Federal law on social media will help parents protect their children
As a parent and the executive director of Latinos for Tennessee, I’m concerned about the impact social media has on our children. I believe that providing tools that empower parents to create a safe online environment is essential to addressing mental health issues, especially in the Latino community.
Celeste Campos-castillo, an associate professor at Michigan State University, stated “Latino adolescents have a higher rate of social media use than their white counterparts. Moreover, they face greater risks of experiencing adverse mental health outcomes and face steeper barriers to accessing mental health care ...”
The Institute for Family Studies (IFS) and the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) recently released a policy brief outlining concerns about how online platforms are harming the welfare of our kids. In their paper, experts presented possible policy solutions to keep our kids safe online.
The brief by IFS and EPPC presented one particularly smart solution that would allow parents to set parental consent controls right in the app store so that parents can set parameters one time and have them apply to all apps. This solution streamlines and simplifies parental consent and ensures that emerging apps aren’t bypassing controls.
Here’s why a national approach is essential to empowering parents
Congress should act and pass legislation that gives parents the tools necessary to protect their children online. While legislation has passed in certain states, a federal solution is needed to ensure uniform implementation across the country.
Federal legislation should address concerns about the harm of digital platforms and avoid the mistake some states have made to target specific platforms instead of all social media companies – applying any steps to protect children across the board.
Inaction by Congress has vast implications for online safety as new social media platforms are continually launched without parental concerns being addressed. By logically housing parental consent levers within app stores, parents can ensure their kids remain protected without being disconnected.
But let’s be clear: a unified front is needed at an industry-wide level to ensure children are safe online. No platform should be excluded from compliance, no matter their popularity or their development stage. In a recent 2023 Gallup and IFS study, mental health problems solely associated with Youtube and Tiktok were examined. And despite controlling total social media time, no other platforms studied (including Instagram, X/twitter, Facebook, and others) had the same negative effects on the mental health index as Youtube and Tiktok.
Hence, another reason why every online platform must be treated equally and regulated accordingly to ensure that the access of children is being protected. All verification policies must be unilateral across all fronts to guarantee that all companies abide by keeping online safety for children a priority.
Social media apps are contributing to children’s declining mental health
When it comes to parental consent policy, parents must not be left out of the conversation. For many of the challenges associated with social media, parents know best how to ensure the safety of their children and protect their mental health.
As a recent study by the 2023 Institute for Families Studies found, over the past 10 to 15 years, social media apps have coincided with the mental health decline of U.S. teens and, in some cases, the doubling of suicide rates.
Congress should listen to and empower parents. We also must work as a Latino community to protect our youth, as a recent survey from Civicscience shows Hispanic adults are nearly twice as likely to say it’s ‘more harmless’ than non-hispanic adults.
The mental health of future generations depends on our federal representatives taking appropriate action to protect minor children.
Congress must empower parents to protect children and hold all online platforms to an equal standard so that parents are not left trying to decipher where their children will be safe online and where they won’t.
Raul Lopez is co-founder and chairman of Latinos for Tennessee .