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Legislators, parents and the media are having a heated conversation right now about when kids should get phones and have access to social media. Some states like Tennessee, Utah, Ohio, Florida, Texas, and others have proposed social media legislation to restrict young users via parental restrictions. Many of these proposed laws over-reach and are dangerous to young people's safety, access to information, and freedoms of expression. Ohio's proposed law was put on hold by a federal judge who called the law a "breathtakingly blunt instrument for reducing social media's harm to children."

On the other hand, states like New York and Colorado have proposed legislation that would regulate the companies rather than the users. New York's law includes proposals to limit invasive algorithmic data collection and that lead to "suggested posts." Colorado wants apps to remind kids when they've been on a long time, or when they seem to be scrolling late at night. These kinds of interventions, especially the limitations on algorithmic tracking, could support a healthier social media experience for all of usnot just for kids.

To be clear, the states are proposing this regulation only for kids. I'm suggesting less algorithmic tracking across the board.

Making social media better for everyone is the best way to make it better for kids. Regulating social media companies doesn't need to rely on age verification tactics that violate privacy. Further, parental consent laws will not help those who are harassed or bulliedespecially the kids who hide their accounts and then can't tell their parents about a threat. Companies like Snapchat, X, Meta, TikTok, Discord, and their peers must be required to respond more quickly and effectively to reports of harassment, bullying, and impersonation.

What's Wrong with Parental Consent Laws?

I've talked to enough teen activists and entrepreneurs to worry about what we'd be missing with parental consent as a national norm. That kind of restriction is likely to make things worse for LGBTQ teenagers. Parental consent rules can put kids in danger by cutting off important channels they could use to research health information, report abuse, or reach out for help.

Prominent researchers from major universities concluded that proposed social media legislation (Kids Online Safety Act), which includes parental consent "poses enormous potential risks to privacy and free expression, and will limit youth access to social connections and important community resources - while doing little to improve the mental health of vulnerable teenagers."

Social Media Has Benefits and Not Just Risks (so We Don't Want To Just Ban Adolescents)

I've spent the last decade talking with kids, parents, and teachers about growing up in the digital age, and wrote Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World to help adults understand what kids are experiencing onlineand how we can help.

Social media certainly isn't a perfect place for kids (or adults.) However, as the surgeon general and the APA both acknowledge, social media has observed benefits as well as risks. In other words, tech use is not analogous to something like vaping, which is all risk, no benefit.

The kids I interviewed for my book had strategies for accessing the upsides and minimizing the risksunfollowing problematic peers and influencers, curating their feeds toward positive accounts, planning social media breaks, agreeing to boundaries with friends about keeping posts private (no screenshots), and many more. We can help them in their efforts to have a more positive experience by regulating social media companies.

Instead of heaping new restrictions onto usersteens or adultslet's demand that the companies afford users a chance to join online communities with less invasive surveillance and algorithmic behavioral manipulation. Let's compel them to let us see the data they have about us. And they must put more resources toward responsiveness to reports of fake or bullying accounts, sexual harassment, et cetera.

Why Does Algorithmic Privacy Matter?

When former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen testified before Congress, she emphasized the problematic nature of algorithms and how manipulative they can be to social media users and their behavior. If the U.S. had laws compelling tech companies to share more about how they control what social media users see in their "feed," this would help all of us to be more empowered in relation to apps like Snapchat, TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

We all win if we make social media better for all of us. Rather than simply putting a warning label on social apps, let's regulate the companies that are too slow to respond to bullying and harassment reports and use our data to manipulate us while reaping tremendous profits. As with bike helmets and seatbeltswhat is safer for kids is safer for all. Making social media less invasive, less manipulative, and more responsive to user complaints protects all users and makes it healthier for everyone.

Devorah Heitner is the author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World and Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive and Survive in Their Digital World. She is raising a teenager with her husband and works with schools, and communities worldwide helping parents and educators mentor kids coming of age in a digital world.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Everyone Wants To "Save the Children" From Social Media | Opinion - Newsweek