A plethora of lawsuits, involving more than 1,800 plaintiffs, have been filed against social media companies 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 two media platforms caught my attention. Koziol was featured in a recent article highlighting Koziol’s battles with eating disorders, that these struggles “shattered her adolescence” and “that the design of 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 social media 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. Like Koziol, Spence developed an eating disorder after searching for fitness videos. 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.

I’ve shown this 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.

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.