Stopping Children’s Anxiety: Countries Introduce Regulations on Youth’s Use of Social Media

Social networking service (SNS) platform apps downloaded on smartphones. 2024.03.13

Jonathan Haidt, a social psychology expert and professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, explains why the rate of mental illness among youth in many countries has skyrocketed since the advent of smartphones in the 2010s.

The ‘anxious generation’ he is concerned about is the so-called ‘Generation Z’ or ‘Gen Z’, born in the late 1990s to early 2010s. They have grown up with the development of smart devices and have the characteristic of being excellent at utilizing social networking services (SNS). However, at the same time, it can be said that they have been completely exposed to the negative effects of smart devices and SNS without any particular defenses.

In recent years, as academic evidence has shown that they are actually more mentally vulnerable than members of previous generations, countries around the world are belatedly drawing their swords on youth protection policies.

Don’t Just Lump Them Together as MZ… Z Has Higher Anxiety Than Millennials

According to the U.S. National Drug Use and Health Survey, the percentage of respondents who answered that they “felt anxious most or all of the time in the past month” was about 1.5 times higher among Gen Zers than among Millennials.

The rate of teenage depression has increased rapidly since the 2010s, with girls increasing by 145% and boys by 161% by 2021. The increase was steeper for boys, but the absolute number was more than twice as high for girls. This trend was common across race and social class.

Gen Z’s anxiety is ongoing. According to a 2023 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of teens who feel sad or depressed is the highest it’s been in a decade.

Percentage of adults by age group reporting high levels of anxiety in the United States. Those aged 18–25 had the highest levels of anxiety.

Anxious and Isolated Z Weakens Democracy

Smartphones and social media may seem to enhance communication and bonds among teenagers, but they have also led to isolation.

Children are exposed to content that encourages eating disorders such as ‘bone-dry’, and in the UK, the self-harm rate among teenage girls has increased by 78% since the 2010s.

Social media platform operators are aware of these negative effects, but are not taking any action. In 2021, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen exposed the company for “harming children, fanning division, and undermining democracy.”

Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, also said that allowing children to use social media is like giving them medicine that has not been proven safe. He strongly criticized the government for not better regulating social media in recent years, saying it was “crazy.”

Members of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA) call for a priority on youth protection outside Meta’s offices in New York, USA.

Governments of Each Country Draw Their Regulatory Swords… EU Takes the Lead

Europe has been the most proactive in stopping the “madness”, with the European Union (EU) ordering Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Apple to comply with the new Digital Services Act (DSA) last year.

The law prohibits targeted advertising to children. It also requires that young users be notified (push) to take a break and disable autoplay. It also includes a clause that allows companies to seek damages of up to 6% of their global sales if they violate the law.

In the UK, Ofcom, the communications media regulator, has issued guidance to strengthen age verification to prevent children from being exposed to harmful content. Some public schools have decided to confiscate mobile phones used during class time.

Australia is also considering introducing legislation that would set the minimum age for logging into social media sites at 14 to 16.

In the case of the United States, each state is fighting its own battle due to the absence of federal law. For example, New York State has enacted a bill requiring parental permission to provide algorithmic posts to minors under the age of 18. Florida has prohibited those under the age of 14 from creating SNS accounts. Utah also passed a ‘social media regulation law’, but on the 12th (local time), its implementation was postponed again.

In Asia, China and India have responded with notable measures. China restricts content and regulates daily usage time on online services through cybersecurity laws and laws on the protection of minors. India requires parents to consent to the collection of their children’s data through the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) and prohibits targeted advertising to minors.