By Bruce Goldfaden
The 88 days from June 17, 2024, through September 12, 2024, were especially telling for the phenomenon we blandly describe as social media, as though the words “social” and “media” call to mind a friendly, chatty, happy encounter with the internet or a symbolic, pleasant, joyful stroll through a park with birds and butterflies all around. But, for Steve and Joann Bogard of Evansville, Indiana, social media proved to be something sinister: a digital maelstrom that took the life of their beloved son, Mason, 15.
As Joann described in a heart-wrenching, first-person account on HuffPost, September 4, 2024, [1], “On a perfectly routine evening, he went to take a shower. He gave his dad his typical hug and as he walked upstairs, he said, ‘I love you, Momma.’ I replied, ‘I love you too, buddy.’ Those were our last words. A few minutes later, we heard an unusual noise and soon found him with no heartbeat, not breathing, with a belt around his neck.” [2] Steve, a paramedic, was able to get a pulse back with CPR, but Mason never woke up.
“Mason was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced clinically brain dead. He was on life support for three more days while they prepared his body for his organ donation.” [3] He died May 4, 2019, three days later. [4]. The belt was around Mason’s neck because he “had participated in the viral social media trend called the ‘choking challenge.’ This is a dangerous online stunt where teens temporarily strangle themselves to pass out and then post the recording on social media to get those sought-after laughs and likes that kids crave in today’s digital world. For Mason, the challenge went horribly wrong as the belt locked in place, and he died much too soon.” [5] The choking challenge is one of many social media or internet challenges. [6]
Joann’s description of her family tragedy was one of the 11 news events about social media and adolescents during these three months from mid-June through mid-September, which I discovered in my research for this part of the No More Decency? series. In fact, all of these events more or less found me in only minutes as I researched “social media news”: one news event after the next with links to related events like a flood of never-ending dread for adolescents. Regardless of social media’s original design intentions to connect friends and family, build communities of similar interests, enable businesses to find customers, and the dissemination of news events, their unintended consequences for adolescents are part of Indecency USA.
For adolescents, social media is our cultural indecency, or the goat's body—a symbol of biblical sacrifice—of the three-body-part, monstrous chimera with the lion’s head and serpent’s tail described in the introduction and part 2. The chimera of our political, cultural, and psychological indecency is hovering around us, the omnipresent negative energy attempting to strip us permanently of the essential moral and ethical principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness.
Social media has reached such a viral turning point for adolescents that US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, has called for a dramatic new approach, the third time he has voiced his concerned about the platforms. With Dr. Murthy’s call to action, here’s a look at what happened in these 88 days of social media history.
“The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor…It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms,..."
Highlighted links from article
Related news
May 23, 2023
"While social media may offer some benefits, there are ample indicators that social media can also pose a risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents."
December 6, 2021
"Many researchers argue that digital technologies can expose children to bullying, contribute to obesity and eating disorders, trade off with sleep, encourage children to negatively compare themselves to others, and lead to depression, anxiety, and self-harm…Several studies have linked time spent on social media to mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression…Meanwhile, others have cast doubt on the idea that technology or social media use is a major factor in youth wellbeing."
About this case: “This is a Multi-District Litigation (MDL) involving various defendants such as Meta Platforms, Inc., Instagram LLC, Snap, Inc., TikTok, Inc., ByteDance, Inc., YouTube LLC, Google LLC, and Alphabet Inc. ..."
"The bills — the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act, referred to as COPPA 2.0 — represent the most significant restrictions on tech platforms to clear a chamber of Congress in decades…"
“Meta Platforms is running ads on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs, months after The Wall Street Journal first reported that the social-media giant was facing a federal investigation over the practice.”
Related news
August 1, 2024
The Wall Street Journal front page
Advertising for Illicit Drugs Persists on Facebook
“Meta Platforms is running ads on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs, months after The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the social-media giant was facing a federal investigation over the practice.”
