Long Island parents react to jury finding Instagram and YouTube liable in social media addiction trial
Meta and Google sent News 12 statements saying they disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal.
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Two social media giants were found by a jury Wednesday to have acted with malice when designing their platform to hook young users and awarded a woman $6 million in damages.
"We have to as a parent, we have to be on top of them," says Huntington resident Juan Rivas, who has two young kids. "They're asking about it already. TikTok, YouTube because they talk with their classmates in school."
Parents we spoke to say they're worried kids are becoming addicted.
"She's on social media, on instagram. On Snapchat. Yeah, it's tough because I try to limit some of their screen time," says Plainview resident Gabriel Sandler. "I was happy. You know, social media needs to be held accountable."
"People spend four and five hours scrolling every day on, you know, Tiktok and Instagram," says Bethpage resident Sarah Casey.
Experts say kids are being exposed to social media as young as 6 to 9 years old which is when the developing brain is more vulnerable to addiction.
"Social media platforms are designed to be addictive. There's infinite scrolling, there's no stopping point. And the autoplay, removes the user control," says licensed clinical social worker Carin Winter.
Winter says kids are scrolling at all times of the day, especially at night.
"The damage done at night is worse because they're looking at their phone after 9 p.m. because their melatonin is not regulating in the way it should to prepare them for sleep," says Winter.
Meta and a Google sent News 12 statements saying they disagree with the verdict and plan to appeal.
