Madam President, it is always an honor to represent my great State, to stand and speak in front of my colleagues and before the American people. But today is particularly special for me as my parents…
Madam President, it is always an honor to represent my great State, to stand and speak in front of my colleagues and before the American people. But today is particularly special for me as my parents are here in the Gallery, and I rise today with great concerns for our country as a parent myself.
As a mom of two, I know firsthand the struggles that parents face with raising their children. You add doing that in this digital age, and obstacles and challenges become that much more great.
Our country is in the throes of a mental health crisis. And don't just take my word for it. Just look at the data. Twenty percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2021. When looking at just girls, that number then increases to 29 percent.
This crisis--and crisis doesn't even really feel strong enough when we are talking about rates this high--is alarming, and recent developments show us that. But before that, let's rewind.
Between the years of 2011 and 2019, depression rates amongst our teenagers more than doubled. The number of adolescents who reported experiencing a major depressive episode shot up 60 percent from 2007 to 2019.
Emergency room visits by children and teens for anxiety, mood disorders, and self-harm increased sharply during this time as well, and suicide rates among our children, between the ages of 10 and then all the way to 24, which had been stable the previous decade, jumped by almost 60 percent.
When we talk about suicide, the numbers show an incredible heartbreak of what is actually occurring. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 44. In 2021, 25 percent of teenage girls made a plan to die by suicide.
The next year, in 2022, one-third of high school girls said that they seriously considered taking their own life, and then 9 percent of our high school population actually attempted death by suicide. That is 9 out of every 100 high schoolers. This is not OK.
Meanwhile, factors that contribute positively to mental health are on the decline. Data from surveys conducted by groups like the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and the National Institute on Drug Abuse show that teens and tweens today get less sleep, less exercise, and have less in-person contact than their peers before them.
So in an age where we brag about being more ``connected'' than ever, we have actually never been further apart. And while we should always be wary of blaming just one culprit, there is one thing that stands out among the rest, and that is social media usage.
Nearly 100 percent of teenagers have access to smartphones. I am looking at our incredible group of pages down in front, and my guess is, if I polled this group, we would see that that stat is probably true. Half, though, of American teenagers say that they are online constantly.
I wish that the Gallery could see that I am actually getting some shaking heads up here.
This is about the same percentage of teens who reported feeling addicted to their smartphones in 2016.
Fifty-four percent of American teenagers admit that it would be really hard to give up their social media, and 35 percent of American teenagers say that they are on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook--I am sure I am missing a few, right?--almost constantly.
TikTok, in particular, has presented some really serious concerns. So for those of you who may not be aware, just this spring, several American lawmakers received death threats from users saying they would kill us if we voted for the TikTok divestment bill.
My office got one of those messages; so did Senator Tillis from North Carolina. I wouldn't be surprised, if we polled all 100 Senators, if there weren't messages like this on many, many more machines. And the truth is, it wasn't just about killing us. These messages also said that, if we did this, they would kill themselves and/or harm others.
That came just after TikTok urged its users to call American lawmakers and stop them from voting for that bill. So, clearly, social media has a deep hold on our country's children and teens.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote a few months ago that adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media double their risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who do not.
But guess what the data shows. Our teenagers aren't on social media for 3 hours a day, on average. They are on social media around 5 hours a day.
Many kids acknowledge that social media is bad for them, and many parents acknowledge that, too. But the situation is clearly getting more devastating. It seems to just be getting worse.
Our kids are suffering, with many not realizing that the root cause is due to the addictive quality of social media, and they actually seem to feel powerless on how to end that.
Earlier this summer, the Surgeon General called for the creation of a warning label on social media, and 42 out of 50 State attorneys general, including Alabama's own Steve Marshall and Pennsylvania's Michelle Henry, backed this proposal.
Senator Fetterman and I are on the same page about this. There should be a warning label on social media, and that is why today we have introduced the Stop the Scroll Act. Our bill would require a social media platform to have a warning label to be placed on it to ensure that users know about the potential adverse effects of these apps and they must acknowledge that before proceeding to use them.
While Senator Fetterman and I agree on the importance of these labels, we also recognize that we are not the experts here. Our bill would not determine what the label would say. Rather, we would leave that up to the Surgeon General.
The only requirement that this bill would create is that the warning label include a way to quickly access mental health resources--which, in our mind, would look like a link to 9-8-8, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or other resources--putting them quickly at the fingertips of those who need them most.
Now, warning labels won't prevent the American people from using the app, just like warnings on tobacco or alcohol don't stop someone from purchasing them. The warning is a caution so that consumers have their eyes opened to the potential dangers ahead. It empowers them to make informed decisions.
It is similar to when a doctor tells a patient they need to limit their sugar intake, right? The doctor isn't going to force you to stop eating sugar, but the warning from the doctor will likely make the patient think twice. In that situation, the doctor will usually provide advice on how to reduce sugar in your diet.
That is what the warning does. It makes sure consumers' eyes are open. It ensures that they acknowledge it before moving forward, and it provides direction to access resources if that user needs help.
The Stop the Scroll Act isn't a cure. It is a caution that will hopefully help promote healthier social media usage, while providing those in crisis with the resources they need to get help.
It is an important step forward in creating a safer digital age for all Americans.
So I am grateful for the leadership of my colleague from Pennsylvania Senator Fetterman in introducing this important legislation alongside me today. I want to thank Senator Fetterman and Surgeon General Murthy for their efforts to address the dangers of social media.
I am committed to continuing to work in a bipartisan fashion to help our kids have the kind of childhood that we were blessed to enjoy and to ensure that they have access to the American dream, rather than the social media nightmares that so many families are dealing with today.
