Parents react to bill restricting teen social media use: 'A lot of questions'
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Triangle parents weighed in Tuesday night on House Bill 301, the new piece of legislation that would restrict social media access for North Carolinians younger than 16.
The bill, which passed 106-6 in the House on Tuesday evening, would require 14 and 15-year-old users to show parental consent to access popular apps such as Instagram and TikTok, and would require those platforms to delete accounts operated by all users younger than 14.
Parents like Marty Long, the mother of two boys at Enloe High School in Raleigh, say they have questions about how the bill might work in practice.
"Are they going to do something with parents? Are they going to do something with the social media accounts, like the owners of the platform? So I have a lot of questions first," Long said.
They're really tough to enforce because, you know, our students are so tech savvy and they can and they will find those workarounds.- Chelsea Lopez, The Social Institute in Durham
ABC11 met with Long on Tuesday night, who said her 15- and 17-year-old sons have been active on social media for several years -- and she's mostly supported that, with some restrictions.
"Sometimes there are some conversations that we need to talk about. And some accounts that he follows that I end up blocking," she said.
HB 301 now moves to the Senate to face another round of voting. On Tuesday, social media advocates such as Chelsea Lopez with The Social Institute in Durham said similar bills in other states have been hard to enforce.
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"They're really tough to enforce because, you know, our students are so tech savvy and they can and they will find those workarounds," Lopez said.
ABC11 asked Lopez specifically about social media safety for minors. In the last few months, there have been multiple cases of human trafficking and kidnapping where the young victims met their abusers on social media. Lopez said she believes parents should be promoting and not discouraging open conversations about responsible social media use in the digital age.
"It goes back to this idea of, again, rather than restricting and reacting, how do we really educate and huddle with our students so that we can build more trust rather than that fear," she said.
