The Dangers of Social Media: A Call To Action

A Message From Sean Gray, (Ind.) Oklahoma

Ladies and gentlemen,

We live in an age when the most powerful and addictive technology in history, the internet and social media, is placed into the hands of our children without restriction. And yet, when it comes to cars, firearms, alcohol, or tobacco, we as a society recognize the dangers and set safeguards. Why should this be any different?

The truth is uncomfortable, but it must be spoken, and it must be heard. These restrictions do not exist, not because the risks are unclear, but because the profits are simply too great. Lobbyists for Big Tech, advertisers, and yes, even the medical and pharmaceutical industry, have a vested interest in unrestricted access.

Consider this: once, advertisers targeted broad demographics. Now, with algorithms, tracking, and artificial intelligence, they shape individual behavior itself. The business model is not only to predict choices but to manufacture them. In this system, children, easily influenced, emotionally vulnerable, and highly engaged online, are the most valuable human resource. Cereal companies have known this for decades. Cigarette companies used the Flintstones to advertise to minors. Finally, though, enough people gathered together to say, this must be stopped.

The consequences are plain. Youth depression, anxiety, and self-harm have soared. Families are breaking under the weight of digital addiction. And when the harm is done, it is the medical and pharmaceutical industry that steps in, profiting from the very crisis that unrestricted technology created. The cycle is complete: tech engineers addiction, advertisers exploit it, pharma monetizes the fallout.

This is not innovation. It is exploitation. It is not freedom. It is manipulation.

Therefore, we must insist on consistency. If society restricts cars, guns, alcohol, and tobacco until maturity, we must place similar restrictions on the internet and social media. Our duty is to protect children until they are capable of navigating such powerful technologies responsibly.

This is not an attack on technology itself. It is a defense of our children. If we fail to act, we are abandoning an entire generation to be raised not by parents, teachers, or communities, but by algorithms whose sole purpose is profit.

We must stand for children, stand for families, and stand for the future. And that means demanding safeguards now, before it is too late.

“Sean Gray is a father and journalist from the Ozarks, committed to giving a voice to families and communities too often overlooked in the noise of corporate power and politics.”