SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 3, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — As a father, Spencer Cox is so concerned about the dangers of social media that his 16-year-old daughter isn’t allowed to use it.
As Utah’s governor, Cox wants other parents to understand how social media is affecting kids’ mental health and learn how to navigate those challenges.
“It is incredibly difficult as a parent of a 16-year-old daughter. This is the challenge of our time,” Cox said Thursday at a news conference at the Utah Capitol to launch a public awareness campaign urging parents to learn about the harm social media can cause.
Funded by the state Legislature and the Utah Department of Commerce, the campaign aims to empower parents and provide them with tools needed to educate their kids about potential harms from social media. It includes TV ads, billboards and a new website, socialharms.utah.gov.
“We don’t let our daughter have social media, and the pressure is enormous,” Cox said. “We hear from other parents [who say] that we would love to be able to do that, but when everyone has it, when everyone has access to it all of the time, it just makes it that much more difficult.”
In a June 2023 study commissioned by the governor’s office, Utah parents reported 76% of their children use social media in some capacity, 57% use it seven days a week, and 53% use it one to three hours per day.
Data from the study and the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on social media and youth mental health “is very clear and it’s incredibly sobering,” Cox said, listing some of the statistics:
- Only 37% of Utah youth got at least eight hours of sleep on an average school night.
- 32% of Utah youth felt sad or hopeless for two weeks or more in a row during the past year.
- 18% of youth seriously considered suicide in 2021.
- Mental illness in teens has increased between 50% and 150% from 2009 to 2019.
- 1 in 3 U.S. high school students and half of female students have persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness — a 40% increase since 2009.
- The rates of major depression doubled for boys and girls from 2010 to 2020.
- Emergency room visits for self harm by children and adolescents has risen sharply over the past decade, particularly among young women.
“And we recognize that social media isn’t the only cause of these disturbing trends,” Cox said. “But with the research that continues to come out, there is not just a correlation link but there is a causal link showing that social media is a major contributor to to these terrible rises in mental illness.”
While social media platforms have set 13 as the minimum age requirement in the U.S., those restrictions are unregulated, the governor said.
“And we know that close to 40% of children ages 8 through 12 use social media regularly,” he said.
Cox said he’s among the 88% of Utah parents who are deeply concerned about their children’s mental health, body image, brain development and sleep patterns.
“In this environment, it’s hard to know what to do,” he said. “Parents are certainly struggling, but we know we have to do something.”
The Utah Department of Commerce contributed $750,000 to help fund the campaign, and the state Legislature approved $500,000 in one-time funding for the cause, according to Amy Winder Newton, director of the Utah Office of Families.
“We’re wanting to put the power in the hands of the parents,” Newton said. “We want to empower them, but they need to know how dangerous this is. … We need parents to understand that this is something that their kids are struggling with.”
The campaign also aims to promote human connection, she said.
“We all should do a better job putting our phones down and connecting with each other,” Newton said.
The campaign is a joint effort of the Governor’s Office of Families, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, and Utah Department of Commerce.
“This is a huge issue that continues to grow,” Cox said. “It is not a conservative issue; it’s not a liberal issue. It’s an American issue. It’s a parent issue.”
Tips for parents
- Create a family media plan with expectations of how and when to use technology and social media.
- Learn about social media platforms and how they work.
- Have open and honest discussions with your child about the harms of social media and spending time online.
- Model responsible online behavior for your child.
- Reconsider allowing your child to have social media.
- Make time to connect with your child device-free.
- Create tech-free zones and find opportunities to connect in person with your child.
