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Washington Almost a year after the American Psychological Association issued a landmark health advisory on social media use in adolescence, technology companies and policymakers still have made few meaningful changes, forcing society to continue to search for ways to maximize the benefits of these platforms while protecting youth from their harms.

Social media platforms know that the answer is to structurally correct harmful design features and functions. Most children and adolescents lack the experience, judgment and self-control to manage their behaviors on these platforms, which is why we see over 50% reporting at least one symptom of clinical dependency on social media today, said Mitch Prinstein, PhD, APAs chief science officer. Age restrictions alone are not the answer, since kids find ways around them. And putting the responsibility solely on parents is not fair either. The developers must address the dangers inherent in these platforms and make their products safe for youth.

APA has issued a new report as a follow-up to its 2023 health advisory focusing on social media design features and functions built into these platforms that are inherently unsafe for youth. The new report points to the psychological threats these features and functions introduce and the developmental vulnerabilities they exploit.

Policies will not protect youth unless technology companies are required to reduce the risks embedded within the platforms themselves, the report says. As policymakers at every level assess their approach to this complex issue, it is important to note the limitations of frequently proposed policies, which are often misreported and fall far short of comprehensive safety solutions that will achieve meaningful change.

APA calls for comprehensive design improvements to social media platforms to inform safety standards for at least four reasons:

Addressing the role of parents, it says: More robust and easy-to-use parental controls would help some younger age groups, but as a sole strategy, this approach ignores the complexities of adolescent development, the importance of childhood autonomy and privacy, and disparities in time or resources available for monitoring across communities.

Delegating responsibility to parents, to app stores or to youth themselves does not address the vulnerabilities and harms built into the platforms, said Mary Ann McCabe, PhD, co-chair of the expert panel that put together the 2023 health advisory. That responsibility sits with the creators and purveyors of these technologiesthe platform developers themselves.

Originally posted here:
APA report calls on social media companies to take responsibility to protect youth - APA Psychology News

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