Colloquy Highlights Hope, Bipartisanship, and New Bills: Stop the Scroll and the Youth Revenue Transparency Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators George Helmy (D-NJ) and Katie Britt (R-AL) today delivered a bipartisan colloquy on the Senate Floor emphasizing the need to address the nation’s youth mental health crisis. The two Senators have joined forces in this effort to put a spotlight on this epidemic and potential policy solutions to tackle it head-on.
“Our nation’s youth are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis and we need to take immediate action to address the root causes and ensure adequate access to care,” said Senator Helmy in his opening remarks. “This issue is personal for me as it is for Senator Britt. We both have young children and so we see what they and their peers experience firsthand. There is no issue more urgent, more critical to our nation’s future, than the health and safety of our next generation.”
The United States is currently facing a serious mental health epidemic and no group is affected more than adolescents, with over 20 percent of all high school students reporting they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the preceding year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Senator Helmy further highlighted the troubling statistics facing our youth, stating: “Over the past decade, cases of severe depression among young adults have nearly doubled. In the 2010s, suicidal behaviors among high school students increased by more than 40 percent. Since 2017, the number of youth hospitalized for anxiety has increased by 50 percent and the proportion hospitalized for self-harm has nearly doubled. Youth and young adults (ages 10-24) account for 15 percent of all suicides, an increase of over 50 percent since 2000. It is the second leading cause of death for this age group.”
The Senators highlighted social media as a primary driver of the youth mental health crisis and drew urgent attention to its harmful effects.
“All the statistics Senator Helmy mentioned are not only horrifying but really challenging to even wrap our head around. The word ‘crisis’ doesn’t begin to capture what we’re up against. And while we should always be wary of pointing to just one culprit, there is one that stands out among the rest, and that is social media,” said Senator Britt. “Social media usage became pervasive among America’s kids. And the numbers back it up. If you look: 54 percent of teenagers said it [would be] ‘hard’ (or ‘somewhat hard’) to give up social media; half say that they’re ‘addicted’ to their phones, that was in a 2016 survey, (I) can’t imagine what it would say today; 35 percent say that they are ‘almost constantly’ on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook . . . Almost all of America’s teens have access to a smartphone. This near-constant use of social media platforms has consequences.”
Senators Helmy and Britt understand that protecting our nation’s youth is a shared priority that transcends party lines. During the colloquy, they highlighted bipartisan legislation seeking to make a change, like the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, the Kids Off Social Media Act, and Senator Britt’s Stop the Scroll Act, which she introduced with Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) in September to ensure all users, especially adolescents, are aware of the potential mental health risks posed by social media usage and are provided access to mental health resources. Senator Helmy announced last month that he would join Senators Britt and Fetterman’s efforts and co-sponsored the Stop the Scroll Act.
“This piece of bipartisan legislation is proof of that hope. We must hold onto it and continue fighting for a better future for our children,” Senator Helmy continued. “Thank you, Senator Britt for your leadership here, and thank you for reaching out to me from across the aisle again on this important issue.”
Senator Britt continued to highlight the importance of bipartisan action, stating of her Stop the Scroll Act: “We want to ensure that resources are at the fingertips of those who need it most. Quickly after being sworn in, Senator Helmy joined our effort and our call to fulfill the Surgeon General’s recommendation. I am so thankful for Senator Helmy in joining Senator Fetterman’s and my bill. His passion for helping America’s kids is truly inspiring. While he and I might not agree on every issue, at the end of the day, we both see the obvious: Social media is harming our kids and America faces a mental health crisis.”
Senator Helmy also gave an overview of the Youth Revenue Transparency Act, which he introduced yesterday to shed more light on how social media companies are profiting off of and targeting youth: “We know technology companies are finding profit in this crisis: the math is simple, more young users means more revenue. These companies can quantify how much of their revenue is driven by minors and they can certainly quantify how much of their marketing is targeting minors. Transparency is as critical for efficient markets as it is for accountability,” said Senator Helmy. “I believe investors and parents have a right to quantify this too – they need to know how their investments and business decisions made by big tech are driving the youth mental health crisis. That is why in my bill, the Youth Revenue Transparency Act, I am asking big tech to disclose data on the share of their revenue driven by our kids and the amount they spend targeting our children with marketing.”
To close out his speech, Senator Helmy quoted John F. Kennedy’s famous quote: “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”
Senator Helmy originally announced his continued advocacy for youth mental health as a United States Senator in September, quickly co-sponsoring the Youth Mental Health Data Act, the Supporting All Students Act, and the Pride in Mental Health Act, to improve our nation’s policies and strategy to address this epidemic impacting millions of American families.
To watch the full video of Senators Helmy and Britt’s colloquy, click here.