Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) is rallying his administration to curb the social media and smartphone addiction in Virginia, which he declared a mental health crisis.
On Tuesday, Youngkin issued a new executive order directing various department heads, including the secretary of health and human resources and the secretary of education, to disseminate information to parents, educators, and medical professionals about the mental health effects of excessive social media and cellphone usage.
“Virginia and the nation’s children are facing a youth mental health crisis driven by the effects of unrestricted cell phone use and addictive social media platforms,” said Youngkin in a press statement. “The scope of this challenge is going to require all of us, private sector, non-profit organizations, and government can support parents as they work to improve their children’s mental health.”
The executive order requires an interdepartmental effort to create a Social Media and Mental Health Toolkit to provide educational and training materials for clinicians, educators, and parents to “promote healthy social media use.”
The new policy explicitly references New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s most recent book, Anxious Generation, which links pervasive youth social media use to the growing rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation in children and teenagers.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40% of high school students in 2023 reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and nearly 20% had a major depressive episode. Approximately 12% of adolescents have contemplated suicide in the last year, and suicide remains the second leading cause of death for children aged 10 to 14.
Social media use among children and adolescents has paralleled this rise in mental health concerns, with 95% of children aged 13 or older reporting using social media in 2022. As of last year, the average teenager spent 4.8 hours each day across seven social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Youngkin also established the Reclaiming Childhood Task Force, to be convened by the secretary of health and human resources, with the mandate of collaborating with community-level organizations in the faith, nonprofit, and private sectors to “combat the mainstream culture and ensure our children play and learn in healthy ways,” according to the executive order.
“This Executive Order activates every health and child welfare agency of the Commonwealth in a coordinated awareness campaign to make sure every Virginia parent has knowledge they need to protect their children from unrestricted cell phone usage and active social media, to reclaim childhood, and to ensure that our future workforce, future military, and future parents themselves have the best shot at living out their true potential and purpose,” says the executive order.
This summer, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory statement that parents across the country reported significantly higher levels of stress, loneliness, anxiety, and depression than nonparents.
Although the most cited reason for parental stress was financial, the surgeon general report also noted the difficulties of guiding children and teenagers’ use of modern technology as a point of anxiety for parents.
“One thing we have heard from mothers and fathers across the Commonwealth is that they are looking for information and guidance on how to make the best choices for their kids,” said Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin in a statement. “The Reclaiming Childhood Task Force will unite families, experts, and communities to create a healthier future for Virginia’s children.”
Five other states, including Colorado, Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, and New Jersey, are currently working on legislation similar to Glenn Youngkin’s executive order that would raise public awareness about the negative repercussions of social media and furnish schools with evidence-based approaches to improving their environments.