Meta, TikTok, Others Being Sued, Here Are 10 Ways Social Media Can Hurt Kids’ Mental Health

By Adam

A 60 Minutes report revealed that over 1200 families have filed lawsuits. … [+]Meta, Snapchat TikTok YouTube and other social media sites. (Photo: Getty)

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This news shouldn’t receive too many “I’m shocked” emojis. Recent research indicates that the number of people who are shocked by this news is approximately 12%. 60 minutesMore than 1,200 families now have lawsuits filed against Meta, TikTok and YouTube. These lawsuits are alleging that such companies’ products and services have had a variety of negative mental health effects on the families’ children. These lawsuits are coming after mental health experts have issued repeated warnings since the mid-2010’s about what social media can do to that thing that sits atop your body. Your head. You know the thing in your middle of all your selfies.

The 60 minutesSharyn alfonsi was interviewed by Sharyn, a reporter who covered the lawsuits. Kathleen Spence (who are suing Meta) was interviewed by Sharyn Alfonsi. The Spences have accused Meta of doing something that doesn’t seem very meta, when the word “meta” is supposed to mean “extremely self-aware, self-reflective.” They have asserted that their daughter, Alexis, developing depression and an eating disorder at the age of 12 after heavily using Instagram, which is owned by Meta. The Spences have complained that Meta did not put in place appropriate precautions so that their daughter wouldn’t be exposed to all those so-called fitness influencers posting pictures of very thin, sometimes sickly thin, bodies. According to the Spences such images could have distorted what their daughter thought was normal-looking bodies. Attorney Matt Bergman, who is representing the Spences, told Alfonsi the following about Meta: “They have intentionally designed a product that is addictive. It is clear that children who stay on the internet make more money if they do so. It doesn’t matter how harmful the material is.”

If the 2010’s were a financial party for social media companies, one of the big questions is who will clean up the resulting mess? Social media is not without its positives. Sure, it’s brought together many people who may have otherwise never met. It can give people more voice and help them learn new skills. It can show you more cat videos and how to make an owl from an apple, or an owl-pple. Yes, it has been a great tool for social justice.

However, social media can act as a combination of an anvil or a pair o’ underwear. It can be very useful if used correctly. Social media can prove to be extremely harmful if it is misused incorrectly. Research is showing that social media overuse can have a variety of negative effects. A publication such as this one in Clinical Psychological ScienceIn 2017, two national surveys were conducted on 506,820 U.S. teenagers in grades 8-12. National statistics about suicide deaths among those aged 13-18 was also reported. In this study, there were increases in suicide-related outcomes among teenagers between 2010 and 2015. The likelihood that …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer