For the 8th time since 2018, Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress over concerns about the effects of digital social media platforms on adolescents.
The Meta founder and CEO was joined by four other Big Tech executives—all at the helm of some of the most popular social media platforms: Instagram, X (fka Twitter), TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord. Notably, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was left out.
This particular Capitol Hill hearing was centered around the issue of online sexual child abuse. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee took turns scrutinizing the panel of big tech leaders and their oversight and failure to take action over the 105+ million online material related to child abuse flagged last year to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Saturday’s hearing marked the 33rd time Meta has testified before Congress on issues ranging from election interference to drug sales to teen mental health. At one point, Senator Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina told the tech leaders they had blood on their hands.
Social media was meant to bring us together, and in a way it has. Policymakers from both sides of the political aisle have found common ground supporting stricter regulations, calling for more accountability on the part of Big Tech executives. Democrats and Republicans agree that platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube prioritize profits over the well-being of our youth.
Generation i(phone)
Smartphones and social media have been shaping the behaviors of an entire generation. Today’s teens, though physically safer, are in the midst of a mental health crisis.
They are playing less, dating less, driving less, sleeping less, and scrolling more:
Number of teens who got together with friends daily dropped over 40% from 2000 to 2015.
12th graders in 2015 were leaving the house less often than eighth graders in 2009.
Teens who spend over three hours a day on electronic devices are 28% more likely to get less than seven hours of sleep.
And when teens do sleep, they sleep with their phones. It’s the first thing they see when waking up and the last thing they see before going to bed.
These differences in behaviors to previous generations might be because social media is changing how brains develop.
“In the next decade, we may see more adults who know just the right emoji for a situation, but not the right facial expression.”
~ Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University
Scroll with caution
For all its supposed benefits, social media poses a host of mental and physical health risks—stress, loneliness, body dysmorphia, sleep disruption, etc.—that are threatening the future of younger generations.
Children who spend more than three hours/day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Teens spending three hours a day or more on electric devices are 35% more likely to have a risk factor for suicide, and with the average usage being three and a half hours, it’s no wonder suicide replaced homicide as the second-leading cause of death among US teenagers in 2016.
Public-Private partnerships
Public health officials are declaring social media the new tobacco, warning that apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are potentially as addictive as cigarettes, if not more so.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams recently classified social media as a “public health hazard” while NYC’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan issued an advisory officially designating social media as an “environmental toxin”. As of 2021, 77% of NYC high schoolers spent 3+ hours/day in front of screens.
NYC’s strong stance comes just months after current Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued a federal advisory about the effects of social media use on youth mental health.
With alarm bells ringing, public-private partnerships have emerged to tackle adolescent mental health.
Feb. 2023: Los Angeles County signed a 2-year $24m contract with Hazel Health, a school-based virtual therapy intervention.
Dec. 2023: NYC entered a 3-year $26m contract with Talkspace in to offer free online therapy for teens ages 13 to 17.
Jan. 2024: Illinois partnered with Google Public Sector to launch BEACON, an AI-enabled online portal to increase access to behavioral and mental health services.
Jan. 2024: California inked a $680m deal with Brightline and Kooth, providing behavioral and mental healthcare to all residents under 25 years old for free—part of the $4.7b Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative.
Policy TBD
These partnerships are a step in the right direction, but may just be band-aid fixes to a problem that cuts much deeper. Some lawmakers want to take a more direct approach:
Florida’s House of Representatives approved a bill that would ban social media for kids under the age of 16, likening it to “digital fentanyl.”
The Kids Online Safety Act, introduced by Senator Blumenthal (D-CT), would create legal requirements for social media platforms to protect minors from online harm.
Lawmakers from the most recent Capitol Hill hearing want to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which would allow people to sue Big Tech companies for their failed oversight.
Pediatric Mental Healthcare Startups
Cracking down on social media is necessary but the damage has already been done.
1 in 5 adolescents experienced major depressive disorder in 2021 and fewer than half who needed treatment received it. Kids under 18 account for a quarter of all US mental health spending, but it still currently takes 11 years from the onset of symptoms for a child to receive treatment.
Here are the pediatric-focused startups increasing access to behavioral and mental healthcare for kids, teens, and young adults:
Fort Health: Connecting pediatricians, parents, providers, and payers, to provide child and adolescent online therapy and psychiatry. (Last funding round: $9m)
Little Otter: Bringing expert care for children’s mental health to every home. (Last funding round: $22m)
Chill Pill: Mental health app for Gen Z to escape, heal, and build meaningful friendships through audio-only peer support groups.
Caraway: Physical and mental healthcare for Gen Z college students.
Wave Life: Mental health coaching and well-being support for Gen Z. (Last funding round: $6m)
MindRight: Text-based coaching for teens.
Kismet Health: HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform designed for pediatric care.
Bend Health: Virtual-only pediatric behavioral health company focusing on kids, teens, and their families. (Last funding round: $32m)
Cartwheel Care: Partners with schools to provide mental health to K-12 students and their families. (Last funding round: $20m)
Thread Health: Adolescent virtual physical + mental health clinic for the digitally native.
TimelyCare: Leading virtual health and well-being solution for students and universities.
Clayful Health: Bridging the gap to affordable mental health care at scale through online coaching.
Mantra Health: Digital mental health clinic designed for young adults. (Last funding round: $5m)
Daybreak Health: Partnering with schools to provide personalized mental health support to students. (Last funding round: $13m)
All hands on deck
As much as the government wants to click delete on social media, it can’t. There are currently 250 million users in the US and that number is set to reach 340 million by 2029. 70% of teens use YouTube daily, and over half report it’d be difficult to give up social media.
Up until now, the onus of monitoring children’s social media activity has largely fallen on parents…and it hasn’t worked.
“The bottom line is parents are doing their level best, but someone's got to have their back. And this is where policymakers need to not only step in, but step in quickly because kids can't wait.”
~ Dr. Vivek Murthy, 21st Surgeon General of the United States
We ought to take a big tobacco approach to social media—stricter regulations, greater transparency, and more accountability over how products and platforms are influencing human well-being. Lawmakers need to finally bring these pieces of legislation, which have long been rumored, to fruition.
*List of pediatric mental healthcare startups courtesy of Jess Schram, Director of Investments & Incubations at Remedy Product Studio.*
This week in healthcare:
23andMe’s Fall From $6 Billion to Nearly $0, WSJ
Florida challenges federal requirement to keep kids on health insurance, Axios
The Hottest Beer in America Doesn’t Have Alcohol, WSJ
What Does Being Sober Mean Today? For Many, Not Full Abstinence., NYT
Latest Healthy Returns Podcast Episode:
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