Social media regulation is a poor substitute for good parenting

The Georgia Senate has been grappling with one of society’s only bipartisan issues: How to protect children from the dangers of social media. Even after legislative session ended earlier this year, senators have continued studying the matter.

The Senate Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Children and Platform Privacy Protection Study Committee has already met three times to learn about the scope of the problem and recommend legislative solutions. Yet despite broad bipartisan agreement that a problem exists, settling on a fix has been difficult.

Lawmakers have already debated a number of government-imposed answers, but nearly all of them are critically flawed. While there is a modest role for the government to play, the debate often sidesteps and diminishes parental responsibility on an issue that has become increasingly concerning.

“While social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents,” reads a 2023 U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory, “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Cyber-bullying, seeing inappropriate online content and so forth can result in heightened anxiety, depression or worse for youths. While social media allows many of us to keep in touch with loved ones, catch up on the news and share information, it can undermine our well-being too. Anyone who has spent any time online knows that it is peppered with content unsuitable for juveniles and perhaps for adults too. To borrow a quote from Star Wars and apply it to social media, “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

Lawmakers have recognized this problem, and in 2024, the Legislature attempted to tackle it. They passed Senate Bill 351, which restricted the use of social media on school devices and networks. This makes sense, given that children are there to learn and not play on social media, but the measure also altered school curriculum for the better.

It requires that public schools offer courses to help students better cope with social media, and I appreciate this. Many of us learned how to dissect a frog and use advanced algebra, but we never employed that knowledge as adults. Unlike these experiences, social media education can be a valuable real-world application to help kids navigate a complex and dangerous world.

However, part of this landmark bill is gummed up in the courts. The law’s text prohibits minors from having social media accounts, unless their parents consent. This may sound promising in theory, but there are serious concerns surrounding this provision. The courts have even placed it on ice since there are First Amendment implications, and it may also expose Georgians’ private information to hackers. It will be some time before the courts decide on the case.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, legislators approved House Bill 340, which effectively banned children’s use of cell phones in K-8 schools. Again, this seems like a commonsense approach to keep children engaged and is well within the government’s purview, but what else can policymakers do? That’s what the study committee wants to find out.

Some suggestions have revolved around more heavily regulating social media’s business practices, including curtailing the auto-play function, altering proprietary algorithms, determining what kinds of ads are displayed and banning kids from using social media. All of these take a government-first approach, and that might be a mistake.

Parents are responsible for their children in the real world and digital world. Parents can prohibit their kids from owning electronic devices and limit their access to various kinds of content, and they should. The internet provides a host of societal benefits, but there is also a hazardous underbelly. If parents decide that their kids are mature enough to join social media, then there are numerous free tools available that filter out inappropriate content.

Instead of focusing on empowering parents, there seems to be an urge to empower the government to act in their stead. This is a curious strategy. The government tends to support one-size-fits-all solutions that aren’t always well-tailored to the complexities of family life, and let’s be honest: the government is imperfect. Do you want the same government that struggles to fill potholes to make these parenting decisions for your kids? Of course not.

I’d rather see the government work with nonprofits to create a voluntary curriculum for parents to learn more about social media’s risks and how they can mitigate them. This approach along with some previously enacted legislation is not a silver bullet, but they are giant strides toward solving the problem without unduly meddling with private enterprise and parental responsibility.

Whatever lawmakers decide, it is clear that the government is a poor substitute for good parents, and electronic devices are terrible babysitters.