Jordan School District Board of Education’s priorities are student safety, wellness and student learning, said Board President Tracy Miller, which is why Jordan District is involved in a lawsuit against social media giants Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok.

 “We see firsthand in our schools the impact of the mental health crisis among our youth,” Miller said. “Scientific data shows that social media damages the health and wellness of children and disrupts learning. We have the responsibility to do all we can do to stop the negative impact.”

Jordan School District was recently named one of twelve “bellwether” plaintiffs in a national multidistrict lawsuit claiming negligence and public nuisance on the part of the social media companies.

At a July press conference, board members reported Jordan District has invested millions of dollars in student mental health supports including staffing a district wellness department and hiring full time mental health counselors for every school.

“Jordan School District has devoted substantial resources to addressing students and curating mental health and to combat learning disruptions,” Miller said. “We are honored to be chosen as one of the lead plaintiffs, and are hopeful that this lawsuit will help us recoup some of our costs, and more importantly, change the way social media companies operate so our students are protected.” 

The suit claims social media companies have failed to adequately warn users about the harm their products cause, noting that the psychologically manipulative techniques used to attract and retain the attention of users are addictive, especially to children and teens’ developing brains.

Other harms to youth cited in the suit include physical and mental harm by encouraging destructive behavior, promoting negative appearance and social comparisons, and—because of ineffective parental controls, age-verification measures and privacy protections—contributing to the sexual exploitation and endangerment of children.

The idea that social media and the internet are harmful to young people is a sentiment shared by many, including the U.S. Senate, which recently passed legislation to protect children’s privacy online, and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who issued a mental health advisory last year.

“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis—one that we must urgently address,” Murthy said in his May 2023 statement.

When the lawsuit goes to trial, most likely near the end of this year, Jordan District may be asked to testify. Jordan District employees are gathering evidence
in preparation.

JSD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Godfrey became emotional when speaking about social media’s effect on students.

“You see on an individual basis how their lives are negatively impacted—not just their living—but their ability to interact with others and have a productive day of school is dramatically negatively impacted by social media,” Godfrey said.

JSD Board Member Bryce Dunford personally witnessed his teenage son’s grades, personality, self-image and world view devastated by an addiction to social media.

“Logan was not prepared to be sucked into the social media world that was waiting for him, nor were his mother and I aware of what was happening on the other end to suck him in,” Dunford said. “It became an obsession. It became an addiction. And we kind of lost him.”

Getting likes, comments and shares on social media consumed Logan’s thoughts and his time for years.

“It was incredibly fulfilling, yet also not very genuine,” Logan said.

As a high school sophomore, he finally made the difficult decision to delete his social media apps for the sake of his mental health.

“I began to feel really uncomfortable and awkward and kind of unsafe in my own skin throughout all situations of my life,” he said. “And I thought that it was really important to somehow find a way to disconnect, and the easiest way to do that was going off
social media.”

Dunford said in the absence of social media, his son became himself again.

“The student we knew in those early years came back— not just his grades, but his whole personality, his life, his image of himself, his happiness,” Dunford said.

Logan graduated from Bingham High School in June, with top grades and the prestigious Pick and Shovel Award. But he still feels a craving for the way crafting a popular post on social media made him feel.

“But I recognize in the fact that I do still feel that way, should I get back on, I would be sucked right back into that toxic mentality that I had in the first place, and I would be super depressed again and super anxious all the time,” he said.

Columbia Elementary PTA President Sharol Stapley believes the lawsuit is a good step toward protecting children, but believes parents are ultimately responsible to safeguard their children. She sets screen time and content limits for her children and believes delaying exposure to the perils of social media will give her kids time to develop a healthy self-image.

“I want my kids to know who they are before they venture into a world that’s going to tell them everything opposite to what they know about themselves,” Stapley said.

Stapley believes schools can support students and their families by providing digital safety education and resources.

This spring, Columbia Elementary’s PTA sponsored a Ready Tech Go family night, presented by AT&T, to educate families about the effects of excessive screen time and to provide parents with kid-safe websites and internet safety resources. λ