Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new bill into law that aims to combat social media addiction for minors last Friday.
Senate Bill 976, or the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act is the newest California law to address unhealthy screen addiction. It comes among a new wave of bills responding to concerns that social media is too addictive for young people.
Beginning January 1, 2027, the new law will force social media companies to create mechanisms to restrict minors from receiving notifications, limit access to them algorithmic feeds, target age-friendly pieces of media and set profiles to private. Parents and guardians of minors also have full access to these mechanisms to adjust settings for their children.
In a published study from N. R. Ramesh Masthi in the National Library of Medicine, “Adolescents have greater exposure to electronic gadgets like smartphones at a much younger age, and hence, are more prone to social media overuse or addiction. Social media addiction was found in over one-third of [the study’s] subjects and the majority had mild addiction.”
According to the Assembly Committee On Privacy and Consumer Protection, this law will prohibit operators from providing minors with addictive feeds and notifications within a time frame unless consented to by parents or guardians.
Many see this law as a saving grace for adolescents’ dependency to social media and electronics in general, and an effective way to limit dangerous or inappropriate content. James P. Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense Media, told CNN that kids will see what they want to see rather than what the big companies want them to see which keeps them hooked. According to Steyer, “this bill is good for kids’ mental and physical health.”
While many proponents are excited about curbing the addictive nature of social media, there are various organizations that oppose the law. Jack Murphy, co-president of USC Reach and a Snapchat and TikTok content creator, said about the bill, “I don’t think it’s centered towards the right issues, I think fake news and false information is the number one threat from social media. It’s not about the addictiveness.”
The bill also aims to promote a chronological feed, rather than an algorithmically curated one, attacking the issue of addiction. The assumption is that showing content chronologically is less addictive than an algorithm curated on the latest trends, however, according to CNN, many fear this is a violation of the First Amendment’s prioritization of editorial discretion.
“As someone who identifies with the LGBTQ+ community, I see [this bill] as a threat against children realizing their own identities,” said Murphy.
Freddy Nager, USC professor and professional in marketing and digital media, agrees that the problem is not about blocking specific content, but rather the way the information is presented.
“When the government starts dictating what is good content and what is bad content, that’s controversial, particularly depending on which side of the political aisle you sit on,” Nager said. “We don’t want to politicize content, but rather, let’s look at the delivery mechanism.”
Professor Nager proposes that a Senate bill may not be the most effective way to limit these addictions, but rather changes to media literacy pedagogy.
“Beyond the tech solution, there needs to be a cultural solution. Something that I would like to see done is having media literacy taught for young people from as soon as they enter junior high school, they need to understand who produces media, what are the motivations? What is fact checking?” Nager said. “We do this at Annenberg, but I think today’s kids are creators and they’re consumers, and nobody has taught them this yet.”
Tackling this complicated issue is unfortunately unclear, as mentioned by Jenna Gestetner, USC Reach member majoring in arts, technology and the business of innovation,”I don’t think you can keep all of the positive things that social media provides without sometimes being harmful or addictive.”