Florida legislators have a history of prioritizing the well-being of students across our state, and 2024 is no exception.
Last year, House Speaker Paul Renner designated House Bill 1, providing for universal school choice, as his highest policy priority. This year’s House Bill 1, protecting young people from the harms of social media, should be equally important to families across Florida.
The bill would ban anyone under 16 from establishing an account on a social media platform and allow parents to submit a termination request for existing accounts. It would require social media companies to provide users under 18 with information about the potential harms of using social media at a young age. It also would include an enforcement mechanism.
I commend House Speaker Paul Renner, Reps. Tyler Sirois and Fiona McFarland and Sen. Erin Grall for their commitment to address the pressing challenges that social media poses to the mental health and learning of our youth.
The data could not be more clear: A report last May from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that social media use among young people is “nearly universal,” with up to 95% of teenagers and 40% of children aged 8-12 using the platforms.
The report found that kids on social media are often exposed to extreme, inappropriate and harmful content, and those who spend more than three hours a day on social media face twice the risk of poor mental health, including depression and anxiety.
A recent Pew Research survey of teenagers showed they spend an average of 3.5 hours a day on social media, and there have been widespread accounts of bullying and harassment happening on these platforms — with some extreme incidents leading to students committing or attempting suicide.
Social media platforms have rewired our brains, creating a need to respond to never-ending notifications and constantly check for updates that are customized to keep users coming back for more.
According to acclaimed researcher and author Dr. Jonathan Haidt, social media causes five types of foundational harm among young people: opportunity cost of time spent on platforms each day; loss of time spent socializing with friends; sleep deprivation; attention fragmentation; and behavioral addiction.
What does all this have to do with education?
Evidence from both pre- and post-pandemic data suggests a general decline in academic performance as measured on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) since 2012, which appears to correlate with the proliferation of social media platforms and increasing student screen usage over the last decade.
New data from the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) paints an even clearer picture of the correlation between screen time and academic performance, suggesting that the more leisure time students spent on devices and social media, particularly during the school day, the lower their academic performance in math.
Nearly three in four teachers recently reported feeling cell phone use is harming students’ social-emotional development, and 71% said they are concerned about social media having a negative effect on students’ mental health.
All of these data points are cause for concern — and the reason why Florida lawmakers are right to take a strong stand to protect our kids.
And Florida isn’t alone in its efforts. Utah and Virginia have already adopted legislation, and a half dozen other states, including Indiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, have filed similar bills this month.
House Bill 1 is as much about reigning in an increasingly harmful social media landscape as it is about improving educational outcomes, and it comes at no cost to taxpayers. It also builds upon last year’s work banning cell phones during classroom instruction by giving teachers more freedom to control how technology is deployed in their classrooms. But more can be done.
It’s time to eliminate distractions and return classrooms to laboratories of learning. We can do that by protecting young people from social media and giving them phone-free time during the entire school day, not just during instructional hours. It is important for students to engage with each other during the entire school day and not feel pressure to check their texts while changing classes. They need seven hours of peace from smart phones.
Technology is evolving so rapidly that it may be decades before we realize the full and deleterious effects of social media today on our students’ futures. It’s incumbent on our state and legislators to act now to shield students from harm. As a grandfather of six, I’m grateful for the courage of Florida’s legislative leaders in taking bold and necessary action.
Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is the founder and chair of ExcelinEd, ExcelinEd in Action and the Foundation for Florida’s Future.
