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chatgpt

OpenAI Announces ChatGPT For Teenagers Amid Safety Concerns 

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This generation of teenagers are the first to have grown up in a world of smart technology and artificial intelligence. Having access to such advanced technology has created concerns over their safety, commitment to education, and desocialization from in person interactions and relationships. 

This week, OpenAI introduced a new version of ChatGPT designed specifically for teenagers. The company stated that ChatGPT for Teens is designed for kids aged 13 to 17 with stronger protections in place. Some of these protections include content restrictions around topics like suicide, self-harm, and romantic and/or sexual chats. It also will provide homework and study support that will help students learn, as opposed to laying out the entire answer for them. 

The company stated that the idea behind this new platform is to guide teens toward healthy AI use in an age-appropriate environment. 

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“We want to treat teens like teens, which means that we have to make sure that we’re showing up with the right developmental stage when we’re not either talking down to them or treating them like kids, but we’re also making sure that they’re not exposed to material that they shouldn’t be exposed to,” said Ann O’Leary, vice president of global policy at OpenAI.

Associate general counsel for AI and privacy at Fairplay, a children’s advocacy group, Brendan Bouffard, stated that the effectiveness of the safeguards remains to be seen, and it’s unclear whether OpenAI’s new platform is enough to “address young users’ compulsive use of and emotional dependence on chatbots.”

“Announcements like these can be seen as a step in the right direction, but I also would caution against parents being lured into this false sense of safety based on the announcement.”

The rise of AI chatbots within the past few years has created major concerns among parents, educators, and child development experts, specifically regarding cheating on schoolwork, and the overall influence these bots can have over a child’s mental health. 

AP reports that last year, research from a watchdog group found that ChatGPT would tell teenagers as young as 13 how to get drunk and/or high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders, and compose a suicide letter to their parents if it was prompted. 

The researchers posed as vulnerable teenagers, and found that ChatGPT would start by warning against any “risky” behavior, but would eventually go on to deliver detailed and personalized plans for using drugs, drinking, maintaining an unhealthy diet, and at the worst, how to self-injure or end one’s life. 

According to a 2025 study from Common Sense Media, in the US over 70% of teens turn to AI chatbots for companionship with half of them using them regularly. 

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that his company is “trying to study emotional overreliance” on the technology. 

The company also explained that ChatGPT for Teens is prevented from suggesting it has personal feelings towards a user or imply any type of consciousness and emotions. 

“We went through and identified what are the hypothetical cues that a model could give that might make a teenager kind of develop a relationship to it,” said Allison Mishkin, head of child development at OpenAI.

OpenAI in general doesn’t verify a user’s age, but it uses “age assurance” to estimate if someone is under 18 based on how they use the technology. If someone is identified as a minor, they are automatically placed into the teen version of the chatbot. 

 O’Leary stated that the whole idea behind the teen chatbot is “to make sure that this is safe, even if you don’t use parental controls.” Parents can also link to their kids accounts to set quiet hours when their child can’t access the platform, and receive notifications when involved in limited high-risk situations. 

“We are adding additional notifications related to eating disorders, while limiting what is shared and focusing on moments when offline support may matter most,” OpenAI said. 

Bouffard said that he would consider the most important safeguards would be restricting ChatGPT’s long-term memory, but as of right now they are not in place by default in teen accounts. 

“That creates a major gap in safety despite the default protections around content and other areas of concern,” he said.

“We continue to also invest in expanding interactive learning because research shows that people learn more effectively when they actively engage and struggle with concepts,” Mishkin said.

LA General

Perez Hilton Hospitalized After Apparent Self-Harm During Livestream

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Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was hospitalized after appearing to harm himself during a TikTok livestream Tuesday, authorities said.

“We can confirm that Perez is receiving medical care, and our family’s focus right now is on his well-being,” a statement published Wednesday on Hilton’s website said.

The message, attributed to the Perez Hilton Team and Family, continued: “Many of you have reached out with concern for Perez, and we are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers.”

In a subsequent update, Hilton’s family said he was able to communicate, a development that had given them reason to remain hopeful about his condition.

“Our family wants to once again thank everyone who has reached out with prayers, kind messages, and support for Perez. Your compassionate humanity during this profoundly heartbreaking time has meant more than words can express.”

The family described the situation as “incredibly difficult and emotional” and said it would release further updates once additional information had been confirmed.

“We respectfully ask for your continued prayers, understanding, and grace as Perez continues to recover,” the statement said.

