The Lamar County School District has joined a nationwide lawsuit against several popular social media platforms – including Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and others – that alleges those sites and apps are contributing to an ongoing mental health crisis among students throughout the nation.
On October 9, the school district’s board of directors agreed to join in on the suit, which is being handled by Frantz Law Group out of Los Angeles, California. According to the suit, the companies have played a part in contributed anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm, which impedes children’s’ abilities to succeed in school.
“We have (had many) instances of student disruptions, discipline issues, that originate from social media posts,” said Steven Hampton, superintendent of the Lamar County School District. “Most of these are outside of school, but come inside of school, so our board felt it was necessary to join this lawsuit to send the message that we don’t approve of this.
“It’s one of those things that there needs to be more controlled so that our young students are taught better ways to use social media effectively.
According to www.frantzlawgroup.com, the Centers for Disease Control’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that the rate of teen depression rose more than 60 percent between 2011 and 2018, in large part because of social media.
“Many children and teenagers spend an inordinate amount of time scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms, where they are subjected to often harmful and exploitative content that encourages disordered eating, unhealthy social comparison, and cyberbullying,” the website states. “As a result of this harmful content, students are experiencing anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.
“Ultimately, students performing worse in school, are less likely to attend school, are more likely to engage in substance use and to act out, all of which directly affects school districts’ ability to fulfill its educational mission. Our goal in this litigation is to not only hold these companies accountable but also obtain the necessary funding for districts for prevention education and mental health services.”
Hampton said the problem occurs throughout social media platforms of all kinds, and the lawsuit does not single out one entity in particular.
“It’s Snapchat, Twitter – which is ‘X’ now – it’s Facebook,” he said. “Kids don’t use Facebook much anyway, but it’s Instagram, you name it.
“It seems like there’s another one that pops up every day, and it goes to cyberbullying and cyber harassment and intimidation. There are students who just use it for ill (means) to cause problems.”
Frantz Law Group filed the lawsuit on April 13 in Federal District Court in San Francisco County, on behalf of sixteen school districts across the United States.
“It’s open to school districts all across the nation,” Hampton said. “We’re at the mercy (of the lawsuit) – if it goes to litigation, who knows what the plans are there.
“It could be years before we see any resolution from this lawsuit.”
Frantz Law Group also handled the nationwide lawsuit against e-cigarette manufactures JUUL and Altria, which the Lamar County School District joined in 2020. Earlier this month, the school board voted to accept a settlement of $78,000 as a result of that suit, which alleged the companies targeted school-age children with vaping products, leading to underage vaping at schools across the country.
District officials will use the funds from the settlement to further vaping awareness and prevention, and to educate students on the harmful side effects of that measure.
