Recently, Adam Grant, an organizational psychology professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, posted an interesting article on social media (SNS). The content stated that students who begin using SNS in middle school tend to score lower on exams in high school. This article, in which Adam Grant firmly declared that "children should not have access to SNS," received more than 33,000 'likes'.
Banning teenagers from using SNS has emerged as a hot issue worldwide. Starting with Australia becoming the first country to ban SNS use for users under 16 at the end of last year, Indonesia and France have also passed legislation prohibiting SNS use. South Korea is also considering regulations on teenagers' SNS usage due to the negative side effects of SNS use during adolescence.
The content cited by Grant comes from a research team led by Marco Koo I (Prof.) at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Italy. The research team analyzed the relationship between the age at which students first used SNS and their academic achievement among 5,227 high school students in northern Italy, publishing their findings in the international academic journal 'Nature Human Behaviour'.
The study revealed that students who created their first SNS account in sixth grade (equivalent to middle school first year) lagged behind those who created accounts after ninth grade (high school first year) by 0.22 standard deviations in Italian and 0.18 standard deviations in mathematics. According to the research team, a difference of 0.2 standard deviations corresponds to approximately six months' worth of learning. The results showed that the earlier students started using SNS, the lower their academic achievement became, with the gap widening over time.
The research team concluded that students who frequently check their smartphones before bed or immediately after waking up, and at school, are more significantly affected in terms of academic achievement. They argued that 'smartphone pervasiveness' leads to distracted attention and cognitive overload, resulting in lower Italian and math scores.
There are many similar research results in the United States as well. In March, a research team from the University of Georgia published findings in the international journal 'Journal of Research on Adolescence' stating that teenagers who use SNS frequently experience declines in reading and vocabulary skills, along with reduced concentration. The team concluded that frequent SNS use causes the brain to adapt to SNS and operate according to its patterns.
The reason such studies continue to emerge is that concerns over the impact of SNS like Instagram on teenagers are growing increasingly severe. A flood of lawsuits has been directed at Meta, the world's largest SNS company. Earlier this month, Meta lost a lawsuit in New Mexico and was ordered to pay $567 million in damages and strengthen protective measures for teenagers.
On the 18th, the first trial of a lawsuit filed by attorneys general from 29 U.S. states against Meta took place at the U.S. District Court in Northern California. The court is expected to focus on whether Meta violated state consumer protection laws and the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The trial, which will last six to eight weeks, will see Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, personally participating in the arguments. The ruling in California will have an impact far beyond that of the New Mexico case. Meta's headquarters is also located in Menlo Park, California.
In the United States, analyses suggest this lawsuit could have an impact on the social media industry comparable to the 'tobacco lawsuits' of the 1990s. At that time, the tobacco industry began losing its growth momentum after acknowledging the dangers of smoking and paying billions of dollars in compensation.
The 29 U.S. state governments are demanding the removal of features that encourage addiction, such as infinite scroll, auto-play, and beauty filters, as well as algorithms designed to maximize usage time. Depending on the outcome of this lawsuit, Meta's core business model could be shaken. Marco Koo I (Prof.) has predicted that policies regulating the usage-inducing mechanisms embedded in platforms and delaying SNS use until teenagers are cognitively mature enough would be beneficial. South Korea is also at a point where it must engage in serious discussions to find reasonable solutions regarding where global SNS regulations are heading and how it should respond.
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