Texas lawmakers met this week to discuss the negative effects of social media on children and evaluate potential solutions to the lack of oversight on these sites.
Testimonies were presented to the Joint Committee to Study the Effects of Media on Minors to explain the effects that social media has on children through inappropriate content and data mining, per Texas Scorecard.
Dr. Linda McGee, a pediatrician who represents the Texas Medical Association and Texas Pediatric Society, provided testimony to say that social media is addictive and companies are taking advantage of children’s minds because they are “primed for addiction.”
“It’s hard to ban. Social media is pervasive, and it does do some good things,” McGree added, per Texas Scorecard.
“But what we can do is make it less addictive and safer. So we continue to advocate for the enforcement of restrictions of data mining on minors. If you take away the media companies’ ability to target minors with advertising, you take away their incentive to keep minors on their product.”
State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), co-chair of the Joint Committee to Study the Effects of Media on Minors, said the Lone Star State must take action because there has been “no significant change to protect minors from the harms we continue to see on social media.”
“Study after study shows an increase in self-harm, an increase in body dysmorphia in our girls, an increase in porn addiction and aggression in our boys and the steady increase in suicide for all youth,” he said, per Texas Metro News.
Patterson added that social media companies’ lack of accountability is a “slap in the face to every Texan” and that changes must be made quickly, per the Texas Scorecard.
Although these testimonies did not lead to immediate change, Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) said she plans to re-file a bill that would require social media companies to create filters that block minors from accessing certain materials that may be inappropriate, according to Spectrum Local News.
Paxton said that she also plans to file bills that could help regulate social media usage by minors if the Texas legislature does not pass this legislation.
While many point out the negative aspects of children’s social media usage, some experts claim that certain elements could benefit children.
Social media expert Carol Vidal explained that there are instances in which social media can be damaging to children. Still, these sites can also be “used in ways that may be beneficial.”
“For example, many children and teens may find a community that is more accepting of who they are and their identities than their immediate family or school environment. In that sense, social media can facilitate connection with peers who share interests, identities and abilities. Realistically, it is also the way many young people communicate with each other these days,” she added, per John Hopkins Medicine.