Legislating Social Media

Jonathan Haidt interviewed Prince Harry on October 10, 2024, to discuss the harmful effects of smartphones. Prince Harry said smartphones are “stealing young people’s childhoods.” I am grateful to them for continuing to spread the word, and I agree that an age limit increase to 16 on social media could be helpful, but it won’t help anyone resist the infinite scroll which retrains the brain to be unfocused. It also doesn’t help anyone over the age of 16. 

There are many people supporting the passing of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which was first presented in December of 2023. 

KOSA states the following: 

Covered platforms must take reasonable measures in the design and operation of products or services used by minors to prevent and mitigate certain harms that may arise from that use (e.g., sexual exploitation and online bullying). Additionally, covered platforms must provide (1) minors with certain safeguards, such as settings that restrict access to minors' personal data; and (2) parents or guardians with tools to supervise minors' use of a platform, such as control of privacy and account settings.

Covered platforms must also

• disclose specified information, including details regarding the use of personalized recommendation systems and individual-specific advertising to minors;

• allow parents, guardians, minors, and schools to report certain harms;

• refrain from facilitating advertising of age-restricted products or services (e.g., tobacco and gambling) to minors; and

• annually report on foreseeable risks of harm to minors from using the platform.

These are reasonable and humane guidelines, but unfortunately KOSA is not a blanket solution to the smartphone addiction that has rewired multiple generations. There is also room for more sophisticated guardrails driven by behavior-change science that can help in getting you(th) off social media and into the world. We are working diligently on a solution that makes the phone more humane and integrates our proven resilience-building curriculum. We are targeting older teens, young adults, and their parents who will not be able to benefit from the age restrictions. They are already hooked and want help using social media less.

This is a critical gap that hasn't been addressed. They are old enough to have social media according to KOSA guidelines, but from a neuroscience perspective, their prefrontal cortex is still wiring and in a critical phase of development. LOOK is here to help.