SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox hosted a symposium Tuesday geared toward addressing the impact social media can have on the mental health of the state's youth.
More than a dozen people spoke during three different panel discussions, kicked off by Cox and Dr. Brad Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia.
People from all walks of life, from politicians to school district personnel, and even students themselves, spoke during the 45-minute discussions.
Zander Piper is a senior at Ben Lomond High School in Ogden. He participated in a discussion that included Utah's first lady Abby Cox about navigating social media as parents and youth.
Piper was able to share his experiences with social media as a teenager.
"I've seen it bring people together... and just people together in general," he said.
But he added that he's seen both the positive and negative aspects.
"I've seen people being so obsessed with their phones that just being taken their phone being taken away from them for about five minutes, they go into a full mental breakdown," said Piper.
Bringing in experts from across the country, Gov. Cox said this is an issue he is very serious about.
"We know without a doubt that social media is causing significant harm to our young people — and our adults, but especially our young people," he said. "We've seen suicide rates, self-harm. We have seen just emotional issues as we look at depression and anxiety. Depression, anxiety are the two highest."
Wilcox says his biggest concern is data that shows social media has been driving a major increase in anxiety and depression among teenagers, especially teenage girls.
"There's basically a hockey stick pattern we see where, you know, basically depression, anxiety visits... in 2010, they go up like this dramatically," he said. "For instance, ER visits for girls doing self-harm basically doubled from 2010 to the present. That's one example of this problem."
As Wilcox and Cox took questions from those who attended, they said they are also looking to come up with some ways to combat the issue.
"We're now beginning to see here in Utah and elsewhere some steps from the state governments to kind of address the power of big tech and to kind of do more to protect our kids from the more negative impacts of technology," Wilcox said. "So I think one thing is to kind of try to delay the introduction of smartphones to your kids as long as possible."
Cox said his biggest fear is that they will see the negative trends continue and increase if something isn't done now.
"The biggest takeaway, I hope, is that they will support legislation to help us again hold social media companies more accountable for the damages that are happening to our young people," Cox said. "That will be able to make those changes in the classroom."
Piper said he's also hoping to see those solutions happen.
"It's at a state where if we don't control it now, it's never going be controlled at all," he said.
The governor says he will be working with the legislature this year to put forward significant legislation to help improve the mental health of young people in Utah.
