This blog post is written by Mona, a 2023 participant in Plan USA’s Youth Leadership Academy who is advocating with Plan to fight for girls’ rights and gender equality across the world.
Did you know that 90% of young people ages 13-17 are active on social media, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry? That’s about 16.2 billion teenagers across the world who are connected online. And these days, it’s not just teens who are active on social media, but also children — and I was no exception.
By the sixth grade, I found my way onto all the apps, from Instagram, to Snapchat, to TikTok. I learned every hack to access social media and how each app worked like the back of my hand. And this felt normal because all of my friends, classmates and teammates did the same. I figured, if everyone else is comparing their bodies to the models on Instagram, it doesn’t feel wrong for me to do that too. If everyone else is talking to strangers they don’t know on Snapchat from other schools, it doesn’t feel wrong to do that too. If everyone else experiences the negative mental health effects of social media but continues to use it, it doesn’t feel wrong to do that too. We were addicted, whether we wanted to admit it or not.
Social media is designed to keep you scrolling for hours. Companies profit from user engagement, so protecting safety and mental well-being is not their biggest interest. Constantly viewing unrealistic images and content of others on apps like Instagram can make people feel inadequate about themselves, especially for receptive and impressionable adolescents and children. Being on social media at such a young age became a part of my daily life, as it is for almost my entire generation (Gen Z). We watch videos, see pictures, post pictures, follow each other, chat with new people; it is a wonderful world of entertainment, connectivity and acclamation. That is, until we learn about the truth.
The truth is that “connectivity” and “being able to meet new people” are dangerous and make young people automatically susceptible to predators and exploitation. A study by FAIR Girls found that 55% of minor sex trafficking survivors in the U.S. who were trafficked in 2015 or later reported meeting their traffickers for the first time using SMS, a website or an app. Social media can be a place where young children and teens are vulnerable to harm, not only when it comes to their safety, but their mental health as well.
All of these dangers disproportionately affect girls and women. The same way the world’s problems disproportionately affect women in real life, girls and women face the same discrimination online — and, women of minority groups face the most oppression online. According to research from Plan International, 58% of girls have experienced online harassment. Online harassment can include stalking, misinformation, sextortion, doxing, revenge porn and so many other forms of abuse. The formal term for this is technology-facilitated gender based violence.
From rises in youth mental health crises to human traffickers using technology to target girls and women, the negative effects of social media are a big enough issue to call for change.
Being a young girl growing up with social media, I know it is not our fault for not knowing the risks and harms of social media. Social media companies purposefully advertise to the 1.8 billion impressionable children and teens on the internet globally, without warning of any dangers or creating protections for young people. This is why advocating for online safety and awareness for youth is more important than ever.
As a participant in Plan USA’s Youth Leadership Academy, a program for young people to learn about creating positive social change in their communities, I’m working on a leadership project called DOSE (Digital and Online Safety and Empowerment) to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence. I create video documentaries about online safety to raise awareness in my community about how to stay safe online. I created my first short film called “Your Footprint, Your Future” in July, and I’m now filming and directing a new interview-style documentary.
Read: What happened at Plan’s 2023 Youth Leadership Academy?
Plan’s Youth Leadership Academy plays a huge role in the development of my project. Attending the YLA’s in-person sessions, hearing about other participants’ leadership projects and receiving advice from others in the YLA helped my project mold into the best it can be. The input that the mentors and participants at the YLA had for my project helped me understand perspectives that I did not see before.
What can you do to combat technology-facilitated gender-based violence?
For young people who want to address the issue of online safety in their area, a lot of communities have youth councils or youth advocacy groups that are either under a school, city or town. From my experience, researching and being a part of any of these groups makes it easier to advocate for online safety and take action to raise awareness directly in your community.
Another way you can get involved in this advocacy is to write to your congressional representatives and urge them to pass the Kids Online Safety Act! KOSA is a bipartisan bill that shifts the responsibility to social media companies to prevent online harassment and abuse on their platforms. With this bill, young people will have more protections online against unwanted strangers contacting them and viewing their personal data online. If you are interested in fighting for this cause, copy the letter template below to send to your member of Congress via print mail or email. You can find your representative here.
Together, let’s fight online gender-based violence and make the internet a safer place for everyone!
Use the letter template below to garner support from your local representative for the Kids Online Safety Act:
[Your name] [Your address]
[Public official’s name] [Work address]
Dear [Public official’s title and name],
My name is [Your name], a resident of [Your city]. I’m writing to urge you to pass the Kids Online Safety Act. With the rise of social media use, young generations are facing an increased risk of harassment and abuse online via the social media platforms that we use. It is unacceptable that big tech companies are not held responsible for fixing this online epidemic.
As you may know, approximately 58% of girls have experienced online harassment, according to Plan International research. If we don’t do anything, these rates will only increase. Optional: I am passionate about this because (insert story about the effects of social media platforms on your life).
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your email address/phone number]
