Children and Media

The executive who runs Instagram faced tough questions from US senators over whether the photo-sharing app puts profits before the well-being of young people. Members of the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee asked Instagram’s Adam Mosseri about ads targeting young people, how the platform promotes inappropriate content and what legal options are available for users who suffered harm because of the social network. Mosseri pledged transparency, touted recent product changes and asked Congress to pass new regulations.

The House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a legislative hearing on four bills:

Internet problems continue to slow down many students in the US state of New Mexico, but a pilot project using TV signals to transmit computer files may help. On November 18, state public education officials distributed devices to eight families in the city of Taos (NM) that allow schools to send them digital files via television. The boxes the size of a deck of cards allow digital television receivers to connect with computers using technology called datacasting.

In 2020, we saw the consequences of the digital divide: the have and the have nots of broadband. Many students—particularly children and those residing in predominantly rural areas—fell unacceptably behind. 2021 is proving to be no different, and in some communities, it is even more dire, as many schools offer fewer online options for families. Thankfully, there are a few ways we can ensure that students are not left behind:

A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general announced it is investigating how Instagram attracts and affects young people, amping up the pressure on parent company Meta Platforms over potential harms to its users.

Passage of the Infrastructure legislation on November 5 was truly historic—surely the biggest boost ever to bringing high-speed broadband to every American household. While we get about the job of building broadband, we need to take up other communications issues that have been of even longer gestation and which have just as much, maybe more, urgency for our country. High on my list is media reform.

What is missing in the focus on getting laptops in the hands of children is the social component of learning—a component all too often taken for granted or even disparaged. As a culture, the United States has long loved the heroic idea of children teaching themselves. Movies and stories constantly retell this narrative of scrappy young people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. These myths are especially common regarding technical knowledge.

Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote a letter to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel urging him to release internal data pertaining to the company's effect on children and teens. Blumenthal requested the following by November 24, 2021:

In the summer of 2021, Illinois became the first state to require one unit of media literacy for all high school students. Media literacy can help young people critically examine the information they consume.

A review of applications for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) demonstrates the urgent need for laptop computers and internet access for millions of K-12 students and library patrons. Schools and libraries have requested support for 12.9 million devices via the ECF. There were two ECF filing windows in 2021. 9.4 million laptop computers were requested along with another 1.7 million tablet computers. Connected learning devices represented two-thirds of the $6.3 billion in support that was requested, and 17 percent of the funds were requested for mobile broadband.