Advocating for youth mental health research and stronger protections for children on social media

On June 15, 2023, nearly 60 APA member psychologists participated in 150 meetings with their members of Congress to advocate for youth mental health research and stronger protections for children online. The mental health impacts of social media and the need for more research in this and other areas impacting children are topics where policymakers, regulators, parents, and even APA have recently highlighted the need for change. Psychological science and psychologists themselves have a vital role to play in addressing this crisis and this event served as an opportunity for APA members to bring their experiences and training to share directly with federal policymakers. These meetings worked to raise the profile of psychology, stressed the need for greater research funding, and secured additional cosponsors for legislation aimed at curtailing the harms of social media on children.

Participants traveled from 40 States and Guam, representing 39 state, provincial, and territorial psychological associations (SPTAs) and one regional psychological association. They consisted largely of APA Services’s federal advocacy coordinators and federal education advocacy coordinators, and included APA past presidents, members of the APA Board of Directors, members of the APA Services Advocacy Coordinating Committee, and members of the Rapid Expert Advisory Panel on Social Media.

To prepare for their Hill meetings, participants gathered on June 14 for an in-person briefing during which they learned about the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1409)opens in new window and draft legislation to authorize funding for a Youth Mental Health Initiative. APA President Thema Bryant, PhD, gave welcoming remarks, which were followed by a presentation from APA Chief Advocacy Officer Katherine B. McGuire, MSc, on the shifting political landscape and what psychologists can do to meet the moment

Throughout the day, participants heard from expert members on the impacts of social media on a child’s brain, recommendations included in the recent APA Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence, and the need for federal oversight on social media. They also engaged in a conversation with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, JD, on the role that psychology can play in shaping federal policy around social media, and a feedback session on strengthening relationships between SPTAs and the APA advocacy office. 

To learn more about the psychological science surrounding youth and social media, participants heard from Eva Telzer, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as she presented on the impacts of social media use on adolescent mental health. Telzer emphasized that adolescence is a critical developmental period, and more research is needed to determine the impacts of heavy social media use during this time. She explained that while social media use among adolescents is alarming—nearly half of adolescents check social media almost constantly and many are using social media for up to 8 hours every day—the science is still unclear as to the extent of the harms of social media use on youth mental health. In fact, as Telzer explained, social media use has several positive impacts on young people, including offering affinity/identity groups, providing social support, making possible the development of online-only friendships, providing social companionship during times of isolation, and allowing kids to access and participate in social movements such as the body positive movement as well as political engagement and activism.

To further participants’ understanding of APA’s recent Health Advisory on Social Media Use in Adolescence, APA President Thema Bryant interviewed co-chair of the Rapid Expert Advisory Panel responsible for the advisory, Mary Ann McCabe, PhD. Individual recommendations relating to the need for platforms to be designed with kids in mind and the imperative that young people receive digital literacy training were held out as important pieces of the advisory. Both Bryant and McCabe stressed the importance of the advisory and the need for further promotion of the recommendations and encouragement of additional science in this area. The process surrounding the creation of the health advisory was held out as a great example for APA to replicate on other topics in the future.

Participants then heard from FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, JD, who spoke to the importance of psychological science on guiding federal policy regulating social media companies. He talked to participants about the role of the FTC in regulating social media, explaining that the agency is responsible for holding companies accountable when their products cause harms that are injurious, that consumers are unable to reasonably avoid, and are not outweighed by their benefits, criteria he believes apply to social media companies. He explained that while more research is needed to better understand the harms of social media on young people, there is enough evidence now to justify putting policies in place to protect children online. He finished his presentation by emphasizing that psychological science is essential to making social media sites safer for children, calling on psychologists to engage in research that can help explain the relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes and ultimately guide federal action in this domain.

