What’s 280 characters in a city of 8.4 million? Mayor Eric Adams called out social media giants for “fueling” the mental health crisis among young people in his State of the City address last Wednesday. He specifically named TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.
“We cannot stand by and let big tech monetize our children’s privacy and jeopardize their mental health,” said Adams. “That’s why today Dr. (Ashwin) Vasan is issuing a health commissioner advisory officially designating social media as a public health crisis…we must ensure that tech companies take responsibility for their products.”
The advisory calls on all New Yorkers to “hold social media companies accountable and advance reform that protects youth from harmful and predatory practices.” It also suggests parents discuss social media use with their children and that healthcare workers provide “evidence-based” guidance for online use. But beyond ground-level reforms, the advisory also recommended both figurative and literal stakeholders—from local lawmakers to tech investors—to put pressure on social media companies to implement safer practices.
Vasan, who heads the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) spoke about social media’s impact on young people last June, specifically on the harm Black and brown youth may face. He likened it to an environmental toxin to the brain akin to how lead paint or tobacco harms the body.
“The numbers paint a sobering, sobering picture, we are most certainly in the midst of a youth mental health crisis,” said Vasan. “In 2021, 38% of New York City high schoolers reported feeling so sad or so hopeless during the past 12 months that they stopped doing their usual activities. That rate was significantly higher for Black and Latino children. Over the past 10 years, rates of suicidal thoughts amongst high schoolers in New York have increased by more than 34%.”
Specifically, around 40% of Black and brown students reported feeling hopeless in the city’s findings, compared to 29% of white students. These numbers come from a March 2023 mental health plan which planted seeds for the recent big tech callout. For nonwhite youth, pandemic-related mental health struggles were compounded by interpersonal and structural racism.
Following the address, Adams reiterated his message over an email statement.
“Unfettered access to social media is fueling our national youth mental health crisis and putting our children in harm’s way,” he said. “Taking inspiration from the U.S. surgeon general, we’re the first major American city to take this step and call out the dangers of social media like this. New York City is employing a wide array of tools to address this toxin in our digital environment, including education and awareness, research, and regulation.”
Adams is referencing the surgeon general’s advisory on social media last May, which could not determine whether social media is sufficiently safe for teens. It did find that up to 95% of young people ages 13-17 report using social media. And almost 40% of children under 13 report using social media, despite them failing to meet the minimum age requirement for most major platforms.
To be clear, the experts are not suggesting young people to log out for good, just practice moderation in every sense of the word. The surgeon general’s advisory also found that platforms allow users to access important information, express themselves and develop friendships. It also reports that many girls of color come across “identity-affirming” encounters over social media.
Facebook and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment at press time.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.