BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In a pivotal moment that underscored how powerful and immersive social platforms can be for children and teens, a jury in California this week found both Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms to kids using their services. The jury’s decision in the first-of-its-kind lawsuit — centered on social media addiction...Read More

A key whistleblower in the tobacco industry’s landmark trials of the 1990s has been watching big tech’s recent court battles closely. Jeffrey Stephen Wigand, a biochemist who helped reveal how tobacco companies targeted children and hid just how addictive cigarettes were, has been struck with a feeling of familiarity. Last week’s verdict in a major...Read More

Two-thirds of teenagers have experienced bullying. Connection with stress Almost two-thirds of teenagers aged 10-18 have encountered at least one instance of bullying in the last six months. Children who have frequently encountered bullying have twice the level of stress, according to data from Rating Group/Rating Lab. Bullying is not a ‘childish quarrel’ or a...Read More

Nearly 20 years separate the horrible tragedies at Columbine High School in Colorado and Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In that time, too little has been done to make our schools safer. That’s why our grieving nation is again searching for a solution. If America is ready to get serious about school safety,...Read More

By Judith Ruiz-Branch Parents and advocates across the country are demanding legislation be passed to ensure social media safeguards for children. The push comes after a landmark verdict on March 25 in which a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Meta and Google liable for a woman’s childhood social media addiction. Victoria Hinks, a bereaved parent whose...Read More

Lawmakers around the world, including in the U.S., are racing to ban minors from social media, which effectively mandates digital services check I.D.’s before any person can use their service. While the use of this blunt instrument is usually well intentioned, it will make the internet more dangerous, especially for teens. In an open letter...Read More

Social media Re “Jurors find platforms harmful to children” (A1, March 26): I agree that too much social media use by children can be detrimental to their mental and physical health, but what ever happened to personal responsibility? Young children are in very vulnerable and formative stages. They need and depend on adults to steer...Read More

Today’s teenagers are growing up with a completely different set of social parameters than any generation before them did, thanks to advances in technology. Research finds that about 75 percent of U.S. teens have their own phone, tablet, or similar device. The vast majority of teens are using these devices for social media, such as...Read More

Here’s the dynamic that I think that people will find frustrating. We have many large tech platforms right now. They seek this enormous scale. They reach previously unseen heights, and then they notice they have a problem. And they go in and they try to solve it to some degree, and then they keep growing...Read More

Canada is entering a pivotal moment in its approach to online safety. Prime Minister Mark Carney has signalled that the federal government is considering whether to restrict children’s access to social media as part of new online harms legislation. The proposal reflects growing concern about how digital platforms are shaping young people’s mental health and...Read More