Schools for Social Media Change going after Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok for their disruptive, addictive nature

This morning (Wednesday, May 29) parents received a message with an official note from Wes Hahn, the director of education for the Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB).

The message was to announce the TLDSB joining a “lawsuit against tech giants Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok for disruption to student learning and the education system.”

Other school boards involved in the lawsuit and the Schools for Social Media Change campaign include the Toronto District School Board, Peel District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board, and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

It is very likely more school boards will join lawsuit in the coming weeks.

Each board, including TLDSB, has retained Neinstein LLP on a contingency fee basis, which means they are only paid if the result goes their way and no funds are being allocated from the board budgets for the litigation.

“We, alongside other Ontario schools and boards, allege that these companies have negligently designed and marketed addictive products that have disrupted our educational mandate and obligation to enhance student achievement and well-being,” wrote Hahn in his official message. “While still in its early stages, this litigation calls on social media giants to make their products safer, to compensate our Board for its disruption to our mandate, and to support TLDSB students’ fundamental right to education. 

According to the Schools for Social Media Change website, they are a concerned group of school boards, schools, Canadian leaders and organizations working together to demand accountability from social media tech giants for disrupting the education system.

The official About Us statement explains, “School boards work to promote student achievement and well-being, developing society’s next generation of leaders. Social media products are creating compulsive use amongst children, causing behavioral dysregulation across the student population. The alleged negligent conduct of social media companies is disrupting school boards’ ability to carry out their mandates. Educators and schools have been left to manage this fallout, causing a significant strain on their resources.”

The concerned people and organizations aren’t just using anecdotal evidence either. They point to a 2021 Canadian Association for Mental Health’s Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey.

The survey shows that approximately 91 percent of Ontario students in grades 7 to 12 use social media daily; 31 percent of these students use social media for five hours or more a day; a youth mental health crisis is happening with 38 percent reporting poor or fair mental health; and 26 percent feeling as though they are in serious psychological distress.

Anyone who limits screen time and has to sometimes physically remove a phone from a kids’ hand must admit the addiction exists: their reaction is like a drug addict needing their next fix and it’s scary.

Those many parents who are aware and attentive to what’s happening with their own children, and the other children in the community, can legitimately claim that excessive social media use is “making kids dumber everyday.”

As Hahn notes: “Many of you know firsthand the impact that social media products have had on students. In fact, it’s rewiring the way they think, act, behave, and learn. As a result, educators are spending increased classroom time managing issues caused by social media, administrators are adapting to the needs of the student body with significant attention, focus, and mental health concerns, and the changing behavioral dynamics of the student population are causing significant shifts in the educational landscape and huge strains on school boards’ finite resources.”

Schools for Social Media Change lists many of the harms caused to school boards by excessive and addictive social media use.

These include educators and administrators spending time and resources addressing issues caused by compulsive social media use; administrators adjusting the curriculum to respond to an unfocused and inattentive student population; additional costs for increased mental health supports; and increased need for digital literacy and online safety programming.

But, it’s much more than that. Boards also need to hire additional guidance counsellors, social workers, and professionals to address social media harms and addiction; implement increased IT infrastructure and cyber security; resources needed to investigate and respond to threats made against schools, staff, and students over social media; property damage and vandalism in response to social media challenges.

And, of course, there are the extra resources required to protect children from adult predators and risks involved with child sexual assault materials (CSAM).

Plus, there are individuals like Paul Davis, an online safety expert, who have been for years teaching parents and kids about the bullying and safety issues around social media use.

As the Schools for Social Media Change call to action says, “It’s time to call on social media giants to fix it. Social media giants must make their products safer and compensate school boards for disrupting their educational mandate.”

Hahn added in his message: “The impact of social media products on student learning is a multifaceted problem that requires a multipronged approach. Restricting the use of devices in schools is just one action, but as we know, compulsive social media use outside the classroom will continue to permeate the education system and impact student learning unless change is made by the social media companies.”

Though this litigation is only at the beginning stage, those interested can follow Schools for Social Media Change for updates and to learn more.