Protecting Kids From The Harmful Effects of Social Media

Today we're exploring the harmful effects of social media on kids and teens, and what is being done to address them. This has been an interesting week, with the state of Ohio's new law that requires parents to consent to children under the age of 16 now on hold, because of a lawsuit filed by an organization representing the tech industry. That group, NetChoice, got a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction to stay the law, that was supposed to go into effect on Monday, January 15th. In addition, Meta, which owns both Facebook and Instagram, announced some voluntary controls on what kids and teens can see in their feeds, and access through searches.These new restrictions are related to topics which have been shown to harm mental health, including body image, suicide, and more. Listen now to my conversation with Professor of Practice, Julie Cajigas, who teaches classes on social media at the University of Akron: