Olivia Gonzalez

CAP Diamond Project

Social media: Unsafe for minors and in need of restrictions

It is no secret that Generation Z--the name given to the demographic cohort of individuals born

sometime between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s--is fond of social media, so much that they have

been dubbed the iGeneration by demographers and psychologists alike. In fact, a 2015 national survey

conducted by Common Sense Media (a non-profit organization that reviews various types of digital

content and promotes media literacy) found that teenagers were using nine hours of media per day, on

average, and that tweens--respondents who were 8 to 12 years of age--were using six (The Common

Sense Census, 2015). Neither statistic accounted for time spent using media for school or homework,

factors which would likely increase the average daily time for both demographics. To put these

numbers into perspective, 21st century children and adolescents are spending an average of anywhere

from one quarter to nearly one half of each day using media platforms. Annually, that is the equivalent

of 137 24-hour days spent using media, for teens, and 91 days, for tweens. All of those hours spent on

social media are virtually restriction free, a situation that has proven to be dangerous to Gen Zers

health.

While exorbitant social media use may seem to be less harmful to young users than, say,

tobacco or alcohol is, the reality is that social networking sites feature many of the same standards used

to justify prohibiting tobacco/alcohol products among minors: unavoidability, toxicity, potential for

abuse, and negative effects on society. These four regulation criteria were first developed by a group

of social psychologists in their book Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity, but are now widely accepted

by the public health community nationwide and are frequently used to justify the prohibition of

alcohol/tobacco for minors (The University of the State of New York, 2016). Because social media
meets these same criteria, it is equally--if not more--dangerous to youths well-being, and should be

regulated as such. It is imperative that lawmakers cease to view minors use of social media as harmless

and begin treating it like the public health risk that it is, by enacting legislation that limits the use of

social networking platforms for minors and that requires social media platforms to institute adult

verification systems.

When determining whether or not a product needs to be prohibited for minors, the first criterion

that must always be met is unavoidability. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word

unavoidability as something that is unable to be avoided, prevented, or ignored. Essentially,

unavoidability is used to determine how pervasive the use of some product is throughout a given

society; if it is easy for minors to escape said product, then there is no real need for it to be regulated

for that demographic. For example, tobacco and alcohol were both widely accessible to minors prior

to their respective regulations, and hence were unavoidable. Correspondingly, a 2015 study on

adolescent social media habits found that 92% of teens go online daily and that 71% are active on more

than one social networking site, percentages that undeniably indicate that the product is, for the large

majority of the adolescent population, unavoidable (Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview,

2015). As for why the percentages found were so high, the report cites the widespread availability of

smartphones among adolescents as the primary explanation. While there is no data from this year

specifically on teen social media use, trends indicate that the demographic is going online more and

more often every year, so it can rationally be assumed that they are actually frequenting social networks

at rates higher than those reported by the 2015 study. In short, social media use is extremely high in

adolescent populations, and as such, is not realistically unavoidable for minors.

Once a product, such as social media, has been deemed unavoidable, the next standard that

must be evaluated before it can be regulated for minors is toxicity. Toxicity is defined by the Merriam-

Webster Dictionary as the extent to which a substance is extremely hard, malicious, or harmful;
containing or being poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious

debilitation. In short, it is not sufficient for a product to be used heavily by minors; it also has to be

causing said demographic some sort of harm. Ironically, even though social networks are supposed to

enhance relationship-building and improve users social skills, the opposite is true. In a 1998 study

published in the journal American Psychologist (AP), researchers found that greater use of the Internet

was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household,

declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness (Internet

Paradox). Although that study was from nearly 20 years ago, its findings are even more true today, as

internet use--and more specifically social media use--is on the rise. An April 2017 longitudinal study

from the University of Sheffield, England found that spending just one hour a day on social networks

reduces the probability of being completely happy with life overall by approximately 14 percentage

points. To put that into perspective, living in a single parent household reduces the probability of a

child being happy by 4.6 percentage points, a fraction of the negative effect of social media (Royal

Economic Society, 2017). Moreover, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

(NSPCC) recently cited social media as a primary factor in the dramatic increase in hospitalization of

children and adolescents for self-harm (Postles, 2017). Seeing as social media increases loneliness and

depression and decreases happiness with life, not to mention causes minors to harm themselves to the

point of hospitalization, it is--like tobacco and alcohol--toxic.

It has been established that social media is both unavoidable and toxic for minors, but before

we get ahead of ourselves, it still has to have the potential for abuse. The Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) applies this term to products that create some sort of psychological or physical dependence in

the user, namely withdrawal symptoms or psychological distress after one has ceased using the

substance. The potential for abuse criterion serves to assess how addictive a product is. While it is

common knowledge that substances like alcohol and tobacco have the potential to be abused by users-
-especially minors--most people would not put social media in the same category. In reality, though,

social media is designed to be addictive, so that users will keep coming back for more. While social

network developers use various methods to keep users hooked, instant gratification--through likes,

favorites, retweets, Snapchat streaks, etc-- is by far the most prevalent. If, for example, a Facebook

user posts a picture, he or she will get a notification every time someone likes it. When the user sees

the notification, his or her brain rewards the individual and then releases dopamine--a response akin

to that created by the consumption of alcohol or tobacco--which causes the brain to seek more likes as

instantaneously as possible, a process also known as instant gratification. The dopamine loop leaves

the user feeling insatiable, entrapping them in an addictive cycle (Weinschenk, 2012). Additionally,

researchers at Harvard University found that the act of self-disclosing personal information--both good

and bad--via social media creates the same positive neurological response (Newborn, 2012). Like

tobacco and alcohol, social media creates a physical dependence in the body--users who attempt to

stop may even experience withdrawal symptoms--so it is just as likely to be abused as one of the minor-

restricted substances.

The last criterion which must be met is that the product causes a negative effect on society.

Essentially, this standard applies if said product is harmful (and negatively influential) to societal

and/or communal well-being and has the potential to be/has already been damaging. A negative effect

on society does not mean that the product solely has negative outcomes, but rather that the detriments

outweigh the benefits. Though the negative effects of social networking sites have heretofore been

determined--social media use is unavoidable for minors, directly associated with increasing depression

and loneliness, physically addictive for users--social media also has some positive outcomes; it

facilitates the spreading of information, enables long-distance communication, and boosts the economy

(Amedie, 2015). While the positives are indeed valuable to society, they come nowhere near to

mitigating the negative effects of social media. Minors who frequent social media are more likely to
develop depression, an illness which cost the U.S. economy over $210 billion in 2010 alone (Haelle,

2016). Even though social media itself may boost the economy, it also increases rates of depression,

which negatively affect economic growth. Social media is also addictive, makes in-person connections

more difficult, decreases productivity, results in a loss of privacy for users, and enables cyber-bullying

(Jung). As a whole, social media is near-catastrophic for society, and the few benefits that come from

it are not positive enough to be worth risking minors health for.

Social media thus meets all four criteria, but what can be done about it? Based on extensive

research, the most effective solution would be to force social media conglomerates to implement a

standardized adult verification system, not to be confused with the historically ineffective age

verification system. An adult verification system is a program used by websites/applications that

confirms the age of everyone attempting to use the site, to protect minors and companies alike. The

most reliable way to verify adult age is by identification via credit card or drivers license, registered

in the name of the user to prevent minors from using their parents IDs. Currently, adult verification

systems are in place on certain pornography websites, age-restricted YouTube videos or channels, and

sites that sell alcohol or tobacco products. Expanding the adult verification system to social networks

could actually be fairly easy if done either as an amendment to the Childrens Online Privacy Protection

Act (COPPA) of 1998, or if presented as an issue of public health. As of now, COPPA prohibits the

posting/collection of personal information on children 13 years of age and younger without parental

permission and mandates that website operators post a comprehensive privacy policy (Complying with

COPPA). If amended, COPPA could require social network companies to institute a standardized adult

verification system, and then expand its protection to include all minors rather than only 13 and unders.

Alternatively, because social media meets the four criteria for alcohol and tobacco regulation, it could

be restricted on the basis of public health concern by government agencies such as the Federal

Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

 The main argument in opposition to the use of an adult verification system on social networking

sites is that said implementation would be pointless, because the absence of a credit card or drivers

license does not necessarily indicate that the person lacking is a minor. While the counterclaim is in

fact true, it is insufficient support against the implementation of an adult verification system; the same

can be said in other circumstances in which identification is currently required to obtain a certain

restricted good or service. For instance, if someone goes into a liquor store and attempts to buy alcohol

with no form of identification, he or she will not be permitted to, whether he or she appears to be of

legal age or not. The same can be said of someone trying to purchase tobacco or marijuana (in a state

where it has been legalized) or attempting to enter a casino. If an individual wants to do any of the

aforementioned things, he or she must provide a valid form of identification; if said person neglects to

do so, he or she will not be permitted to. There is no exception made for legal adults with no credit

card or drivers license trying to buy products restricted to minors, so the same identification

requirement would be a reasonable expectation when creating a social networking account. Another

argument made against an adult verification system is that it infringes on the privacy rights/freedom of

expression of minors. While minors do have these freedoms, there are limitations, namely the fact that

the government has the right to control airwaves, including social networks. Additionally, there is no

fundamental right to use the internet, regardless of age; if the government were to shut down the

internet tomorrow, it would not be deemed unconstitutional. As such, there is no defensible reason

against implementing an adult verification system on social networking sites in order to restrict access

for minors.

Over the past two decades, the internet has increased in popularity, giving social networks the

opportunity to grow. Generation Z is the first generation to have not known a world without Google,

and unsurprisingly, members use social media at escalating rates. Though many think that social media

is harmless, the data reflects that it meets the same four criteria used to justify regulation of the

sale/consumption of tobacco and alcohol for minors; social networking sites are unavoidable, toxic,
addictive (potential for abuse) for children and adolescents, and, overall, negatively impact society.

Though social media has been found to have some positive effects for users, the negatives are far more

pervasive, and outweigh the good. The most effective solution would be for the government to mandate

that social networking conglomerates implement a standardized adult verification system, either by

expanding COPPA or by declaring it a matter of public health through the agencies in the Executive

Branch. Either way, something has to be done. At the rate at which technology and social networks are

innovating, this unaddressed crisis is at the point of no return.

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