Biden will address nation's mental health crisis at State of the Union
Biden will address nation’s ‘mental health crisis’ at his State of the Union by blaming COVID for kids being behind in school and social media for their ploys to ‘keep children clicking – with enormous consequences’
- Biden will target social media companies in his State of the Union address
- He will criticize them for their role in mental health problems among kids
- ‘Evidence is mounting that social media plays a systemic role in worsening the mental health of countless young people,’ a senior administration official said
- Officials wouldn’t say if the president will push for penalities on massive companies like Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook
President Joe Biden will target social media companies in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to hold them accountable for their role in children’s mental health.
Biden will ‘call for action to address social media as mental health harms, especially for youth,’ a senior administration official said on a briefing call for reporters Tuesday morning.
‘The evidence is mounting that social media plays a systemic role in worsening the mental health of countless young people,’ the official said.
But officials wouldn’t say if the president will push for penalities on massive companies like Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.
‘The president believes tech companies should be held accountable for for the harms they cause,’ the official said but didn’t give more details.
Officials also noted that studies show children are behind in math and reading due to school interruptions during the covid pandemic, all of which is affecting their mental health.
President Joe Biden will target social media companies in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night to hold them accountable for their role in children’s mental health
Officials wouldn’t say if the president will push for penalities on massive companies like Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook
A growing percentage of youth in the U.S. live with major depression, reported the non-profit Mental Health America: 15.08% of youth experienced a major depressive episode in the past year, a 1.24% increase from the year before.
And more than 2.5 million youth in the U.S. have severe depression, and multiracial youth are at greatest risk.
In his State of the Union address, Biden will call on Congress to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children and demand technology companies stop collecting personal data on children.
Additionally, Biden will criticize social media platforms for their addictive nature.
‘This youth mental health crisis has been accentuated by large social media platforms, which for years have been conducting a national experiment on our children and using their data to keep them clicking – with enormous consequences,’ a White House fact sheet noted.
Officials cited one estimate that social media companies can provide advertising firms with 72 million different data points on an average 13-year-old user.
In his State of the Union address President Biden will criticize social media companies for their role in mental health problems among kids
Biden will also outline a larger mental health strategy that includes $700 million investment in programs around training and supporting clinicians. The administration also plans to launch a crisis hotline in July.
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