A Wisconsin child development specialist said new protections set for Instagram and Facebook are “a step in the right direction” after a lawsuit between owner Meta and dozens of states was settled this week
Wisconsin was one of 47 states that filed claims against social media giant Meta, alleging the company harmed children and designed their platforms to be addictive to children. Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion as part of the settlement over a 10-year period, with Wisconsin to receive between $219 million and $313 million.
According to the settlement, at least 50 percent of the funds would go to addressing harms from social media and protecting children’s mental health. The company is also set to roll out new restrictions on the platforms for users under 18 as part of the settlement, including “hard caps” on daily time limits and restrictions on social media usage at certain times of night.
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“It’s worth celebrating that these are moves in the right direction,” Roxy Etta, child development and parenting state specialist with UW-Extension, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “But also recognizing, it really took a lot of effort to get here, and Meta didn’t really do this out of the goodness of their hearts.”
But, Etta said the new protections alone are not enough to protect kids on these platforms, and talked with WPR about what parents can do while these new features are being implemented.
The following was edited for clarity and brevity.
Rob Ferrett: As part of this settlement, Meta will place daily time limits for children using Instagram and Facebook to a couple hours per day. Is that enough of a cap on children’s use of these social media platforms?
Roxy Etta: The field in general has really tried to sort of shift away from solely seeing importance on hours per day. Because I think what matters above and beyond the amount of time that kids are spending on screens is what their experience is like on a screen.
Two hours of sitting on a social media platform and getting pushed body image content, violent content — things that are not great for kids — is no better than being on a screen for three hours and chatting with friends and learning something new and having a better experience. So I think that it is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough.
RF: This settlement is just for Meta platforms, Facebook and Instagram. There are platforms like TikTok and YouTube that are not subject to these new protections. Are you looking for either similar lawsuits or changes in policy for other platforms?
RE: We ideally wouldn’t be playing whack-a-mole with tech platforms. The bigger conversation that I’m hearing now is that we really need federal regulation for Congress to establish protections across platforms — the Kids Online Safety Act and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act, in particular — to set the standard across the industry.
RF: Some of your work involves working with parents. What do you recommend parents do with their kids as they grow into using social media?
RE: If you are a parent that’s struggling with this, you are not alone. I talk with parents about this all the time. It feels like an isolating, individual family issue, but really the families are struggling with this around the world. This is extremely difficult to navigate as a parent.
My top recommendation is that you talk with your child about what they’re experiencing online, what they’re experiencing in media in general, starting at the earliest ages. When they are getting on these social media platforms, talk to them about what their feed is like. How does it make them feel? You don’t need to be an expert. You don’t need to have all the answers, but research has shown that discussing media use and being open and non-judgmental with your child can really be a big protective factor for them.
I also think it’s helpful in general to think about how these apps and how often they’re being used, what that might be replacing in your child’s day if you feel like it is taking up too much time. Are those pillars of child development being protected, like sleep, face-to-face time and physical activity? If you feel like those important things are getting crowded out of your kid’s day, how can you get them back? Sleep, in particular, is a really important one.
I think having rules about screen time at night and staying consistent about them is important. Ideally, no phones, screens or TVs in the bedroom is ideal. Maybe have everyone in the family charge their phones in the kitchen at night, so they’re just off and away. Your behavior as an adult really matters, because you are your kid’s first teacher. You are a role model, and your habits really speak volumes to kids.
