COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Meta will add a two-hour daily screen time cap, eliminate push notifications during school hours, and introduce age-appropriate content controls to Facebook and Instagram as part of a child safety settlement.
Click here to read about the settlement.
Miguel Tully, a Colorado father, said the changes are a welcome development.
"I thought it was a great win for Colorado, especially as a young parent," said Tully.
Tully's son, Parker, is not yet old enough to have his own social media account, but Tully said he is glad protections will be in place when that day comes.
"I do think that social media is a really important part of growing up, but that doesn't mean that children have to grow up in front of a screen," said Tully.
Tully said he uses social media every day and has been following the lawsuit closely.
"Raising my son in the social media age I just kinda have to pivot and understand that this is something that is very necessary for not only business and entrepreneurship but you know your portfolio, your resume, especially as an artist, which is the way that I use it," said Tully.
Joshua Ewing, executive director of Healthier Colorado, said the settlement also hits close to home for him.
"I'm a dad of two young boys, and I deeply worry about the online platforms, the apps, the tools that exist today, and just how quickly they're evolving. Today's settlement is a really important step toward bringing that pendulum back to where it belongs with kind of common sense protections, particularly for young minds that are still very much developing," said Ewing.
Healthier Colorado works with Children's Hospital Colorado on a statewide initiative called Mind Our Future Colorado. They prioritize child and youth mental health.
Ewing said the settlement is a step in the right direction to address youth mental health issues before they become a crisis.
"It is impossible for parents to do that work alone. We really need social media companies, tech companies to step up and take action to protect young people," said Ewing.
Healthier Colorado also played a role in getting a state law passed during the last legislative session to regulate AI chatbots.
"How artificial intelligent chatbots interact with young people, particularly young people who are expressing ideas of self-harm and requiring those chatbots to, to make sure kids know that they're not interacting with a human, they're interacting with a computer," said Ewing.
A major development, especially with what he said is the addictive nature of social media.
Tully said the mental health dimension of the settlement stands out to him most.
"More importantly is the mental health factor. Now we have resources in the future, so there is no excuse that you know we can't actually use these resources and reach out if in the future any of these children growing up around an iPad or anything need any sort of resources," said Tully.
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