The legislative bill I chose was S.40 Federal Social Media Act 2023, the chamber of origin for the
bill is the Senate. This bill relates to the topic that I chose in so many ways. The bill refers to social media
and how it assesses the relationship between all the conditions that are related to mental health due to
social media. In my presentation, it shows how much anxiety and suicidal are affecting people from
social media. Those are the focus because it can be prevented if social media was eliminated or had
some type of limits for the things people are posting. The bill was introduced to the house of senate on
02/14/2023.
Bill Summary
For the social media users that are under the age of 18 that are affected by mental health due to
social media the bill will provide funding short term and long term. Any social media partnerships that
are involved by the Government Accountability Office or any Federal agency will conduct all studies. The
bill would be to come up with a way to resolve the pattern of social media suicide, depression, anxiety
that are caused due to the use of social media.
Historical background
In 2022, over 29.5 million people used social media which is 82.3% of the population. The effect
on the mental health due to the social media usage was 20.2% Depression is known to be the top of the
list for the mental health conditions with an effect of 21% of the population which the bill states that
depression is known to be a pattern followed by stress and anxiety. In 2016 the ages from (18-19 years)
had 90 percent social media usage in 12 months. Social media is known to also affect sleep disturbance
in adolescents. Social media is associated with depression when it pertains to adults. The men rates
57.6% and women 42.4% for depression and anxiety. Twitter has 18.33 million, TikTok has 18.04 million,
Facebook has 17.6 million, Instagram has 20.49 million people. (National Center, 2021)
Theory Strategy Approach
The theory strategy that I chose is opportunity theory because some people have become rich
from social media when other people are creating pathways to bully or make someone feel worthless.
There are a lot of opportunities on social media, you can sometimes find jobs through social media.
Social media knows how to spread what is going on in the world whether it is good or bad. People see
social media as an opportunity to become rich from followers that you have on social media. It is a
platform to break people down just from a negative post, when you are having a bad day social media is
not the platform to be on. (Mc Nutt & Hoefer, 2020)
13 Grand Challenges
Stop Family Violence will be the first grand challenge because even though we are all not family
we are still human and should treat everyone with respect. Being able to attack someone through a
phone is a big deal and it should come to a stop. Bullying on social media is an abuse, that is why if you
get caught by the owner of the social site then your account will get suspended. Another social work
grand challenge would be Create Social Responses to a Changing Environment. The bill is trying to find
ways to asset with limiting all health conditions that are caused by social media. The social media world
should change the environment being that kids are getting induced to social media at a young age. It Is
time for an example to be set for the next generation so they will not think bullying on social media is a
safe thing to do. In the years to come I hope the numbers decreases along with the mental health rates.
Saudi Arabia Social Media Statistics. 2022. [(accessed on 3 September 2022)]. Available online:
https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog/saudi-arabia-social-media-statistics
American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare. (2016l). Stop family violence. Retrieved from
http://aaswsw.org/grand-challenges-initiative/12-challenges/stop-family-violence
S.410 - Federal Social Media Research Act 118th Congress (2023-2024)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/410
Mc Nutt & Hoefer, 2020
National Center for Health Statistics Household Pulse Survey data on anxiety and depression
collected between April 23, 2020, and Oct. 11, 2021. www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-
health.htm.