June 7, 2023
“Instagram, the popular social-media site owned by Meta Platforms, helps connect and promote a vast network of accounts openly devoted to the commission and purchase of underage-sex content, according to investigations by The Wall Street Journal and researchers at Stanford University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.”
“A minor from New York on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Meta, alleging that the social media giant sought to keep teens hooked on Instagram while knowingly exposing them to harmful content.”
“A bipartisan group of 19 lawmakers sent a letter to Meta Platforms asking why ads for illicit drugs on Instagram and other apps have continued to proliferate while the company is facing a federal probe over the practice."
“As of September 2024, there were 584 social media lawsuits pending in multidistrict litigation number 3047 in the Northern District of California."
HuffPost Personal: A Viral Social Media Trend Killed My Son — And It Could Happen To Your Family, Too: ‘It is difficult to hear some parents say that their children know better. My child was smart. But he was also a boy with a 15-year-old brain.’
“ ‘Mason had participated in the viral social media trend called the ‘choking challenge.’ ”
“ ‘Our undercover investigation revealed that Snapchat’s harmful design features create an environment where predators can easily target children through sextortion schemes and other forms of sexual abuse,’ said Attorney General Torrez."
According to the FBI, "Sextortion can start on any site, app, messaging platform, or game where people meet and communicate. In some cases, the first contact from the criminal will be a threat. The person may claim to already have a revealing picture or video of a child that will be shared if the victim does not send more pictures...The FBI also has recently seen an increase in financial sextortion cases targeting minor victims in the U.S. Financial sextortion is different from traditional sextortion. In these cases, the offender receives sexually explicit material from the child and then threatens to release the compromising material unless the victim sends money and/or gift cards. The amount requested varies, and the offender often releases the victim’s sexually explicit material regardless of whether or not they receive payment. This increasing threat has resulted in an alarming number of deaths by suicide."
[7] [8]
Related news
December 6, 2023
“ ‘Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,’ said Attorney General Torrez."
“A coalition of over 40 state attorneys general urged Congress...to place labels on social media platforms warning of their potential risks to children, rallying substantial bipartisan support behind a proposal championed by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy.”
Related news
October 24, 2023
“Forty-one states and D.C. are suing Meta, alleging that the tech giant harms children by building addictive features into Instagram and Facebook — legal actions that represent the most significant effort by state enforcers to tackle the impact of social media on children’s mental health.”
November 18, 2021
“A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general...announced an investigation into Meta, focusing on whether the parent company of Instagram and Facebook violated consumer protection laws by promoting the app and other social networking products to children and teens.”
“A Republican congressman [Michigan Rep. Tim Walberg] slammed Meta on Thursday over what the lawmaker called an inadequate response to concerns about illicit drug advertisements on Facebook and Instagram.
Related news
August 15, 2024
“A bipartisan group of 19 lawmakers sent a letter to Meta Platforms asking why ads for illicit drugs on Instagram and other apps have continued to proliferate while the company is facing a federal probe over the practice."
On September 17, 2024, Instagram posted, “We’re rolling out a new experience for teens, guided by parents. Teen Accounts automatically limit who can contact teens and the content they can see.” And, Meta has a Safety Center with Facebook Community Standards and Instagram Community Guidelines.
Snapchat has Snapchat Safety Center with In-App Reporting, “You can easily report inappropriate content to us right in the app! Just press and hold on the Snap, then tap the 'Report Snap' button. Let us know what’s going on — we’ll do our best to help! Learn more about reporting abuse in‑app and download our Quick-Guide to Snapchat Reporting.”
