GREENSBORO, N.C. — Senator Ted Budd introduced a bill that could ban young kids from social media. He introduced the Kids Off Social Media Act with seven other senators from both political parties. The bipartisan bill would prevent kids under 13 from signing up for social media accounts. And it would block social media companies from sending targeted content to users under the age of 17.
"For these big companies, that's where the money is: going after these kids and getting their full mind share," Budd said. "We want to say, hey, look, you cannot use algorithms to discover and go after these kids for profit. One, it's not great for the health of our nation to it's harmful to these families. So again, it's putting tools in the hands of parents to make better decisions. We can save that for later in life once these kids have matured a bit. And again, there's a place for social media. But you know, right now we're seeing more harm than good, especially at a younger age. "
Here's why the senators picked 13 for the cutoff:
"You know, we got to pick an age somewhere. And we think we think that's the right age. This isn't perfect. But again, it puts tools in the hands of parents to make better decisions for these kids at a young age," Budd said.
This comes at a time when the group Mental Health America just released a new report showing more teens are getting screened for suicidal thoughts.
And the number one reason they give is body issues - often from comparing themselves to others on social media. The president of that organization, Schroeder Stribling, thinks Senator Budd's bill could make a difference.
"Yes, it might help and I will say again that we don't know exactly what the solutions are because this is really new and happening. rapidly," Stribling said. "I think it's possible in the future that we will find an age at which we don't think it's safe for people to be on social media. Below that, you know, we have an age for drinking, we have an age for joining the military, etc. In the future, we might find that there's an age at which we think it's appropriate or not to be using social media. Right now we don't have a consensus about what that is."
Budd's bill still has several steps to pass before it could become law. We'll keep you posted.