The New York City Department of Health issued an advisory designating social media “an environmental toxin” due to its impact on minors, Mayor Eric Adams announced. yesterday during his annual state of the city address.
Later NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan He said he had issued the measure. “The advisory raises awareness of this threat and provides Resources for Healthier Relationships and Stronger Offline Connections”he claimed.
“We cannot stand by and let big technology companies monetize the privacy of our children.”
Eric Adams – Mayor of NYC
Adams compared the effect of social networks on young people to that of tobacco and weapons in the past, “and that is the same way we are going to treat social networks: as another threat to health that must stop.”. We must guarantee that technology companies take responsibility for their products,” said the mayor.. But he did not clarify what this designation will translate into or what tools the Mayor’s Office has to act against social networks, today in the hands of the most powerful companies in the country, he said. EFE.
Last October, the New York Attorney General’s Office and a bipartisan coalition of 33 attorneys general filed a federal lawsuit against Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp y Messenger, “for harming the mental health of young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis” by designing their platforms with “addictive” features.
“We cannot stand by and let big technology companies monetize the privacy of our children,” the mayor stressed yesterday, who boasted of making New York the first American city to take this step.
The Mental Health report on which Adams relied states that 77% of high school students spend three hours or more a day in front of a screen during their leisure time. Also between 2011 and 2021, the number of adolescents who said they felt “hopeless” rose 42%, while those who showed suicidal tendencies grew 38%. Black, Latinx, female, or LGBTQ+ students experienced disproportionately high rates of hopelessnesshighlighted Fox News.
The report includes Some advice for teachers, guardians and parents: do not give a cell phone or tablet to children until they are 14 years old, disable social networks and limit the use of devices during free hours.
In parallel, Social media has been linked to violence and crimes in NYC with youth involved. For example, officials continue to try to crack down on the “surfing” in the Metroa practice that has left several dead in recent months, most of them teenagers, who apparently feel stimulated by videos on social networks. Last winter The MTA said it would ask social media companies to remove subway “surfer” content.but that has not happened and the cases continue.
It has also been identified that the rise in car thefts in New York has been linked to a viral TikTok trend that last year encouraged teenagers to hijack specific brands for rides.
Additionally, this month the New York police reported that a 10-year-old girl was raped in East Harlem (Manhattan) by a man she met on a social media application.
He National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has warned since 2020 about an increase in cases of child pornography by the increased time of adults and children online. If you are a victim or suspect that someone is being abused, especially if it is a minor or elderly:
I looked for help
2024-01-25 13:47:00
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