On October 1, 2024, a WSJ Digital [The Wall Street Journal] article analyzed the September 5, 2024, New Mexico Department of Justice lawsuit against Snap Inc., which is news event 9 above. The article, headlined, Snap Failed to Warn Users About Sextortion Risks, State Lawsuit Alleges, states, “Driven by organized predation and loosening norms about intimate photo sharing among young users, a rough internal analysis in November 2022 found that Snap was receiving 10,000 reports of sextortion each month, according to internal documents cited by New Mexico’s suit. Those reports ‘likely represent a small fraction of this abuse,’ the internal Snap analysis stated, citing the low likelihood of victims flagging the problem to Snap. A separate internal analysis of 279 known instances of sextortion in 2023 found that 70% of victims never reported the abuse and that for the 30% who did, Snap had failed to take any action.” [9]
On October 8, 2024, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit against TikTok alleging the platform “operates [an] intentionally addictive, psychologically damaging platform, deceives parents about safety [and] profits from exploitation of young users.”
“TikTok not only enables sexual exploitation of children through its livestreaming and illegal virtual currency features, but profits from it, extracting up to a 50% commission from each financial transaction.” [10] On the same day, October 8, 2024, TikTok sued by 14 attorneys general over alleged harm to children’s mental health. [11]
TikTok has a Safety Center with Topics, Guides, Safety & Privacy Controls, and Safety Updates. Their September 5, 2024, update is headlined: TikTok and the Family Online Safety Institute partner to launch Digital Safety Partnership For Families.
As with the previous lawsuits included here against Meta Platforms and Snap Inc., this lawsuit against TikTok is redacted to prevent exposure of proprietary business practices, trade secrets or, in some cases, sexually explicit material.
Safety centers, community guidelines, and a digital partnership are admirable initiatives. Are these initiatives genuinely safeguarding adolescents?
And, so, our road trip through Indecency USA continues. The chimera of our political, cultural, and psychological indecency is hovering around us, the omnipresent negative energy attempting to strip us permanently of the essential moral and ethical principles of compassion, goodwill, and kindness.
Next week: part 4: psychological indecency
References
[1] HuffPost. "A Viral Social Media Trend Killed My Son — And It Could Happen To Your Family, Too." Accessed September 18, 2024. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/children-social-media-safety-viral-trend_n_66c777b3e4b0f1ca46942213.
[2] HuffPost, "A Viral Social Media Trend Killed My Son —," para. 2.
[3] HuffPost, "A Viral Social Media Trend Killed My Son —," para. 4.
[4] Pierre Funeral Home. "Obituary for Mason Bogard." Pierre Funeral Home, September 18, 2024. https://www.pierrefuneralhome.com/obituaries/Mason-Bogard/#!/Obituary.
[5] HuffPost, "A Viral Social Media Trend Killed My Son —," para. 5.
[6] HealthyChildren.org. "Dangerous Social Media Challenges: Understanding Their Appeal to Kids." American Academy of Pediatrics. Accessed September 18, 2024.
[7] Federal Bureau of Investigation. "How We Can Help You: Sextortion." FBI. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/sextortion.
[8] Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Financially Motivated Sextortion." FBI. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/sextortion/financially-motivated-sextortion.
[9] WSJ Digital. "Snap Failed to Warn Users About Sextortion Risks, State Lawsuit Alleges." The Wall Street Journal. Accessed October 1, 2024.
[10] Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. "Attorney General Schwalb Sues TikTok for Preying on Children and Deceiving Parents." Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Accessed October 8, 2024. https://oag.dc.gov/release/attorney-general-schwalb-sues-tiktok-preying.
[11] Duffy, Clare. "TikTok Sued by 14 Attorneys General over Alleged Harm to Children’s Mental Health." CNN, October 8, 2024. Accessed October 8, 2024. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/08/tech/tiktok-sued-14-states-childrens-mental-health/index.html.
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Bruce Goldfaden is the founder of LSV Communications, a digital marketing agency structured on the principle of value proposition messaging to differentiate a company from competitors. He is the author of The Man of Many Colors, a parable about recognizing one's individual value to recognize this value in others to live by the Golden Rule, the correct code of conduct. The Man of Many Colors is available on amazon.com.
Copyright © 2024 Bruce Goldfaden and LSV Communications LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this essay may be reproduced or redistributed in any form or by any means—except through sharing via a link to this web page or for brief quotations in a review—without the express written permission of Bruce Goldfaden and LSV Communications LLC.
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