As much as the advent of social media has opened up new avenues for discourse, interaction, connection and commerce – there is a flip side to its takeover of popular culture. Left unchecked, social media platforms are now costing us – economically, socially and, most alarmingly – in how they are negatively affecting the mental health of young people.
Given this, it comes as no surprise that people are now launching locally-led and individual efforts to hold social media platforms accountable in the absence of any clear U.S. federal policy or oversight.
It’s past time for federal officials to join them in working to pass policies that both protect the use of social media while better managing its potential for harm. The work and collaboration must be nuanced; it will certainly be contested and controversial, but it can no longer go undone.
