creative media | Bantning Spiller

Pinellas school board takes steps to join lawsuit against social media companies

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Pinellas County School Board voted unanimously on Tuesday to move forward with plans to join a national lawsuit against social media giants, taking steps to hold social media companies accountable.

The list includes Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. The lawsuit claims these apps negatively impact students’ mental well-being.

“I think it is important to recognize that social media can have a positive impact on the community. But in this instance, it’s having an increasingly negative impact on our children and on our students. And we as leaders have to look

Gen Zers report highest negative impact from social media, nonprofits working to change that

Gen Zers use social media the most, but a new health study shows they also are negatively effected more than any other generation.

It’s no secret that people 25 and under, also known as Gen Zers, spend the most time on social media, and a McKinsey Health Institute study shows that a higher use of social media coincides with a poorer well-being.

The McKinsey study shows 35% of young people around the world say they spend more than two hours a day scrolling on social media.

“Embarrassingly, I spend probably six hours average on my phone,” said 20-year-old Abigail Bettow,