New York is bidding to put new controls on social media platforms that state leaders say will protect the mental health of younger users. Gov.

New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by “addictive” feeds from accounts they don’t follow, under legislation proposed Wednesday.

The bills offered by state leaders are aimed at protecting young people from features designed to keep them endlessly scrolling, endangering their mental health and development, Attorney General Letitia James said.

“Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame,” James said. “This legislation will help tackle the risks of social media affecting our children and protect their privacy.”

The regulations sought by James and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, are similar to rules already in place in Europe, where violations could incur fines worth a percentage of revenue, which could run into the billions of dollars for wealthy tech companies.

  • qooqie@lemmy.world
    112·
    1 year ago

    Young New Yorkers are struggling with record levels of anxiety and depression, and social media companies that use addictive features to keep minors on their platforms longer are largely to blame,

    I don’t think this is necessarily true, but I do think social media isn’t helping in any way.

    There’s so much going on in this world that is crushing us millennials and below. Recently I think the complete greed that companies can get away with has destroyed any of our dreams of financial ladder mobility. The thought of making 6 figures and still struggling with rent and groceries is so fucking depressing. These sorts of depressing and anxiety inducing events are just more profound in huge cities because companies get away with so much more there it seems.

    • VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.socialEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I will say that staying off FB and Instagram, while it didn’t cure me, it did help my mental health a notable amount. I also think going from Reddit to Lemmy has been helping my online addiction and attention span as well. I really do think Reddit and Tik Tok and other infinite short-form content algorithms have been hurting people’s attention span. I’ve been slowly resuming reading books, but for awhile there I stopped, and I used to read a ton of books when I was a kid.

    • tacosanonymousEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Well, yeah. But they’re not going help out working class citizens. That’s not who pays them.