by Julie Scelfo started MAMA – Mothers Against Media Addiction – earlier this year to help parents fight back against the harm social media does to children. Scelfo, a former journalist, says she was inspired to take action after reporting on the youth mental health crisis and how screens and social media are impacting young people’s lives.
The group has 28 chapters in 17 states, with waiting lists to start other chapters. Scelfo says the group wants to establish chapters in every state, educate parents about technology, “ensure the school day remains smartphone-free for students and overcome the inertia in our state capitols and Congress so that the technology becomes like other consumer products protected.” .”
Scelfo recently spoke with The Associated Press about her work with MAMA, as well as a new Australian law banning children under the age of 16 from using social media. The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
Trusted news and daily treats, straight to your inbox
See for yourself: The Yodel is the source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
QUESTION: What are the biggest concerns you hear from parents about technology, something new that hasn’t been talked about much yet?
I’m not sure if it hasn’t been talked about yet, but the thing I hear most from parents is that they are extremely stressed about the ubiquity of technology in their children’s lives and they don’t know what to do about it. Whether it’s the enormous social pressure to give kids their own phones or the fact that preschoolers are handed a tablet on their first day of school, it can seem almost impossible for parents to do what they intrinsically know is better for them. their children – namely, be out in the world as much as possible and don’t park in front of a screen. But parents can’t possibly take full responsibility for keeping kids off screens and keeping them safe online, because the problems are baked into society and product design.
Parents and children are faced with a polycrisis: multiple crises are happening at the same time, which has an even more devastating effect than each one alone. At a time when children need to build their social skills and attention spans, they are increasingly interacting with the world through technology that can hinder the development of both – and on platforms without adequate safeguards. Social media companies ruthlessly target our children with hidden algorithms that exploit their emotions for profit, and I don’t think there is any real understanding of how widespread this exploitation is.
Q: Is Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 the right move for a government? Why/why not?
Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 puts the onus for compliance where it should lie: on technology platforms, not parents. With more than half of teens spending nearly five hours a day on social media platforms and our heartbreaking national youth mental health crisis, it is unconscionable that governments around the world, including here in the U.S., are have since failed to implement meaningful regulation of social media. the time when AOL still distributed CD-ROMs by mail.
Just as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would do here in the US, Australia’s ban represents a crucial first breakthrough in the long-standing impasse over any form of internet regulation, and I applaud Australian lawmakers and Prime Minister Albanese for their courage to Stand Up to Big Tech.
Big Tech is personalizing content to take our children into a world where addiction, anxiety and even depression are side effects. To keep them on the app longer, kids are being served increasingly extreme content, using the mountains of data they collect on our children, without the common sense or basic protections every parent expects. They make billions while they have the audacity to say it’s the parents’ job to make their products safe for our children? It’s time for governments to step in and force Beg Tech to take responsibility for the effects of their products. Big Tech has spent more than $51 million this year alone to prevent KOSA from happening.
Q: What are the reasons why teens should wait until age 16 before appearing on social media?
A: Today’s youth spend nearly nine hours on screens every day and that is not healthy or safe for their hearts and minds. For example, Meta acknowledged in September that it has taken action on 12 million suicide and self-harm content on Facebook and Instagram this year – between April and June alone. Our children’s compulsion to check their phones exposes them to unsafe content and crowds out critical, hands-on experiences they need to thrive socially, emotionally, and academically.
Q: Won’t kids just work around the restrictions like they always do?
A: Every other sector is protected. From toys to food to buildings to cars, we have rules in place to keep children safe. Why should social media products be any different? Children may try to get around restrictions – just as they do with alcohol, tobacco or drugs – but no one is saying that just because they are trying, we should give them unfettered access to them. Parents cannot possibly take full responsibility for keeping children safe online because the problems are baked into the design of the products. That’s why we need policies that hold Big Tech accountable to ensure their products are safe.
Q: What is your ultimate goal with MAMA?
A: Like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the origins of this movement are anger and anger at the injustice of young people having their lives taken simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I want to focus that energy on cultural change – we cannot continue touting the benefits of technology without having an open and real-time discussion about its significant and widespread harms and without ensuring that powerful companies, like Big Tobacco, forced to make their products as safe as possible for humans.
MAMA’s ultimate goal is to put tech products in their place: as powerful and often useful tools, but only a part of human life, not the center of it.
