Mom against social media addiction says protecting kids goes beyond TikTok

Former journalist and mother of three Julie Scelfo is taking a stance against social media platforms like TikTok and the effects they have on children.

Scelfo, a former New York Times journalist and media ecologist, formed the grassroots group Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA) on March 5 with an eye on starting chapters nationwide.

"My years of reporting on the issue of youth mental health led me to see the increase in suicide rates, not only among teens, but also in tweens. It's a crisis that media addiction and unchecked tech is causing on our kids. And I just got fed up. It was clear that our kids are struggling, and that media addiction was wreaking havoc on their lives and in our society. And it was time for us to do something," Scelfo told Fox News Digital. 

Mother of three Julie Scelfo launched the Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA) group in early March. (Getty Images)

Scelfo’s new group formed as Congress debates the future of TikTok over its ties to Communist China. 

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor, 352-65, of a bill that would force the Chinese-owned company Bytedance to divest from TikTok. The bill would block TikTok from the U.S. if Bytedance does not divest within 165 days of the law's passage and would require the app to be bought by a company that is not considered an adversary to the United States.

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While Scelfo celebrates efforts by Congress to tackle issues regarding addictive media like TikTok, she explained that efforts need to move beyond one app.

"We believe protecting kids online is so much bigger than any one app. We have to update our 20th century policies to address 21st century technology. We can't just play Wack-A-Mole. We need to address the underlying problem, which is algorithms that sow harm and discord for profit," Scelfo said.

She added, "For any policy to be effective, it will have to withstand First Amendment scrutiny. And we believe an effective policy is one that deals with the underlying problem of addictive and exploitative algorithms. So that's why we're very supportive of the age-appropriate design code, which would implement design reforms and additional protections for young people, supplemented by robust efforts to educate parents about the harms of social media for their kids."

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to divest TikTok from a Chinese Communist Party-owned business. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)

Scelfo noted that recent federal actions like the Kids Online Safety Act sponsored by over 60 senators prove that the concern is not a partisan issue but a shared desire for "creating a world in which real life experiences and interactions remain at the heart of a healthy childhood."

"We have three guiding principles. We want real world experiences and face-to-face interactions to remain at the heart of what it means to be human, particularly as a child. We believe that safeguards on social media are critically essential and long overdue. And we also think media literacy is nothing short of a 21st century survival skill, and that every parent should be equipped to protect their children's psychological and emotional well-being," Scelfo said.

Educating parents remained a prime focus for Scelfo as a way to temper online discourse and better help kids.

"There's no question that foreign adversaries have utilized social media to amplify discord between Americans," Scelfo told Fox News Digital, imploring parents to educate themselves so "we as adults aren't as ready to take extreme positions."

"We are a country with a lot of different ideas, and that's one thing that makes America great," she added.

Julie Scelfo spoke to Fox News Digital about her group's desire to protect children. (Photo Illustration by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images/TED/Ryan Lash)

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A Pew Research Center poll in December found that among 1,453 13 to 17-year-olds, 93% of them reported using YouTube, while 63% reported using TikTok. Nearly one in five of these teens reported using these apps "almost constantly."

Last May, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murphy put out an advisory titled "Social Media and Youth Mental Health" that outlined the risks posed by constant social media usage. The risks include depression, anxiety, disordered eating, sleep problems, attention disorders, low self-esteem, feelings of exclusion and suicidal ideations, among others.

"We must acknowledge the growing body of research about potential harms, increase our collective understanding of the risks associated with social media use, and urgently take action to create safe and healthy digital environments that minimize harm and safeguard children’s and adolescents’ mental health and well-being during critical stages of development," Murphy wrote.

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