Regulating Social Media for Kids – A Job for Parents or the Government?

Nebraska state Senator Tanya Storer, a Republican, recently introduced a bill that would require social media websites to verify age before allowing Nebraskans to create a profile.  If the bill becomes law, those younger than 18 would need parental consent. Many studies show that being on social media is either causing mental health issues for kids or making them worse, and the idea behind this bill is to keep kids safe. But is government intervention the right answer?

The Problems With Social Media Regulations

Other states have already passed similar laws. Florida now requires 14- and 15-year-olds to have parental consent to use social media and has banned kids under 14 from using certain platforms. Parental consent is needed for all minors in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Ohio would have required kids under 16 to get a parent’s permission, but a US district court judge blocked it.

One of the issues is the privacy concerns over age verification. For age verification to work, sites must use geolocation data from users’ devices to determine whether they’re in a state that requires it. Some people avoid such restrictions by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which makes it appear as if they’re somewhere else and protects their privacy. A study published in ResearchGate in 2023 revealed that 41% of middle school kids use VPNs to browse the internet. What’s to stop other minors from doing the same?

More troubling, though, is that age verification software requires a digitized identification card carrying the same information as a driver’s license or other forms of government-issued IDs. What happens to all that data is a big concern, especially since it is not only minors who must upload an ID but anybody creating a new account, which can also make it easier for hackers, companies, and the government to spy on people. Aside from privacy concerns, critics believe the government demanding companies use age verification is a violation of constitutional rights because it gets in the way of anonymous speech.

When Did Mental Health Become a Government Issue?

From 2013 to 2023, symptoms of poor mental health in minors worsened, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors became more common, according to a survey of more than 20,000 high-school students conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2023, a third of teenage girls said they had seriously considered suicide, and more than 50% admitted feeling sad or hopeless. A more recent CDC study, published in October 2024, showed persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness were more commonly reported by students who used apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram several times a day. In 2020, diagnoses of depression and anxiety in kids aged 3 to 17 rose by 30% compared to 2016, according to a 2022 study published in JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Of course, the amount of time kids spend on these apps makes a difference. “Teens who spend five or more hours per day on social media apps are significantly more likely to report experiencing negative emotions compared with those who spend less than two hours per day,” said Gallup in October 2023. More importantly, perhaps, is that “the strength of the parent relationship — in addition to parental supervision and regulation of screen time — predicts much less time spent on social media.”

Then there’s this, also from Gallup: “Across all categories of social media use, mental health outcomes are much worse for teens who report a weak parental relationship than those who report a strong one.”

The laws restricting and banning minors’ social media use are often presented as tools to help parents better control their kids’ internet habits, yet several options already exist for that purpose, like Bark, an app that allows parents to monitor children’s internet consumption and block various apps and websites, among other things — and all without violating anybody’s rights or privacy. Most people would probably agree that children’s mental health is affected by certain platforms and that it’s an issue that needs addressing, but whose responsibility should it be?

1. A new bill in Nebraska would, if passed, restrict anyone under the age of 18 from creating a social media account.
2. Studies show that the use of social media is either causing or making worse mental health issues in minors – and the more time spent online, the worse these issues seem to be.
3. Laws such as this are controversial, however, because they might violate the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.