Laura Knudtson, PhD, in her role as chair of the Membership Engagement Sub-Committee of the Advocacy Coordinating Committee, facilitated an optional lunchtime discussion on how APA and SPTAs can strengthen their partnerships across a range of issues. Participants shared recent successes working with the advocacy office and APA and provided feedback about how APA could keep SPTAs better informed about the resources within the advocacy office as well as better coordinate with other SPTAs through increased communication and coordination.

APA Services invited coalition partners to join participants in sharing the need for research and regulations relating to young people’s experiences on social media. Mary Giliberti, JD, chief public policy officer of Mental Health America; Allison Ivie, MPP, government relations representative for Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy, and Action; and Matthew Mariani, policy associate for the American Academy of Pediatrics each shared their perspective on why more needs to be done to curtail harms evident in their organization’s constituencies. Each panelist shared why their organization supports passage of the Kids Online Safety Act, and how they are working to make the bill a reality.

In preparation for their Hill meetings, participants were trained on two legislative issues: legislation to authorize funding for the Youth Mental Health Research Initiative, and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) (S. 1409). Emphasizing that science needs to lead the way out of the youth mental health crisis, APA Deputy Chief of Scientific Affairs Pat Kobor, MA, led the presentation on the Youth Mental Health Research Initiative legislation. The bill, which has not yet been introduced, would authorize $100 million per year for 5 years for the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to conduct basic and applied research to guide long-term recovery of youth and improve the treatments delivered to young people, including those in crisis, with the ultimate goal of reducing mental health disparities in youth. This initiative would also include research on youth and social media. 

APA Senior Director for Congressional and Federal Relations Corbin Evans, JD, then briefed participants on KOSA, which would create a duty of care for social media platforms to prevent and mitigate specific dangers to  minors in their design and operation of products; require social media platforms to provide children and adolescents with options to protect their information, disable addictive product features and opt out of algorithmic recommendations; and give parents new tools to help support their children and provide them (as well as schools) a dedicated reporting channel to raise issues, such as harassment or threats, to the platforms. Following the issue briefings, APA’s Director of Grassroots Engagement Doris Parfaite-Claude, MPP, led a presentation on how attendees can communicate effectively with members of Congress, including how to build rapport, build and deliver a pitch, and follow up with congressional offices after their meetings.

To close out the day, Bryant and McGuire presented awards to members whose advocacy efforts have elevated the voices of those from underserved communities and advanced the discipline of psychology. Bryant awarded the first of two presidential citations to Diane Prescott, PhD, for her commitment to the underserved rural health community, her leadership in federal advocacy, and her contributions to the APA Board of Directors. The second presidential citation was awarded to Brendesha Tynes, PhD, for her scholarship in developmental psychology, her leadership in advancing digital equity in schools, and her commitment to protecting children from racial discrimination in the digital world.

McGuire then presented the APA Services Advocacy Award to two federal advocacy coordinators. The first awardee was Amy Beck, PhD, for her dedicated advocacy at both the state and federal levels, her participation in diverse coalitions to elevate different facets of children’s mental and physical well-being, her efforts to find new allies for psychology from different sectors to support legislation led by the Missouri Psychological Association (MOPA), and her leadership in training advocates to speak up on important social issues, including organizing MOPA’s first membership-wide legislative day. Molly Gabriel-Champine, PhD, from the Michigan Psychological Association, was then honored for her work at the intersection of psychology and medicine, her leadership in the successful push to enact legislation promoting the full range of evidence-based models of integrated care, including the Primary Care Behavioral Health model, as well as her work to gain Medicare coverage for advanced psychology trainees.

Following the awards to APA members, McGuire presented Congressional Champion Awards to two members of Congress who have worked to address the youth mental health crisis and protect children online. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) were honored for their work on the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act. Both senators have worked tirelessly to elevate the importance of youth mental health, recruit a robust and bipartisan collection of cosponsors for KOSA, and meet with diverse stakeholders to continually improve the legislation.

For more information, contact Corbin Evans and Pat Kobor.