Up to 40% of depressed teens have committed suicide due to improper social media use starting at a young age. When children start using social media at a young age, multiple negative effects are attributed to them and will be with them for the rest of their lives To illustrate, Harvard Law Review reasons that, “Social media is draining the life out of students and young kids, they get attached to their devices and depression can start early.” The teens in our community are constantly wanting their phones. Social media has ruined childhoods by taking their happiness away with disturbing, inappropriate videos and pictures. From our perspective, teens use social media more than they talk to their friends and family daily. Although some teens feel social media is a safe space for them to interact with others, meet new people, and catch up on their hobbies, many don’t feel safe on social media. Many teens are discouraged from others on social media but continue to use it. From what we have seen growing up compared to now, is that children don’t go to the local parks as much as we used to when we were younger. Growing up, we were outside practically all day. Many children, including those in our community have access to social media on their device and stay inside all day. This causes attachment and the feeling of needing to have a device. Furthermore, Social media takes a toll on teens' mental health. These tolls include bullying, peer pressuring, expectations of those, etc. Teens, especially girls, compare themselves to others on social media. Social media is typically fake to make people think others have better lives.

 We are fighting for the change of social media use in teens and monitoring their first few years of social media use. Those under thirteen should not have access to social media and those from 13-16 years old should be monitored and have parental guidance. We need your help to achieve this goal. To demonstrate, the Common Wealth Beacon states,“Both the House and Senate have passed bills banning cellphone use by students during the school day, but the House version also includes a provision banning social media accounts for children 13 and younger, and requiring 14- and 15-year-olds to have a parent or guardian’s permission to sign up for an account.” Another example, the Common Wealth Beacon says, “Maura Healey rolled out proposals aimed at limiting the impact of social media on young people. They say social media websites and their algorithms are addictive and anxiety-inducing, arguing in favor of age restrictions or requiring parental consent to use sites like Instagram and TikTok.”

 Children under 13 years old run into trouble on social media. These children do not know how to safely use social media in the way it was intended. We believe that children should not have access to social media to protect their privacy, mental health, and safety. An obstacle teens are facing is the addictive nature causing overuse of social media platforms. The House and the Senate have proposed a bill for achieving this goal, but it did not get approved. The governor of Massachusetts has also stepped up for this and shown what should be done. Our goals are to ban social media use for those under 13 years old and have monitoring, and parent consent for those 13-16 years old. This change is something we want to see in the communities around us and we hope to notice a change.We are trying to help alongside many, and we would appreciate your support in overcoming these obstacles.

If nothing is done to reach our goal the lives of the future generations are at stake. Childhoods will be ruined, the mental health of teens will get worse, leading to harmful situations. Social media has many negative effects on teen girls and boys.

 For context, Pew Research Center states, “Teen girls stand out from boys in saying social media are harmful to their mental health”. Although many are affected by social media, teen girls are additionally harmed more through social media. Social media hurts their body image and destroys their mental health. Many teens hurt themselves to make themselves look more like the images we see in our daily life. This is a struggle for teen boys as much as teen girls because social media is fake, many post to make their lives look happy, full, and thriving when on the inside it is commonly not true. Many of these images are photoshopped and edited to be enticing and make people want to be in these images. If this is not stopped, more teens will harm themselves. In future generations children may get access and ruin their mental health at a young age. Do you want your children to be attached to a device all day?  Social media puts inappropriate things in children's minds. These things are spread across social media and children learn them. When the bill is passed we can expect that there will be little to no progress. But in a few years we expect that  there will be a change in these social media platforms. Many teens feel the use of social media is harming them

We can’t wait that long!  This bill has from now to July 31st, 2026 to get passed helping many teens and families from losing ones they love to social media. Acting now will help many, and we can be influenced by those around us. For example, Harvard law states,  “The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 is the current federal baseline for internet services to protect minors online, but it increasingly stretches credulity to accept social media companies’ assertion that they comply with the law. Today, at least sixteen states have enacted laws regulating minors’ access to social media platforms.”. We have from now to the end of July to have this bill passed. Acting now will help many teens' mental health and restore their lives. Now is the time to act, join us fighting for the safety of young teens who will soon be the future. This bill cannot wait, we need your help to pass this quickly. At this meeting the bill can be announced and passed. Many states around us have already acted on this cause. We would like to protect those in Massachusetts and influence others around us. If this change doesn’t occur soon, the lives of the future generations will be highly influenced by social media standards.

Take a stand against youth and social media! Help bring justice to the future. Please sign our petition here on change.org to help us achieve our goal. With your help, together we can make a difference in teenagers' mental health and keep them safe on social media.

Contact information: - To contact those in this meeting please see links stated below:

House of representatives of MA links for general info https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/House

 House of Representatives of MA phone number: 617-722-2356

Senate of MA contact info: https://malegislature.gov/Legislators/Senate