A plethora of lawsuits, involving more than 1,800 plaintiffs, have been filed against social media companies, including ByteDance, Meta Platforms, Snapchat and Google, within the past two years. We are now seeing some progress being made toward litigation, as 11 social media addiction cases have been selected for test hearings by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Rogers is in charge of the multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of California, and she will oversee cases in six school districts, including in my home state of Georgia, as well as in Kentucky and South Carolina. Arizona, New Jersey and Maryland are the other states that will be represented in these first proceedings.

As these trials are set to get underway next spring, the story of Caroline Koziol, a 21-year-old woman suing TikTok and Instagram, caught my attention. Koziol was featured in a recent Time Magazine article by Charlotte Alter. Alter highlighted Koziol’s battles with eating disorders, writing that these struggles “shattered her adolescence” and “that the design of (Meta’s and TikTok’s) products contributed to her anorexia.” Koziol explains how the algorithms of these platforms caused her to be drawn to harmful content of unhealthy diets and to be adversely influenced by images of emaciated girls. Her downward spiral began after searching for workouts and nutritious recipes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Koziol mentions how being a competitive swimmer in high school had given her confidence regarding her body, but the photos of the thin young women on her TikTok and Instagram feeds took a mental toll. By Koziol’s junior year in high school, she began treatment for anorexia.

Koziol’s story is similar to Alexis Spence’s harmful experiences on social media that were shared in a “60 Minutes” feature and Congressional Quarterly report in 2023. Like Koziol, Spence developed an eating disorder after searching for fitness videos on Instagram. Spence’s parents are among the plaintiffs suing Meta, detailing their daughter’s diagnosis of depression and anxiety as a preteen. On “60 Minutes,” Spence explained how she was able to get around Instagram’s age verification settings and sign up for an account without her parents’ consent. By age 12, she had suicidal ideation and posted during her sophomore year of high school that she “didn’t deserve to exist.” The intervention of a counselor helped save her life.

Toney and Brandy Roberts, also interviewed in the “60 Minutes” story, were not as fortunate, as their daughter Englyn hanged herself after watching a simulated video on Instagram. Englyn had a difficult time getting through the pandemic, and while she appeared happy with her parents, she posted about feelings of low self-worth when “things (were) going wrong.” She sadly took her life at the age of 14 in 2020.

I’ve shown this “60 Minutes” feature to students in my English composition courses for our Gen Z and technology/communication section, and I will be sharing Koziol’s testimony during the upcoming fall semester. As I’ve mentioned in previous columns on social media, I’ve learned a great deal from my students, especially from those who wrote about their personal experiences in their essays. In our class discussions, I have pointed out that my generation had nothing close to the pervasive influence of TikTok and Instagram. As teens in the ’80s, Gen Xers were exposed to airbrushed images of celebrities in magazines, which often had harmful effects on girls, but this pales in comparison to constantly being bombarded with damaging content on phones. I’ve found it interesting that many of my students are in favor of age restrictions for social media, despite the strong opposing argument that limitations on online platforms violate kids’ First Amendment rights. My students who have argued for age restrictions believe the addictive features of social media algorithms require more protection for children under age 13, and they also maintain that parents need more help in keeping their kids safe online, even if the government has to intervene.

One of the responses from a former student on a class technology discussion board was encouraging to me, and I hope it was to her peers as well. In opening up about her emotional challenges, she said, “Jesus helps my mental health.” She expressed how her faith and trust in the Lord gave her peace of mind amid the endless pressures she faced. With all the pending lawsuits against social media companies, it is painfully evident that so many young people lack peace of mind due to detrimental interactions on these platforms. It is a crucial issue that can no longer be ignored.

Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at Ohio State University’s Lima campus. Email her at smojc.jj@gmail.com. Follow her on X: @JjSmojc. To find out more about Jessica Johnson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM