One Less Child to Play: The Tragedy of Youth Suicide and the Urgent Need for KOSA Now
Yesterday, midway through my morning walk, I came upon this collection of balls that were left behind at a nearby school playground. I imagine that earlier in the previous day the screams of joy and laughter of those playing with the different sports associated with each ball ended with the whistle that it was time to return to class.
In the absence of those sounds, these balls were left behind with no child left to play.
Standing there, in the cold, snowy morning, I was struck by the silence around me in this playground where only a half-day earlier childhood was on full display. Running, jumping, kicking, passing, shooting, and all the things that kids do when they are kids.
For far too many playgrounds across America there is one less child to play. A child who doesn't come to school the next day. A classroom that has an empty seat. A parent who no longer comes to pick up their kid at the end of the school day.
The crisis that has been growing for years associated with the harms of social media on our youth is no longer a threat. It is a reality. It is the clear and present danger in their lives, and we are at a pivotal point in American History.
We can believe the arguments of Big Tech and their apologists and enablers that social media hasn't been proven to harm youth mental health, result in increases in suicidal ideation and suicide...
...or we can believe the parents of children who have died by suicide after their interaction with social media.
We can believe the growing data and studies that point to a clear cause and effect related to reduced impulse control, anxiety, eating disorders, suicidal ideation and suicide....
....or we can believe Big Tech, their apologists and their enablers that there has been no medical definition that can prove any of these realities are rooted in evidence.
Let's look at the facts:
The cover-up by Big Tech, creators and owners of platforms like Facebook, by TikTok, Snapchat and so many others, is one of the greatest crimes against children since child labor abuses through the early part of the last century.
Make no mistake, these are crimes against children. Against youth. While they may not yet be a crime enshrined in a law, code, or statute, the parents whose children are no longer on the playground know full well their child would be alive today if not for the online products Big Tech has created.
Much has been made in recent days about a social media ban being advanced in Australia. I commend the country's leaders for their commitment to protect youth from the harms of social media, even if I don't agree with banning youth from these platforms.
The genie of social media was released twenty-years ago, and it isn't going to be put back in the bottle.
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The choice, for present-day youth, and future youth, is social media in their life for better...or for worse.
Today, there can be no question that social media, when taken into the full account of the physical and mental health of youth, is for the worse.
It's why the Kids Online Safety Act - passed in the U.S. Senate by a massive bipartisan vote of 91-3, with significant bipartisan support in the U.S. House, is the common-sense, pro-youth, pro-parent, and suicide prevention legislation we need today.
To make social media for the better, and not the worse.
The critics who say it has flaws are right. It does have flaws. The bill in the House is not perfect. The bill that passed the Senate is not perfect.
The enemy of youth, right now, in the debate over KOSA is letting perfect be the enemy of good.
America's youth don't need perfect right now. They need good.
They need KOSA to be the platform upon which we can make social media safer, more positively impactful, and to achieve the lofty goals we were promised it would create when it was launched barely two decades ago.
It's time we stop listening to the experts who are rewarded handsomely by their Big Tech companies. We need to challenge the consultants and non-profits who reap large financial benefits from Big Tech with one hand, while decrying the harms of their social media products with the other hand.
The experts have spoken about the harms of social media.
The experts are the parents.
They have heard the silence of the playground with one less child at recess.
It's time we pass KOSA.