Abreu’s bill would compel the city Department of Education to distribute facts at the beginning of each school year about social media addiction, its potential health impacts and the dangers posed by engaging with strangers online.
“Social media is like Frankenstein — a monster of our own making. We are stuck in an addiction spiral with alarming mental and physical health consequences,” he told the Daily News. “These apps are not only distracting our youth in the classroom, but isolating and dividing them from their peers. It’s time to act.”
Abreu described his bill as “critical” to addressing “our youth mental health crisis.”
“Kids, families, and educators must be equipped to address and overcome the risks of social media addiction,” he said.
News of the bill comes several days after Mayor Adams announced in his State of the City address that his administration is now classifying social media as a public health threat. As part of that, city Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan issued a notice advising teachers, health care providers and other adults who work with youth to implement “tech-free times and places” and model “healthy social media use.”
The downside of spending too much time on sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other sites has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years.
A 2019 study put out by the JAMA Network found adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media platforms “may be at heightened risk for mental health problems.” More recently, an advisory in 2023 from the U.S. Surgeon General revealed that girls likely face more risks, with six out of 10 of those surveyed reporting that they’d been contacted on platforms by strangers who “make them feel uncomfortable.”
The advisory also noted that because the photos on social media sites inevitably lead to comparing oneself to those depicted, nearly half of all adolescents surveyed — regardless of gender — said the sites make them feel worse about their body image.
Adams has publicly criticized social media companies for months — specifically for allowing users to promote subway surfing and the rash of auto thefts associated with users posting about anti-theft vulnerabilities on certain cars.
Abreu’s bill — if approved by the Council and signed into law by the mayor — would dovetail with Adams’ approach and build on already existing Education Department guidelines, which advise students to “post responsibly” and warn against the dangers of cyber bullying.
Under the legislation, the warnings could either be disseminated through a written hard copy or electronically “using plain, simple, and age-appropriate language.”
Aside from informing kids about the negative impacts they could experience from engaging social media sites too long, the bill would also require that concerns about the spread of misinformation be addressed, as well as the inclusion of information about how to mitigate potential harms in general.
Abreu said his bill has been in the drafting stages for months and that he expects it will ultimately be approved.
Charles Lutvak, a spokesman for the mayor, said “we appreciate Councilmember Abreu’s creativity and work on behalf of our youth and look forward to reviewing the bill.”
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