Deputies went to Hilton’s home Tuesday evening after the sheriff’s office received multiple calls regarding a disturbing livestream, according to a statement issued by the agency Wednesday morning. After arriving, officers spoke with Hilton’s family members and determined that he was alone inside the residence.

Dispatch audio obtained by People indicated that emergency responders were sent to investigate reports of a “possible suicide.” According to the audio, authorities entered Hilton’s home at approximately 11 p.m. and were traveling to a nearby hospital with him about 30 minutes later.

Hilton was hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act, a sheriff’s office spokesperson confirmed. The law permits authorities to involuntarily hold a person for up to 72 hours when that individual is believed to pose a threat of harm to themselves or others.

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Rather than immediately engaging with Hilton, deputies monitored the situation and worked to “prioritize de-escalation by creating time, distance, and opportunities for communication,” the sheriff’s office said. The agency described the strategy as an approach intended to reduce the possibility of further harm.

Mental health professionals were later brought in to provide support to Hilton’s family.

Dante Rusciolelli, a representative for Hilton, said Wednesday that he had no further information about the blogger’s condition.

“Our focus remains on Perez’s health, recovery, and the privacy of both him and his family during this incredibly difficult time.”

Golden Artists Entertainment said in a separate statement that its representatives had not been able to reach Hilton directly Tuesday, despite repeated attempts. The company later said it still had no additional confirmed information about his condition.

TikTok said its automated moderation technology detected that Hilton’s livestream violated the platform’s community guidelines within minutes of the broadcast beginning. The company’s U.S.-based human moderation team was then notified to review the stream.

The initial livestream was shut down after approximately 15 minutes, TikTok said. Several additional streams that Hilton started were removed within 90 seconds. TikTok also said it contacted law enforcement about the situation.

Before the livestream was removed, graphic footage that appeared to show Hilton covered in blood had begun circulating on other social media platforms. His account was deactivated before TikTok formally banned it for violating rules prohibiting self-harm content.

Dan Romer, research director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times that he could not determine why Hilton chose to broadcast the apparent act. Romer has published research examining the relationship between self-harm and social media.“Often when people do self-harm, they are reaching out for help,” he said.

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Such attempts to attract attention are more commonly directed toward friends or relatives, Romer said. Hilton, however, may regard his sizable internet audience “as part of his social circle.”

Referring to the numerous viewers who contacted authorities about the livestream, Romer added, “they intervened and got him some help.”

Bryan Freedman, an attorney and friend who previously represented Hilton for two decades, told People he was working to verify that Hilton was receiving appropriate care.

“I, like many others, feel very concerned for Mario’s health, and I am trying to confirm that he is receiving the care that he needs to fully address the causes and conditions which led to this incident. It feels like a moment that deserves kindness and compassion.”

Hilton, whose legal name is Mario Lavandeira, became one of the best-known figures in online celebrity gossip during the mid-2000s through PerezHilton.com. The website’s blunt commentary about celebrities and popular culture helped turn its creator into a recognizable public figure in his own right.

Hilton, the older of two children raised in a working-class Cuban-American family, initially pursued a career as an actor. He later worked as a publicist and became a reporter for Star magazine before finding widespread fame through his website.

His rise was propelled by relentless self-promotion and provocative public statements that frequently attracted media coverage. As his audience grew, Hilton produced a steady stream of unrestrained commentary about entertainers, relationships and celebrity scandals.

By 2006, Hilton said he was spending 17 hours each day creating and publishing items for the website. The business had become highly lucrative by the following year, when a single advertisement on the site could bring in $9,000 per week.

“I’m like Madonna, I’m not afraid to offend,” Hilton said in a 2007 interview with The New York Times.

Hilton’s relationship with TikTok has been turbulent in the past. The platform banned him in 2020 for violating its community guidelines.

Hilton said at the time that losing his account had been emotionally difficult. He said he had been “very depressed” and that the social media app “gave me something to really look forward to every day.”

Earlier this year, Hilton publicly discussed another serious health crisis. In March, he said on social media that he had spent three weeks in the hospital while being treated for an ulcer and sepsis.

Hilton said that during the hospitalization, “God presented himself to me.” The following month, Hilton announced through social media that he had returned to TikTok. In the announcement, he expressed gratitude to both the platform and Jesus.

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande Plans Break From Public Eye After Eternal Sunshine Tour

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Ariana Grande has stepped away from a forthcoming London revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George” as she prepares to retreat from public-facing work following the conclusion of her current tour.

