Orinda Union School District, in tandem with other California school districts, is suing social media companies for the mental health issues they cause adolescents ages K-12.
The Orinda Union School District (OUSD) recently joined forces with other California school districts in a lawsuit against social media companies in efforts to address K-12 adolescents’ mental health issues stemming from using the sites.
Glimme explained how and why the school district joined the lawsuit in the first place.
“We were approached by one of the law firms we work with that was representing multiple districts,” said Glimme. “There is a significant amount of evidence demonstrating negative effects of social media on youth and their mental health. We have seen that amongst our own students and believe that changes should be made within social media guidelines.”
Changes such as algorithms and age restrictions were two that Glimme named.
Still in its early stages, and at the time of this interview, Glimme said the lawsuit has not been filed yet; however, the law firm is in the process of doing so.
“We are doing this with other districts in California, however on our own behalf, not as a class action lawsuit,” she added.
Liz Daoust, a founding member of the OUSD Wellness Committee in 2022, a parent of three daughters in the district and a school board member (2018 to 2022), said both research and anecdotal evidence have shown social media has a number of negative impacts on adolescents.
“It affects peer and social interactions, self-esteem, focus and overall mental health,” said Daoust, who was also a former middle school teacher and administrator.
Daoust added, “Social media can give additional platforms for exclusion and bullying, and it is challenging for teens to navigate all the increased pressures surrounding social media usage. Furthermore, behaviors and incidents that start over social media at home often extend into life at school, which causes additional work and intervention from school staff.”
The 15-member Wellness Committee is comprised of OUSD staff, parents and board members, “and has been working on ideas to support our community as they navigate the increasingly challenging landscape of social media usage in our students,” said Daoust.
She said increased parent education has been their focus, so parents can be better equipped to understand the world their kids are experiencing with their phones and devices.
Still in the planning stages, part of that parent education, she said, will include in-person and recorded Zoom events addressing social media.
“We have also examined our school policies to see where changes can be made to better address the challenges presented by social media,” said Daoust, who is not part of the lawsuit. The Wellness Committee is also not a part of the lawsuit.
Glimme, who said they don’t allow cell phone [use] in the classrooms, has witnessed over the past few years an increase in mental health challenges among their district’s students.
“We have seen increased cyberbullying, signs of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation,” said Glimme. “This is measured by the California Healthy Kids Survey. In the past couple of years we have increased our spending on mental health support, opened wellness centers and hired counselors at each school site.”
YouTube.com, a defendant in the lawsuit, is a social media site where users upload video content. It has a community guidelines section with policies addressing harassment and cyberbullying.
Within those guidelines, it states, “We don’t allow content that targets someone with prolonged insults or slurs based on their physical traits or protected group status, like age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or race. We also don’t allow other harmful behaviors, like threats or doxxing. Keep in mind that we take a stricter approach on content that targets minors.”
Doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet and without their consent.
YouTube (owned by Google, LLC) encourages users to report content that violates their guidelines.
Glimme hopes that strength in numbers within this lawsuit will bring about change.
“We hope that with many districts being involved, there will be changes in practices by the social media companies,” she said. “Children are especially susceptible to harmful behaviors that are promoted by many social media algorithms, and we would hope to see changes implemented by social media platforms.”
If the school districts win the lawsuit, Glimme said the financial gain will help the youth.
“Should there be compensation,” she said, “it would be for mental health support for our students.”
