Katie Britt: Protecting kids from social media is not a political issue – 'We're coming together as concerned parents'

U.S. Senator Katie Britt joined Fox News’ Will Cain this morning at Rickwood Field in Birmingham to discuss social media and the need to limit its use among young children. Britt and Cain, along with thousands of others fans, are at Rickwood today to watch the first Major League Baseball game ever played in the country’s oldest professional ball park.

Britt, the only female U.S. Senator with school-age children, first spoke about the massive increase in depression that coincided with the rise of social media.

“Everyone who has children this age is worried about absolutely the role of social media in their life,” said Britt (R-Montgomery). “And we’re learning more about it, right. So if you look back at the data from 2011-2019, the rate of depression among our young people more than doubled. That perfectly coincides with the rise of social media. There was so much we didn’t know about it, then that we do know about it now.”

She also mentioned the growing ‘wait until eighth‘ pledge. Parents who take the pledge agree not to allow their children access to a smartphone until the 8th grade. Britt said that she hopes parents to take a more active role in monitoring their children’s social media habits.

“I want parents to take a look at what the Surgeon General has said. I mean, these warnings are now out there. We’ve got to empower parents with the tools and the information they need to make good choices for their kids. As a parent myself, I feel not only like I have some insight, but I feel like I have an obligation to make sure that this is consistently talked about in the halls of Congress because we’ve had to do something.

There is strong bipartisan support for combating the youth mental health crisis and protecting our kids on social media.

The time to turn that support into tangible action is now. Let’s pass solutions like the Kids Online Safety Act, the Kids Off Social Media Act, and the Youth… pic.twitter.com/lrRWulDTYV

— Senator Katie Boyd Britt (@SenKatieBritt) June 20, 2024

The Senator noted her willingness to look past party in the interest of America’s children and also mentioned new legislation to protect minors from algorithms used by social media companies.

“Since the day I stepped foot on the Senate floor, I’ve been working with Senator Tom Cotton on how we empower parents. I worked with Senator Amy Klobuchar about researching youth mental health. I’ve been working more recently with Senator Brian Schatz and Chris Murphy on the other side of the aisle, and myself and Senator Ted Cruz. It shouldn’t be about party, it shouldn’t be.

“We have often said, ‘Look, we’re not coming together as Democrats or Republicans, we’re coming together as concerned parents who are raising teenagers in this environment and know that we have to do more.’ So, our bill actually keeps kids off social media before 13 — between 13 and 17, doesn’t allow algorithms to be used against them. Senator Cruz’s really important point here is if you’re receiving federal funding, then schools need to keep kids off of social media in the classroom. We have that. We also have Senator Blumenthal and Senator Blackburn’s Kids Online Safety Act. That has more than 60 co-sponsors. It’s bipartisan.”

“That’s the kind of thing that we need to be talking about on the Senate floor.”

According to Britt, meaningful legislation on the issue must be passed immediately.

“Chuck Schumer has an obligation to America to take these things allow us to discuss them allow us to make sure we’re putting up the proper guardrails for parents and for kids, that we are saving lives. Because the [Centers for Disease Control] said last year alone, that one in three high school young women said she actually considered taking her own life. And then 9% of our high school population actually attempted death by suicide.”

“That is not okay. This is an emergency and we need to be activated. It’s husband and kids. We’re gonna be here. It’s important. We do this now and we continue to do it in the future.”

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten