March 23, 2023

Utah Governor Signs New Laws to Protect Children From the Harms of Social Media Usage

Utah took aggressive steps on March 23, 2023 to rein in teens’ social media use when Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation designed to limit kids’ social media exposure, including a 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. curfew on social media use and age verification requirements.

East High students march on State Capitol and call for gun control a day after school shooting (March 23, 2023)

“We just buried Luis”: East High parents, students fume after another shooting and call for stricter security

• More than 100,000 American children attended a school at which a shooting took place in 2018 and 2019.
• Research indicates a higher rate of antidepressant use among those exposed to a school shooting in the years following the gun violence.
• School shootings lead to drops in student enrollment and a decline in average test scores.
• School shootings also lead to an increase in student absenteeism and the likelihood of needing to repeat a grade in the two following years.
• Students exposed to shootings at their schools are less likely to graduate high school, go to college, and graduate college, and they are less likely to be employed and have lower earnings in their mid-20s.

Postscript

In 2019, authorities within CHINA restricted minors to playing 90 minutes a day on weekdays and banned them from playing between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. In 2021, they issued restrictions in which minors are allowed to play online games for only an hour a day and only on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. Game approvals were halted for eight months.