Last week, four of Canada’s largest school boards took the unprecedented step of filing lawsuits against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. The suits allege these social media companies’ platforms are unsafe and addictive and have disrupted student learning.
The boards are seeking at least $4 billion in compensation for changes in the schools’ learning environments, which has “diverted and drained” resources and personnel.
Weeks earlier, the B.C. government proposed legislation that would allow the government to sue social media companies, among others, for the health-related costs of products that are potentially addictive to kids.
These events are the latest signs that we are reaching a tipping point in the conversation on kids’ access to social media and smartphones. Governments may have previously felt they lacked the data or popular support to regulate kids’ use of these platforms and products. Now, they will be negligent if they don’t act.
In Canadian Affairs’ first editorial, published in November, we noted that mental health problems in youth have risen sharply since smartphones and social media platforms became ubiquitous around 2010. The data show spikes in major depression, incidents of self-inflicted injuries, suicide and loneliness among teens.
We argued that this data provided compelling grounds for governments to require social media companies to “age-gate” kids’ access to their platforms and to limit the amount of time teenagers could spend on any one platform in a day.
Last month, New York University professor Jonathan Haidt, a leading researcher in the field, released his latest book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. It goes even further in its recommendations.
Haidt argues that four reforms are needed: no smartphones before high school (only flip phones without internet capability); no social media before age 16; no phones in schools, including high schools; and increased time for kids to engage in unsupervised play.
Some of these measures may strike readers as draconian, especially for free societies such as Canada’s. You might expect conservatives in particular to be almost reflexively opposed.
So it is interesting that the Republican-led state of Florida, where political rhetoric often focuses on freedom and liberty, in late March passed a law restricting social media. The law prohibits kids 13 and under from opening social media accounts and requires 14- and 15-year-olds to obtain parental consent to do so.
A conservative Republican state and a liberal Toronto school board both taking action highlights the non-partisan nature of this issue. One can only hope Canadian governments across the political spectrum can get on board.
Taking action at the level of individual school boards or schools is insufficient. This is an area where governments and policymakers at the provincial, if not national, level must be involved.
As Haidt points out, ubiquitous smartphone and social media access have created a classic collective action dilemma. Parents are rightfully reluctant to limit their own kids’ access for fear of socially excluding their children. Parents and schools need to be compelled to limit phone and social media access together for all kids to see the benefits.
Furthermore, if this issue is tackled in a piecemeal fashion, it is likely the social harms will persist or even widen.
Consider, for example, that many private schools in Canada and the United States have already implemented no-phone policies within their schools. Public schools, by contrast, have struggled to do so, even in provinces that have taken modest steps to limit phone access within classrooms.
If this trend is allowed to continue, there is a risk that the gap in learning outcomes for kids of private and public schools will widen further. Upper-income parents who support strict limits on phones and social media will be given further reason to pull their kids from Canada’s public school system.
The lawsuits launched by Ontario’s school boards similarly only present a partial solution. Even if the boards are successful in court, it will take years to reach a final outcome. In the meantime, the harms will persist, within these school boards and all the rest.
The ground has shifted. Governments must act now to stop these social media companies from harming another generation of kids.
ABSOLUTELY—-Treat smartphones like alcohol. Illegal to purchase or possess for children under 18. Flip phones only with no data capabilities. Taking the multi-billion dollar companies to court is fruitless and expensive. Stand up and do what really needs to be done Canada wide !!!!!!!!!!