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Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Kari L. Bloom, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Bloom was elected in 2020 for a six-year term. In January, she became the administrative judge overseeing day-to-day running of the court. She was previously in the public defenders office.
As Administrative Judge for Hamilton County Juvenile Court, I can say without hesitation that social media plays a role in every delinquency case I hear, including shootings, arranging to buy or sell a gun or drugs, threatening, bullying, etc. Bad decisions that originate online. Bad decisions that change the trajectory of countless innocent lives.
April is Child Abuse Prevention Awareness Month. Let’s dedicate ourselves to expanding the goal of this campaign to include doing our part to prevent abuse of children via social media. We can do this by increasing public awareness of the negative impact of social media and by supporting current legislation in the Ohio House.
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What happens without the noise
I know from kids who are held in our Youth Detention Center that putting down phones and eliminating social media apps makes a difference. The Youth Center is where children facing serious criminal charges are held to keep them and the community safe while their cases move through Juvenile Court.
The goal of the U.S. Juvenile Court System is to keep children out of detention whenever possible, but sometimes it’s necessary. Kids held in detention are on a regimented routine for living, schooling, and recreation. They’re also absent the distractions and temptations that come with access to social media. Without those distractions, many begin to flourish. We see kids developing thoughts and expressing themselves in ways that contribute to rehabilitation, understanding, and healing.
This kind of healing and positive change in brain development can happen anywhere. What could help parents and children is a national campaign to increase awareness that we face a crisis that we must stop: “the negative impact of digital technology on our ability to think.”
A 14-year-old sits in the courtroom of Hamilton County Juvenile Court Judge Kari L. Bloom, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. The juvenile is currently incarcerated in the Hamilton County Juvenile Youth Center. He made a plea of admit to two felonies, one of which was an assault on a corrections officer and one misdemeanor.
That’s the suggestion of Cal Newport, a computer science professor from Georgetown University. He points out the positive impact that has resulted from national campaigns to reduce heart disease and improve diet and exercise. And who can dispute the results when Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man met their match?
Why not a national campaign focused on raising awareness about the negative impact of destructive social media on a child’s physical safety and mental health?
In addition, on April 2, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives to require warning labels on addictive social media platforms. Ohio HB 808 defines addictive social media platforms as “websites or applications that primarily allow users to interact with content from others and utilize features like ‘addictive feeds’ (content recommended based on user data), push notifications, autoplay videos, infinite scrolling, or visible ‘like counts’ (public displays of positive reactions), to display a warning label to users in Ohio.” The bill calls for civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation, and restitution for users harmed by non-compliance.
Our responsibility to protect
To be clear, I am not anti-technology and appreciate all the good technology has brought us. But as a judge who talks to young people every day and sees the change in kids when social media is limited or temporarily eliminated, I am grateful for these efforts to get use of this type of content under control.
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I also urge all adults to set an example. Monitor the frequency and tone of your own social media use. Put restrictions on your use as well as your children’s use at home and at school. Think about the outside influences on your kids that you can and should control. Talk to your kids − about everything!
Our kids are our future. We should be doing all that we can to make sure that their in-person relationships, at home, in school, and in our communities, are more positive and influential than their relationship to the digital world.
Kari Bloom is the administrative judge of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
Kari Bloom is the administrative judge of the Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Social media is fueling bad decisions that land kids in my courtroom | Opinion
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