69´«Ã½

Student Well-Being Q&A

A Superintendent Explains Why Her District Is Suing Social Media Companies

By Arianna Prothero — February 28, 2024 3 min read
Teenage girl looking at smart phone
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Student mental health and behavioral issues have become a major drain on district resources in California’s San Mateo county in recent years—a troubling trend that administrators in the district believe is rooted in students’ overuse of social media.

After trying other fixes, such as hiring more mental health support staff in schools, the county school district decided to take a drastic step to get the attention of lawmakers and major social media companies, said Nancy Magee, the county’s superintendent of schools, a role that oversees 23 local school districts south of San Francisco.

The district sued the companies that own Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube last year, alleging that they design highly addictive products that are harming its students’ mental health. San Mateo is among more than 200 school districts across the country to do so. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, is also a defendant in many of those lawsuits.

For their part, the social media companies counter that they continue to take robust measures to protect young people on their platforms and discourage overuse.

Magee spoke with Education Week to discuss the unique challenges social media creates for schools and her concerns that technology is outpacing the regulation needed to keep young people safe.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Nancy Magee

You said social media has been a drain on your schools. How so?

We’re understaffed in schools in America. We don’t have enough adults on campus to really support the needs of students. And these complex needs are so much more different than when I entered the classroom to teach 35 years ago. It’s a completely different landscape because [students are] just sadder. They’re just more anxious.

They’re involved in this whole other digital universe that didn’t exist 35 years ago. And it’s invisible. The teacher can’t really see it. Being a teenager is a time of upheaval and major growth. Some people may say drama, but it’s exacerbated to the nth degree by the power of the social media platforms, because where you might pass a note in the old days to a friend and say something mean, now all of a sudden, if you do that online, the entire school or school district sees it.

See also

A close up of a statue of the blindfolded lady justice against a light blue background with a ghosted image of a hands holding a cellphone with Facebook "Like" and "Love" icons hovering above it.
iStock/Getty

I’m talking about the complexity that the digital world presents to us. I welcome and embrace technology for learning. But the tools are accessible before society is able to manage it. Everybody’s talking about AI and all the unintended consequences and impacts of that. We don’t even have an idea of what that is, so we don’t know how to make laws or how to create social behavior norms around that. The same is true for social media platforms.

The mental health crisis for young people is real. Social media plays a significant role in that. It’s not the sole driver of it, but certainly is a huge impact.

If social media is not the sole driver of the mental health crisis, what else is driving it?

I think there is a thread that runs under all of it.

We’re overwhelmed with instantaneous information. Kids can basically learn about anything they want to, which you would think is a good thing. But, [for example], a lot of kids are very, very upset about the climate of the planet.

See also

Vector illustration of 30 items and devices converging into a single smart device. Your contemporary tablet is filled with a rich history, containing ways to record and view video, listen to music, calculate numbers, communicate with others, pay for things, and on and on.
DigitalVision Vectors
Student Well-Being Q&A How Social Media May Benefit Teens' Mental Health
Arianna Prothero, February 16, 2024
4 min read

Something that they’re worried about suddenly is in their face constantly. Whereas when we were kids, we could be worried about something, but we had to wait until the evening news. Or the newspaper would come in the morning and we overhear mom and dad talking about it. We’d be a little bit nervous, but then it would kind of just go away. But today, it’s just constantly there.

It’s ever present. It’s overwhelming. It’s also immediately accessible.

We have to live with social media. But what you’re saying with your lawsuit is: ‘We can’t do it alone. We need help.’ Right?

The lawsuit is really attacking the algorithms that are being utilized on these platforms purposely to keep kids online longer, as long as possible, and to send them down the next rabbit hole, which taps directly into the addiction chemicals in their brains, and then they find that they can’t stop.

Oftentimes, the answer to challenges in the world is education. And we do need to be investing more in the education of kids in their media literacy and their critical thinking skills and in monitoring their own mental health. But I think that the social media companies should have some accountability in that.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Student Well-Being Opinion 3 Things You Need to Know About Absenteeism
We studied the data from more than 1.5 million students. Here’s are some overlooked insights to boost attendance.
Todd Rogers, Emily Bailard & Mikia Manley
4 min read
Scattered school desks seen from above, some with red x's on them signifying absences.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and iStock/Getty Images
Student Well-Being SEL Has Become Politicized. 69´«Ã½ Are Embracing It Anyway
Eighty-three percent of principals report that their schools use an SEL curriculum or program.
5 min read
Image of positive movement when attending to a student's well-being is a component.
Dmitrii_Guzhanin/iStock/Getty and Laura Baker/Education Week
Student Well-Being 69´«Ã½ Don't Want to Talk About Politics, Either
The election is occurring at a time when many schools are discouraged from having tough conversations in class.
6 min read
Viewers gather to watch a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Angry Elephant Bar and Grill, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in San Antonio.
Viewers gather to watch a debate between Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Angry Elephant Bar and Grill, Sept. 10, 2024, in San Antonio. Researchers say students are more reluctant to talk politics this election cycle.
Eric Gay/AP
Student Well-Being Opinion Can Athletic Coaches Help 69´«Ã½ Learn More in the Classroom?
School sports can provide an opportunity for mentorship.
8 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty