DENVER — The Denver Public Schools Board of Education unanimously voted Thursday to retain attorneys to join a national lawsuit against social media organizations like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and more.
Those attorneys were invited to Thursday’s school board meeting via zoom. After its unanimous vote, the board will retain those attorneys for the lawsuit under a contract at no cost to DPS that would give the attorneys about 33% of any financial settlement.
Research shows that the time children spend on social media can lead to unrealistic body ideals, depression and anxiety. The national lawsuit that DPS is joining has more than 200 plaintiffs and the potential for a big impact, comparable to legal actions taken against tobacco, vaping and opioid companies.
“Make a case for how these social media platforms have caused a lot of hurt and damage and pain, especially around the mental health of our young students,” said Xochitl Gaytan, the president of the board.
Stories like Maddie Freeman’s are why the school board is taking action.
“I personally was getting recommend suicidal content when I was already having a really hard time with depression in sixth grade,” Freeman said.
It was all content she didn't ask for on her social media.
“I was just being exposed to thigh gap challenges and just lots of perfectly skinny models that made me feel bad about myself,” Freeman said.
Beyond mental health issues, teachers have told Gaytan these concerns leak into the classrooms.
“It can take away anywhere from five, 10, 15 minutes of instruction time per period, which is when you look at how much time that is per day or per week or per month, it really is a lot of time, and so how do we recover that,” Gaytan said.
“Looking back, I was a victim to the way social media was designed, and it definitely made things really hard for me coming up,” Freeman said.
Freeman founded a nonprofit called NoSo November, challenging students to detox from social media during the month of November.
“We go into middle schools, high schools and universities and educate young people about the harmful and addictive design behind social media, and how it can impact mental health,” Freeman said.
She said she has done what she can and is glad to see DPS stepping up, too.
“I am honestly really happy that schools are taking action behind this right now,” she said.
Gaytan said she agrees, not just as school board president but as a mother.
“I am the mother of a 15-year-old a high schooler of Southwest Denver,” Gaytan said. “And hopefully parents will see we also need to do our part to limit that use to help our students really engage differently with their classmates, with their teachers, even with their families at home.”
> Watch 9NEWS original shows, live Colorado news and weather updates, daily forecasts, and sports coverage for free on the 9NEWS+ app on Roku and Fire TV.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS
9NEWS+ has multiple live daily shows including 9NEWS Mornings, Next with Kyle Clark and 9NEWS+ Daily, an original streaming program. 9NEWS+ is where you can watch live breaking news, weather updates, and press conferences. You can also replay recent newscasts and find videos on demand of our top stories, local politics, investigations and Colorado specific features.
To download 9NEWS+ on Roku search for KUSA.
To download 9NEWS+ on Fire TV search for 9NEWS.