Taking Blame: Social media companies shouldn't be held accountable for mental health problems

*Names are fictitious

There’s a McDonald’s six minutes from SM East, open from 5 to 12 a.m. Hundreds of teenagers swoop through the drive-thru weekly picking up Quarter-Pounders or Happy Meals to enjoy during their 25-minute lunch period. 

One student in particular, Savannah Smith*, eats McDonald’s every meal. Greasy hashbrowns for breakfast, salty fries for lunch and a crispy Coca-Cola to wash it all down. Every. Single. Day.

After three months of this schedule, Smith complains to her parents that her unhealthy eating habits have caused her mental and physical health to decline. And she blames McDonald's. The billion-dollar fast food chain should’ve told her their food was addictive, causing her to gain weight and therefore become depressed. 

Any company, whether it’s fast food, social media or substances, shouldn’t be held accountable for the side effects they may cause due to overuse. 

But the thing is, Smith is wrong —  it’s not McDonald’s fault. 

Meta, the parent platform of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, was sued by a 20-year-old woman — known only as Kaley — in late March. She claimed that they intentionally created addictive social media platforms that contributed to her childhood addiction to social media. And therefore, led to her diagnosis of anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia. 

Meta’s counterclaim: “Teen mental health is profoundly complex, and cannot be linked to a single app.”

The woman won and was awarded $6 million in damages from Meta and YouTube. 

Addiction can be developed from nearly anything: from nail biting to cigarettes. But there's a reason Marlboro isn’t responsible for every chain smoker's lung cancer. 

An addiction that turns into depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or any other mental condition is usually more than just an overuse, says the Cleveland Clinic. Family history of addiction and increased stress can take the wheel of addiction, which social media companies have no control over. 

Meta itself has even conducted research dating back to 2017 about the addictive nature of its products. The National Review notes how the teenagers addicted to social media were developing high reward tolerance and couldn’t stop themselves from spending time on platforms, similar to the behaviors of addicts. It’s no news that these platforms are, in fact, addictive, much like drugs or alcohol. 

But no one is forcing someone to click “install” on the Instagram app, similarly to how no one is forced to smoke marijuana. It’s a personal choice.

And if a teenager with a family history of any addiction downloads Instagram, the app has specifically created features for any user to limit screen time overuse. The platform launched its “Your Activity” feature in 2018, allowing users to reflect on the time they've spent on the app daily. This also added multiple well-being features, including auto-enabled daily reminders to leave the app and the ability to mute certain notifications.  

Coming eight years before the recent lawsuit, Instagram has done its part in creating anti-addiction features accessible to users with the click of a button. 

Additionally, Instagram launched its “Take a Break” feature in 2021, installed on all accounts. This prompts users to take a break after scrolling continuously for extended periods. This feature in particular is built into the Instagram program and cannot be shut off. 

Meta says this “empowers people to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time.”

Whether or not a doom scroller decides to listen to this signal is up to them. Much like how Coors Light slaps an “enjoy responsibly” sticker on every can to protect itself from lawsuits, social media companies should be able to do the same by implementing screen time features.

And similar to substances, social media platforms also have age restrictions to protect minors from overuse. 

Both Instagram and YouTube are advertised on the App Store as 13+. However, according to PBS News, the woman who sued Meta told the jury she began using YouTube at age 6 and Instagram at age 9. She mentions how she would be on these apps all day long. 

The CEO of Instagram won’t be going door to door checking every user's birth certificate, making sure they aren’t developing a technology addiction in the third grade. It should go without saying that someone younger than the suggested age shouldn’t be downloading social platforms. 

No company tells us how to live our lives. McDonald’s never asked Smith to eat a cheeseburger for every meal. And Instagram isn't forcing anyone to spend hundreds of hours on their platform. It's the consumer's choice. 

We need to stop suing corporations as a shakedown and finally take accountability for who really caused the issues in the first place. Ourselves.