The tour is Grande’s first in six years. It comes after a particularly eventful period for the 33-year-old singer and actor, who spent the past year promoting the second “Wicked” movie, while also ending a three-year relationship.

Empire Street Productions announced that Grande has “decided to step back” from the musical, which is scheduled to open at London’s Barbican Center next summer. The production company said the revival will still move forward as planned, with replacement casting to be revealed “in due course.”

Grande had been expected to portray both Dot and Marie opposite Jonathan Bailey, her co-star in the “Wicked” films.

“We know this cannot have been an easy decision, and she makes it with our complete understanding and support. We wish her nothing but the best.”

The change comes amid renewed public discussion about Grande’s appearance and health. Her representative told People that the singer and actor intends to take “a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” which is scheduled to conclude in London next month.

Much of that attention has unfolded on social media, where users have repeatedly speculated about Grande’s weight and overall health.

Grande’s final performance on the tour is set for Sept. 1. Her representative described the tour as a positive experience but said the intense attention surrounding Grande has contributed to her decision to temporarily withdraw from public life.

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“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny. This tour has been a beautiful experience for her. She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

Discussion of Grande’s body and health has followed her for several years, with the scrutiny intensifying around the release of “Wicked: For Good” last year. Grande responded at the time by sharing a clip from a 2024 interview in which she pushed back against the idea that people should feel entitled to comment on another person’s appearance.

In the interview, Grande said that, in society, “there’s a comfortability that we shouldn’t have, at all” when it comes to discussing how other people look. She described that behavior as “dangerous for all parties involved.”

Grande also said that invasive commentary can encompass everything from assumptions about a person’s health to criticism of their clothing, face or body. She argued that people have become far too comfortable publicly analyzing what they believe may be happening in someone else’s private life.

The conversation resurfaced following Friday’s release of “Petal,” Grande’s eighth studio album, as well as the accompanying music video for its title track. The video presents a violent satire of the entertainment industry and the standards imposed on performers.

Grande plays an actor named Pepper who repeatedly auditions for casting executives and is repeatedly told she is “not good enough.” The character eventually kills the executives with a chainsaw. At the end of the video, however, a director calls “cut,” revealing that the killings are part of a production. Grande then leaves the set as members of the crew praise her performance and talent.

In an interview with Apple Music, Grande characterized the new album as “very experimental and different.” She also said the project allowed her to access the “unfiltered rage that I think we all feel sometimes.”

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The debate surrounding Grande is part of a wider conversation about increasingly thin beauty ideals in Hollywood. In May, actor and activist Jameela Jamil warned that an alarmingly thin standard had begun taking hold in society, echoing concerns raised by some dietitians, celebrities and social media users.

Dr. Sarah Gupta, a psychiatrist and the medical director of the mental health platform Modern Health, told People the current tension follows years of progress toward body positivity and body neutrality. The size-inclusivity movement of the 2010s encouraged brands to feature a broader range of bodies while helping normalize fat acceptance and common physical features such as cellulite and stretch marks.

According to Gupta, the apparent reversal may be fueling fears of a return to the diet culture of the 1990s and 2000s, when extreme thinness was often treated as the dominant beauty standard. She said those broader concerns can be worth examining, but the discussion should support health without imposing additional pressure on individuals.

Social media can also influence body image and the development of eating disorders, making the language used beneath photographs and videos consequential. Lizzy Pope, a University of Vermont associate professor who studies diet culture in popular culture, has observed a renewed willingness to openly express a desire for thinness. She contrasted that language with the wellness-focused terms that had become more common in recent years.

Experts cautioned, however, that attempting to challenge harmful beauty standards by dissecting a particular person’s appearance can reproduce the same damage. Gupta recommended shifting attention away from whether an individual celebrity looks “too thin” and toward systemic issues, including the growing visibility of GLP-1 medications, their promotion by drug companies, unequal access to the drugs and the role social media algorithms play in amplifying them.

She also advised people to avoid comments about body shape or size and to remember that comments, whether online or in person, may affect how others view their own bodies, particularly among children and teenagers.

Although Grande plans to limit her visibility after the Eternal Sunshine Tour ends, she still has a major film project awaiting release. She is scheduled to appear alongside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in “Focker-in-Law,” the next installment in the “Meet the Parents” franchise. The movie is set to arrive in theaters Nov. 25.

