About half of adolescents have had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives, and some school districts are putting at least part of the blame on social media companies that they say addict America’s youth.
It won’t be easy to prove in court, but Seattle schools will try, having sued over the issue. They blame companies like Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., the owner of TikTok Inc., for contributing to the mental health crisis among students and say the addictive apps interfere with their ability to fulfill their educational mission.
"Social media really is harming the ability of students to learn and for teachers to teach, and students experiencing the mental health crises are performing worse in school, all of which is directly affecting the Seattle Public Schools’ mission,” said Felicia Craick, a lawyer with Keller Rohrback representing the Seattle district and its more than 100 schools.