Seattle Public Schools files lawsuit against social media giants for ‘creating’ youth mental health crisis

LIke, comment, share. Three words that seem to drive the internet and the need for constant approval from friends, family, and complete strangers. The process includes both instant approval and the darker side of the internet, rejection. For teenagers and young adults that have not developed adequate resources to deal with rejection and negativity, the sting can create dangerous and sometimes fatal mental health issues.

The problem can also impact those who believe they have the ability to deal with the constant stream of negativity and can feel the adverse effects and mental health challenges, young and old alike.

Seattle’s public school district has decided to take action and is suing some of the biggest social media companies, demanding the platforms pay up for poisoning kids’ brains and making it harder to teach.

The lawsuit filed Friday by Seattle Public Schools against companies behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, and YouTube is seeking compensatory damages to expand the district’s mental health resources.

So, should Big Tech companies be on the hook for additional mental health resources?

The school district argues the apps worsen a growing youth mental health crisis and that the ability of teachers to do their jobs in their jobs.

“Defendants have successfully exploited the vulnerable brains of youth, hooking tens of millions of students across the country into positive feedback loops of excessive use and abuse of Defendants’ social media platforms,” the lawsuit said.

In a statement Saturday, Seattle Public Schools lamented students “are struggling with anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation.”

“This crisis was already growing before the pandemic, and research has identified social media as playing a major role in causing mental health problems in youth,” the school said.

While the King County Council recently allocated additional resources for school-based services, taxpayers should not bear the burden for the mental health crisis social media companies have created, as explained in the complaint.

The lawsuit aims to hold these companies accountable for their actions and set youth mental health trends back on the right trajectory.

School Board President Brandon Hersey explained, “Our first and greatest priority is the health and well-being of our students. Clearly, this includes the social and emotional harm that they suffer because of the negative impacts of social media. By taking aim at the social media companies, we are sending a clear message that it is time for them to prioritize the health of children over the revenues they make from advertising.”

“Research tells us that excessive and problematic use of social media is harmful to the mental, behavioral, and emotional health of youth and is associated with increased rates of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, eating disorders, and suicide.”

The school district said almost 50% of students report spending one to three hours a day on social media in Washington state — and that 30% say they spend three or more hours on the apps.

“Our students – and young people everywhere – face unprecedented learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media,” Superintendent Brent Jones said in a statement

“Taxpayers should not bear the burden for the mental health crisis social media companies have created,” the district said.

Common Sense Media published the results of a survey in March of this year that showed that the overall screen use among teens and tweens increased by 17 percent from 2019 to 2021 — growing more rapidly than in the four years prior.

On average, daily screen use went up among tweens (ages 8 to 12) to five hours and 33 minutes from four hours and 44 minutes, and to eight hours and 39 minutes from seven hours and 22 minutes for teens (ages 13 to 18).

Read the complete survey results here.

School districts like Seattle Public Schools have been significantly impacted by the resulting crisis. Like school districts across the country, Seattle Public Schools’ schools and school-based clinics are one of the main providers of mental health services for school-aged children in the community. But the school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses need greater resources to meet the high demand for services.