between third and sixth grade, the peer pressure is on and people start caving. And that was why so many kids had phones,” she said. “But what if we came together and said, ‘we’re not going to do this together.’ Would that make a difference? And that was how the pledge started.”
“Wait Until 8th” tips for parents
Shannon said there are a variety of ways parents can make sure their children stay safe online. Their website offers this six-step “game plan” for parents:
- Disable your child’s ability to download and delete apps from the app store in the settings of your child’s phone. Learn how to disable app downloading and deleting here.
- research the app before allowing your child on the field.
- Adhere to the age recommendation provided in the app review.
- Talk to your child about the app’s potential challenges and risks. Discuss how your team will keep the app in check.
- Start with one app at a time. New players to social media especially need to demonstrate maturity before downloading additional platforms. Granting access to Snapchat and Instagram at the same time will be too much for you and your player.
- Monitor how your child is using the app. Don’t hesitate to suspend the app if your child is struggling with it. Enlist Bark if you need help monitoring texts, email, YouTube, and 24+ social media platforms for signs of potential issues.
She also encourages parents to get “dummy” smartphones if they want easy ways to communicate with their kids but without all of the capabilities of calling and texting anyone, as well as downloading social media apps.
“You don’t need to get them a fancy iPhone for them to be able to call you when they’re done with soccer,” she said.
Shannon applauds legislative efforts like Slawson’s but believes more reforms need to be passed. The Republican representative said she is eager to see what the House speaker outlines for interim charges while Texas lawmakers are not in session but said she is interested in expanding on protections for children online.
In his list of interim charges for the Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he wants senators to monitor the implementation of Slawson’s legislation, as well as continue looking into “unfair trade practices” by certain digital services and devices, and consider the “use and transfer of electronic devices” to students in Texas public schools.