Can you embrace these three insights about teenagers and technology?

Good policy and children’s mental health depend on it.

Mark Zuckerberg recently addressed a group of grieving parents and publicly apologized. “I’m sorry for everything you went through,” he said. “No one should have to go through what you and your family went through.”

His recent appearance at a Senate online child safety hearing is not the first time Zuckerberg has apologized. But parents who wanted someone to be held accountable for harm on social media may have looked the other way. Caregivers are tired of worrying headlines, managing parental controls and default settings, and watching their teens try to navigate a digital world that isn’t built to benefit them. There is.

But aside from the emotional gravity of this exchange, what should we make of the exchange between a member of Congress and the world’s top tech executive and the current patchwork of national solutions? Is not it?

We have an opportunity to move forward with the needs and development of our youth in mind. However, in order to do so, you must simultaneously hold her three truths:

1. We don’t have to wait for scientific proof that social media is the leading cause of the youth mental health crisis to build a safer, healthier internet.

We do not need to wait for scientific consensus that social media is the sole cause of the adolescent mental health crisis before taking action. Technology companies can no longer ignore the needs and vulnerabilities of their youngest users. Design features that direct teens to extreme content, encourage compulsive behavior, capture personal data, and allow unknown contact are inconsistent with their developmental needs. yeah. We have a proven track record of taking a ‘do no harm’ approach in industries such as food safety, road safety and consumer protection. We don’t need proof that all platforms are harmful to all teens to prioritize safe and age-appropriate designs.

2. To develop good policy and better support teens, we need to consider the complexity of social media’s impact.

We can improve the Internet without treating technology as an inherently harmful force. Individual mental health outcomes are shaped by young people’s unique vulnerabilities and strengths, digital activities, platform design, and access to resources and support. Digging into complexity helps shape:

Better policy. For example, the most vulnerable youth are more likely than other youth to experience harm on social media, and they are also more likely to benefit from the support they find there. This is especially true for LGBTQ+ teens and other underrepresented groups. This is why a complete ban is likely to backfire, and why a content-neutral, design-focused policy like the Minnesota Kids Code is better suited. This allows lawmakers to use young people as political footballs in cultural debates about what is “appropriate” for children, and to cut children off from much-needed information and support. This will prevent you from doing anything.

Better support. If technology always harms only young people, then only restrictive strategies will make sense. Rather, this study urges us to look at the teens in our lives. Honest, curious, and open-minded questions can help you better determine whether your children’s digital activities are helping or hurting them. Young people need us to do more than protect them from harm. They also need us to understand their strengths and help them build the skills to thrive digitally.

3. If we care about the mental health of young people, we need collective solutions that address more than social media.

No matter how you slice the data, kids are not okay. But don’t think that solving this crisis will be as simple as banning TikTok or putting age restrictions on social platforms. We cannot afford to ignore other known factors that cause mental health outcomes. These include poverty, racism, pressure, and unequal access to mental health care. Let’s bring the same level of bipartisan support and public pressure to target the social determinants of mental health and invest in our mental health care system.

This could be a turning point in the movement to build a better internet. But this moment requires us to move forward by simultaneously holding multiple truths about technology and teens. The mental health and well-being of our children depends on it.

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