Schoenebeck: Balancing social media pressures, mental health and youth safety is tricky

Dexter Community Schools in Michigan is part of a growing number of school districts in the United States who are filing a lawsuit against social media companies. 

In the lawsuits, the school districts allege that social media companies are responsible for the mental health crisis amongst teenagers.  

Bridge Michigan spoke to University of Michigan School of Information associate professor Sarita Schoenebeck about accountability, youth safety and the impact of social media on young minds. 

“There’s such a collective interest from so many different bodies…that it’s clear to me that there’s enough desire to see more accountability and responsibility for how social media companies maintain experiences for children or enable experiences for children,” Schoenebeck said. 

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Read “Dexter schools sue social media giants, citing child mental health crisis” on Bridge Michigan. 

Read more of Sarita Schoenebeck’s work on social media, youth and online harassment through her UMSI faculty profile and her personal website.