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In what would become a 25-year battle with tobacco addiction, he smoked his first cigarette at the age of 12.
Tobacco companies and tobacco companies ensnared me and millions of other people with a calculated strategy of premeditated addiction. They continued to fascinate us and spend big bucks opposing policies that could save lives.
Today we are faced with a new breed of addiction peddlers.
The Big Tech companies that own Facebook, Instagram, Discord, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, etc. are the cigarette and tobacco companies for our children's generation. Cigarettes have little social value.
Social media can and does do it.
But its benefits are undermined by the undeniable harm it causes.
Social media companies deny growing evidence that their platforms are linked to poor mental health, increased suicidal ideation and suicide among young people. They avoid responsibility with empty promises of public relations gimmicks such as content moderation and safety ratings.
Suicide rates among 10- to 14-year-olds decreased from 2000 to 2007, then nearly tripled from 2007 to 2017, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Today, suicide is the leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 14 and the second leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 24.
What is causing this horrifying and tragic increase in suicide deaths among our nation's children?
From 2006 to 2015, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Discord became public social media platforms.
Coincidence?
Where there is smoke there is fire.
Minnesota has an opportunity to take the lead in protecting our youth by passing a law called the Minnesota Kids Code. Requiring social media companies to prioritize the safety and well-being of children over profit margins is an important step.
This law does not suppress free speech, invade privacy, prevent children from enjoying the positive benefits of social media, or impose burdens on news organizations. It simply demands accountability from those who profit from the misery of our children.
Despite efforts by the authors and supporters of the Minnesota Kids Code to address Big Tech's concerns and opposition, tech companies are trying to block the bill in Minnesota.
They're doing the same with a federal law called the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which has bipartisan support from 66 U.S. senators.
why?
Because any change to Big Tech's business model targeting children would cost companies money in the fight to save children's lives.
We've seen this strategy and its impact on the lives of Americans before.
In 1954, Big Tobacco launched a massive public relations campaign to convince the American public that its products would not make people sick or kill them. They have spent millions of dollars on marketing to assure Americans that they are not only researching this issue, but are committed to making their products safe.
Today, Big Tech is more sophisticated, but no less creative in its public relations efforts. They are members of, or fund initiatives that promote content moderation and safety ratings on social media platforms.
All the while, they are fighting to change the real solutions that will save children's lives: platform and business model changes.
Today's Big Tech is the kids' Big Tobacco. And the big lie is that there is no evidence that social media has a negative impact on children's mental health.
The big truth we hear from parents is that social media is having a devastating impact on children's mental health, resulting in an increase in suicidal ideation and suicide.
SAVE – Suicide Awareness Voices of Education supported parents and children and joined KOSA and a broad bipartisan coalition to pass the Minnesota Kids Code.
As long as SAVE supports the passage of both of these bills, we will continue to work with Big Tech companies, organizations, and organizations working on real solutions to protect children's lives on social media.
Big Tech has been given the benefit of the doubt for too long.
Too much money has come at the expense of our children's lives.
Now is the time to give parents and children the laws they need to save children's lives and pass the Minnesota Kids Code in Minnesota and KOSA in Washington, DC.
Erich E. Mische is the executive director of SAVE-Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. SAVE is his 35-year-old national nonprofit organization based in Minnesota that focuses on suicide awareness and prevention through education, training, advocacy, and support for victims of suicide loss. Masu.
