New York has become the first city in the nation to designate a public health crisis with regard to use of social media by young children. In a State of the City address, Mayor Eric Adams name-checked TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, calling them (and “companies like” them) “addictive and dangerous.” Adams referenced last week’s advisory from the city’s Department of Health as “officially designating social media as a public health crisis hazard in New York City.” The advisory urges adults to establish “tech free times” for kids, and delay smartphone access until age 14.

During Wednesday’s State of the City address,”Mayor Eric Adams shared that Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan determined apps like TikTok and Instagram are considered ‘environmental toxins’ that impose harm onto young teens and adolescents,” according to Engadget. “We cannot stand by and let Big Tech monetize our children’s privacy and jeopardize their mental health,” Adams said.

“Just as the surgeon general did with tobacco and guns, we are treating social media like other public health hazards,” the Mayor added.

Vasan’s advisory cites supporting statistics, including that in 2021 77 percent of NYC high schoolers spent three or more recreational hours “in front of screens on an average school day.” Concurrently, “rates of NYC high schoolers experiencing hopelessness increased by over 42 percent between 2011 and 2021, and rates of suicidal ideation increased by more than 34 percent.”

“Social media companies are increasingly being blamed for historically high rates of depression, suicidality and other mental health issues in youth,” Axios writes, adding that “states and local governments, as a result, are increasingly pursuing legislation and legal action.”

Also last week, Florida’s House of Representatives “greenlit what could be one of the nation’s strictest laws aimed at protecting children online, passing a bill that would bar anyone 16 and younger from using social media,” reports The Washington Post. The bill has moved to the Florida Senate, which is expected to fast track it.

For now, the NYC Department of Health advisory is merely a warning, not a law or actionable plan, although it could pave the way for a New York state law. In 2022 California became the first state to restrict social media platforms from the amount and type of data they can collect from underage users. Called the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), it takes effect in July.

As the pressure mounts for social media firms, Meta Platforms “announced that it is rolling out new DM restrictions on both Facebook and Instagram for teens that prevent anyone from messaging them unsolicitedly,” TechCrunch says, explaining that, “the new limits will apply to all users under 16 — and in some geographies under 18 — by default.”