Senator Schmitt Questions Witnesses About the Dangers Posed by Excessive Screentime, Social Media Algorithms to America’s Youth

WASHINGTON - Today, during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) questioned witnesses about the dangers posed by early and excessive use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops and social media algorithms to America's kids and early adolescents.

Watch Senator Schmitt's full line of questions HERE

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks for having this hearing. When I was an Attorney General in my previous job, we dealt with a lot of these issues, including the censorship case. And so, I think there's like a three headed sin. You've got the criminal aspect - I think everyone can agree that needs to be dealt with. You've got the under-18 or the kid aspect, which is the focus here, which I'm glad we're doing. Then you also have Section 230 protections, which, in a perfect world, were meant to have an open [social media] platform, and that's why you have the liability protection. The problem is, when social media companies become publishers, not platforms, they should lose that Section 230 protection. There's not really been a hammer behind that. But on the on the kid aspect, which is my hope that we can find broad bipartisan agreement on what to actually do about it, which is why you guys are all here. And I appreciate your testimony," Senator Schmitt said during his opening remarks.

Senator Schmitt on the Dangers Posed by Excessive Screentime, Social Media Algorithms:

Senator Schmitt: "I want to dig a little bit deeper into the business model, or how you guys see it, or what you've found through your researcher. In your testimony, Dr. Radesky, you found that early childhood YouTube videos had the highest advertising load, and in some cases, the ads were longer than the videos themselves. Why does YouTube intentionally overload children with ads?"

Dr. Jenny Radesky, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School: "There's a huge market for young children's content on YouTube. There's a couple of reasons for this. One, it's very successful. Two, parents of young children are exhausted, and so they use YouTube to occupy kids. And so, there's tons of ad space to be filled. There are even, I've seen, YouTubers who are now instructing other YouTubers on how to create AI generated content for young children - like little nursery rhymes - because they know it's a huge source of ad sales. So, I think there should be limits on the ad load in the way that kid's attention is monetized."

Senator Schmitt: "This is an open-ended question to you or anybody else. So, I'm Gen X. The big controversy when I was growing up was - Saturday morning cartoons were a thing, you got up and you watched some cartoons on Saturday morning. […] Now seems, rather innocuous, but big cereal was in front of the kids, and then we would go to the grocery store and tell mom to get something, right? How is this different than that? Why is this much more significant and different than that controversy in the 80s?"

Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, Director, LME Global: "It's an element of control and direct ability. When we were growing up, watching TV - and there's an argument to be made TV was bad for us. So were the ads for us, which is not as bad. You had no control, like we were talking about earlier. Whatever was on the TV, we all watched it. So, there was a certain element of collectivism, where our identities were formed around one thing that none of us touched. Today, it's all individualism. Everything you watch will be geared towards you, which means the ads you see will be geared towards you. And it shoves you into a very small path, which really narrows your identity."

Senator Schmitt: "And what all of you are saying is that study after study shows you that the further down that path you go is really destructive to a kid's mental health."

Mr. Horvath: "It isolates them and leads to loneliness."

Senator Schmitt: "You know, I have a special need [son], two teenage daughters, so we live this also. So, I think, as a legislator, you bring those experiences. It's very difficult. Dr. Twenge, I want to ask - most American, most teenagers, use YouTube and TikTok daily. You've described TikTok's algorithm as very sophisticated and very sticky, meaning that the more child uses it, the more likely he or she is to be depressed. Do you believe social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok knowingly design addictive features targeting kids?"

Dr. Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University: "I do. That's their business model. The more time people spend on it, the more money they make. So, they have poured millions, if not billions, of dollars into those algorithms to make sure people use the app as much as possible. And TikTok in particular, their internal research - they know that is especially effective with children and young teens because of brain development and impulse control. They have the biggest problem with spending an excessive amount of time."

Senator Schmitt: "So, it would be your testimony that they know - not just that they can sell more ads - but they know that this is harmful to kids."

Dr. Twenge: "That is what the internal research that they have done, as well as the external academic research shows, yes."

Senator Schmitt: "We have limited time. I appreciate you all coming here. I know it's not easy to get to Washington. But my hope is that we could come together on something. It's much harder to deal with adults, and what algorithms do, and First Amendment issues, and terms of service. But with kids, we have the ability to do something about that. It is my hope that we will. Thank you."

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