New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced social media was an “environmental toxin” on Wednesday, making it the first major city in the United States to categorize social media as a risk to public health.
During Adams’s State of the City address, he highlighted the dangers of social media and slammed Big Tech companies for “fueling a mental health crisis” among young people. The city’s health commissioner also called social media, without restrictions, a “public health threat.”
“Companies like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook are fueling a mental health crisis by designing their platforms with addictive and dangerous features,” the Democratic mayor said during his address. “We cannot stand by and let Big Tech monetize our children’s privacy and jeopardize their mental health.”
The city’s Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene issued an advisory encouraging parents to withhold smartphone devices from their children until the age of 14, as well as practice other social media safety measures, in an effort to combat the city’s mental health crisis among the youth. The advisory also prodded state and federal policymakers to continue to create legislation to protect minors from the “predatory practices of social media.”
“We won’t let Big Tech endanger our kids,” Adams said. “Just as the surgeon general did with tobacco and guns, we are treating social media like other public health hazards and ensuring that tech companies take responsibility for their products.”
New York has faced an increase in mental health problems among the youth, with feelings of depression increasing by 8 percentage points in young boys and by 21 points in young girls from 2011 to 2021, according to the state’s Office of Mental Health Support statistics.
A bipartisan bill dubbed the Kids Online Safety Act has gained some momentum from lawmakers, but it has yet to be implemented. The proposal would provide minors with additional safety measures through their social media apps, such as declining tobacco or gambling advertisements and opting out of algorithms that use their personal information.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, received several lawsuits last year from 41 states saying the company’s social media platforms are responsible for the uptick in mental health disorders among young people across the U.S.
