Seattle Public Schools has filed a lawsuit against social media companies TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat arguing their services target kids and cause mental health issues. It is a frivolous lawsuit meant to cover the part of their budget the district doesn’t want to pay for. SPS caused the issues in kids over the last three years. SPS forced kids to log onto the same computers and phones they used to access that social media.
SPS argues tech contributes to anxiety, depression, disordered eating, and cyberbullying and when students struggle academically, requiring extra resources that cost the school district (specialized training to identify mental health issues, etc.).
While social media does negatively affect youth, the recent surge in youth mental health issues is a direct result of school districts and teachers’ unions needlessly closing schools down during the pandemic. Making it worse is indoctrinating kids on far-left views on race and gender that are threatening, shaming, and confusing.
Nationwide, emergency rooms saw a 24% increase in mental health-related visits from 5 to 11-year-olds in 2021 compared to 2020. For teens it was a 31% increase. SPS says it’s due to watching videos on TikTok, when it is actually not reopening schools that is more to blame.
While hearing from millions of parents seeing their kids become more depressed from lock down, SPS teachers dragged their feet in reopening schools. Many didn’t want the commute and they demanded higher pay and other concessions. They didn’t care they were keeping students in isolation; the suffering of students was for the greater good of meeting the demands of teachers’ unions.
Kids had much easier access to social media because SPS forced students to stay online. And for a district that seems to hate social media, they rely on Twitter and Facebook to make important announcements concerning school closures, event promotions, and holidays.
social media can be unhealthy, but telling white kids they’re part of a white supremacist culture and have white privilege or to tell black kids that cops are roaming the streets of Seattle to kill them is worse. Confusing kids about gender identity or keeping secrets from parents about gender confusion doesn’t help their mental health, either.
Schools should teach about the dangers of social media, but it’s a parent’s job to limit the amount of time kids are spending in front of a screen.
