YORK COUNTY, S.C. (WBTV) – A new South Carolina law is aiming to cure social media addiction. Parents who have kids at all ages shared they believe social media impacts children’s development.
This new law takes a look at what keeps the kids coming back to these platforms.
“Like a YouTube and he’s watching kids shows, I would sometimes like if it continued, but at the same time, I don’t know what video could be next,” said mother Sarah Newton said.
The state’s new Stop Harm from Addictive Social Media Act requires platforms to treat users 15 and under as children, restricting auto play videos and the display of metrics, including likes and comments.
Emily Williams, a mother of three, said she doesn’t allow her kids on social media, but sees how it’s affected their friends.
“I’ve had to communicate with her like, ‘Okay, all right let’s put this up and go transition.’ So, you know we’re all addicted to a degree,” Williams said.
Representative Brandon Guffey has been advocating for years.
In 2022, he lost his son, Gavin, who was extorted by a scammer online. Gavin’s Law passed in the state, protecting others and leading to national laws. Now, Guffey continues working on more ways to protect kids online.
“This is simply a small step that I think will uphold and will become a national model policy. This is something that everyone should be on board with,” Guffey said. He added, “This generation needs the protections online. It’s something that we’ve never faced before and unfortunately, you know the kids, the younger kids were the guinea pigs.”
The new law also requires social platforms to monitor and limit the time children spend on them. According to the American Psychological Association, 41% of teens who use social media rate their mental health as low, and 10% of the heaviest users showed suicidal intent or self-harm, the association said.
Guffey believes this act will help get kids off their phones and reconnecting with their friends and families.
“You can’t dictate what parents can and can’t do, but if you can keep the kids to where they’re not being raised directly with these addictive features that are keeping them on the devices, they don’t have algorithms that are pushing them directly on them, then hopefully that will transition some of that change,” Guffey said.
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