You read this headline & of course gotta ask “what took so long”…we’ve all been seeing this for yrs now. But…better late than never…as our kids lives are at stake w this medium.
As I’ve shared many times, these news stories pop-up & themes then present themselves in other threads & a light bulb goes off.
In this case, it’s w our newest LIFESaver Family (➡️slide): @f.walters who lost his baby girl Jocelyn at only 14. She was freshman Homecoming Queen, the life of the party, had a smile that lit up a room, played every sport under the sun, tons of friends…but then (maybe out of jealousy) a group of classmates tried to “cancel” her on social media.
As the Surgeon General pointed out, SM as a tool can be used for so much good – but not p0liced, it can be used so heinously as well. Joc’s story is not so different to that of the other family’s stories we have shared, where SM was a major negative influence. Will share a link to Joc’s full write-up in Stories.
In his warning, Murthy called out SM & their need to do the following:
* Run independent assessments on the impact of their products on kids.
* Share findings and underlying data with researchers.
* Have timely systems to address complaints and requests from young users and their families and educators.
* Prioritize health and safety in designing products.
Mind-boggling that these have not been the expectations for yrs now! But let’s hope this recommendation has some teeth & isn’t all grandstanding. To think that beauties like Joc could have been saved if measures like this were in place is infuriating…but it’s what we gotta push for to save more kids.
Next two slides (➡️) beautiful vulnerability: 1) by Geno Smith of the Seahawks – who shared his “stuff” & not simply a label, & 2) from Trevor May of the A’s who hit two batters on his pitching return from the IL for MH, but openly talked abt it. MH complications impact fine motor skills. Openness normalizes & saves lives.