Crisis Hotline

LGBTQ+ Crisis Intervention Hotline Relaunches Without The Trevor Project 

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The government is moving to restart the specialized LGBTQ+ option for youth who contact the 988 crisis intervention hotline after the Trump administration ended it. However, the group that helped pioneer and bring the option to the hotline initially, the Trevor Project, is being shut out. 

The Trevor Project is known as the leading nonprofit for suicide prevention in LGBTQ+ youth, and now they may be blocked from offering their important services that they developed specifically for the 988 hotline just a few years ago, according to reports. 

The 988 hotline is known as the 911 for mental health emergencies, and has greatly reduced the suicide rates in teenagers and young adults. The hotline offers specialized options for certain groups so that struggling callers can be matched with someone who can greatly help them with their specific needs. 

Veterans and Spanish speakers are some of the other groups that they offer specialized services for. In July, however, the Trump administration removed the “press 3” option for LGBTQ+ youth with a month’s notice, claiming that the funding ran out. 

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Now, Congress has directed officials to allocate $33 million to LGBTQ+ specific interventions to help young people within the demographic. 

The Trevor Project may not be allowed to offer their services that they developed and specialized in. Dr. Christine Yu Moutier, chief medical officer for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, stated that keeping the Trevor Project out of this relaunch “would not make sense” considering it’s a “long-standing, high-quality and trusted resource” for LGBTQ+ people. 

Many groups are trying to find order in the chaos of this relaunch. Statistically speaking, LGBTQ+ youth attempt suicide at higher rates than the general population, so by leaving out the Trevor Project, who’s main objective is to bring those numbers down, is leaving many activist groups confused. This also comes at a time where the Trump Administration is trying to remove protections for transgender Americans.

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin is one of the individuals who has led a bipartisan push to restore the service.

“The Trump administration never should have shut down the ‘press 3’ option and put young Americans at further risk.”

She also called on the president to “restore the service without needless limitations and with the most qualified, experienced people answering the phone calls and text messages from these vulnerable young people.”

Before the “press 3” option was removed, the Trevor Project was handling the majority of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth services. Individuals were also able to text “PRIDE” to the hotline, or use online chats to speak with counselors for a more private approach. The counselors on the other end of the line were specially trained to work with LGBTQ+ youth. 

When it was initially in service, the “press 3” option fielded 1.6 million contacts, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Trevor Project handled about half of that traffic. 

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Vibrant Emotional Health, the nonprofit that administers the 988 service, is looking for applications to manage the return of the “press 3” calls, and the applicants are limited to crisis centers that are “current and active members of the 988 network.” The Trevor Project is not currently active in the network due to the Trump administration canceling the service to begin with. 

“This troubling development indicates a dangerous step toward degrading the clinical standards to serve high risk groups that the ‘press 3’ specialized services were founded on,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, in a statement to the AP.

LGBTQ+ advocate groups are happy to hear that the option will be restored by the end of the year, however, there are high levels of concern over how the restoration will actually take place and operate. Advocates are also worried over the Trump administration’s anti-transgender policies and how that may impact the relaunching.

Black is worried that the next version of 988’s LGBTQ+ youth services “may exclude transgender and nonbinary youth entirely. 

“While anti-LGBTQ+ politics may be altering the very purpose of this lifeline created to help save young LGBTQ+ lives, it is critical to make clear that politics has no place in suicide prevention,” Black said.

According to a 2024 analysis from the CDC, 26% of transgender and gender-questioning students attempted suicide that year, compared to 5% cisgender male and 11% cisgender female students. 

The Trevor Project has, and continuously will, independently run its own 24/7 crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth. 

screen time

Excessive Screen Time Among Kids Now A Public Health Concern, Surgeon General Warns  

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Officials at the US Department of Health and Human Services recently collaborated with the surgeon general to issue an advisory warning about the harmful effects too much screen time can have on kids and teenagers. Getting stuck in an endless loop of social media scrolling, nonstop texting, and playing video games is officially a public health concern in America. 

The advisory, according to reports from CNN, warns that exposure to screens is becoming so normalized that it often begins before a child even turns one, and it only gets worse as they get older. 

The report stated that by adolescence, children may be spending more time on their electronic devices than sleeping or going to school. 

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By the time a child becomes a teenager, the amount of time spent on screens is an average of about four or more hours per day, and nearly half of the adolescents used for the advisory stated that they lose track of the amount of time they spend on their phones. 

The advisory also offers solutions and a “toolkit” to help parents identify harmful behaviors around screens and how to better limit screen time. One of the suggestions is a limitation of no screen time for a child under 18 months old, less than one hour per day for children under 6, and two hours per day for ages 6 to 18. 

A statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes that every family is different, but limitations should definitely be enforced, especially during the school week. 

“While screen use can have some benefits, the evidence of a range of risks to children’s overall mental and physical health is mounting,” US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in advisory.

“Social media is only one aspect of this ongoing screen time problem. Behavior patterns involving gaming, online gambling, and other forms of virtual interaction are emerging,” Kennedy said. 

“While this report uses ‘screen time’ as a widely understood shorthand, we want people to understand that we are referring to the entire digital ecosystem of apps, smartphones, tablets, chatbots, and other screen-associated devices and interfaces.”

“This Advisory is not only a warning, but also an invitation for all of us to enjoy a broader world, beyond the confines of screens.”

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The advisory also includes many “calls to action” to provide recommendations for kids, teenagers, parents, schools, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and technology companies. Some of these recommendations, according to CNN, include: 

  • Youth track their screen time, take breaks and create boundaries.
  • Children complete all other activities, such as homework or extracurriculars, before screen use.
  • Parents create a family media plan that covers who can use what screens, where, when, which content and for how long.
  • Schools implement cell phone policy restrictions and prioritize assigning work in books or on paper to limit screen use.
  • Healthcare providers include questions about screen use in annual well-child visits.
  • Researchers study long-term impacts from screens and evaluate school cell phone policy bans or restrictions.
  • Policymakers pursue laws that provide parents with controls, demand child safety and privacy protection.
  • Tech companies display warnings about harmful screen use and adhere to and enforce age minimums.

Surgeon general advisories are utilized as one of the government’s biggest and strongest statements in regards to public health. They are designed to draw attention and bring an immediate response based on its recommendations. 

Parents and families can also use the recently updated guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics to help place limits on devices for their growing children to best protect their mental and physical health. 

“The relationship between screens and children’s health remains complex,” said Dr. Courtney Blackwell, an associate professor of medical social sciences.

“That’s not to say on an individual level, some children in some contexts with some pre-existing conditions may experience some kind of challenges when it comes to screen use and mental health or physical health. But at the population level, the research is not definitive, I would say, to suggest screen time causes harm in and of itself,” Dr. Blackwell said.

Dr. Blackwell also doesn’t want families to panic over their children’s screentime in an ever-changing and evolving digital world. 

“There can be positive uses of screen media, like ‘Sesame Street,’ and some kids find social support online, and they use it to connect with peers with similar identities at a time when identity development is critical in adolescence,” she said. 

“So it’s not just how long kids are spending on screens but really how they’re using it and the context of that use.”

awake

Teenagers In America Are Getting Less Sleep Than Ever, According To New Study 

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Teenagers living in the United States are sleeping less than ever before, according to a new study from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. The findings were recently shared in publication Pediatrics, and showed a consistent decline in sleep across all age groups considered to be teenage. 

Rachel Widome, lead author on the study and professor at the university’s School of Public Health, said: 

“Some barriers to sleep faced by teens have existed across generations, such as the increased homework and extracurricular demands that come with high school, social pressures to stay up late with peers, and jobs.” 

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“Other issues are new in recent years, such as increasingly ever-present screens and social media as well as recent society-wide stressors such as the pandemic, social unrest, or militarized policing.”

The study also showed demographic gaps in its sleep outcomes. For example, Black and Latino teenagers are becoming even less likely to get adequate sleep when compared to other groups, the same is shown for adolescents whose parents have lower levels of education. 

Older adolescents were seen to have the greatest impact. Sleep time was shown to steadily decline as teenagers got older with both sleep duration and the feeling of getting enough rest dropping significantly with age. 

Researchers in the study utilized data from Monitoring the Future, a long-running national survey that represents over 400,000 US students in grades eight, 10, and 12 over the span of 32 years (1991 to 2023). Participants involved responded to two main questions: how often they slept at least seven hours per night and how often they believed they were getting enough rest. 

Insufficient sleep is a major issue especially for growing teenagers. It’s attributed with daily exhaustion and inhibited functioning while also leading to much larger long-term issues like mental health problems, struggles in school, and chronic illnesses later in adulthood, reports show.

The main root cause that’s being identified is deep and growing feelings of social isolation and burnout. Aim Ideas Lab, a mental health research group that helps connect young people with proper resources, recently published student-led findings that showed about two-thirds of teenagers in California reported experiencing burnout and anxiety. 

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The students also found that about a quarter of students believe only about two days out of the week do they find they have enough time to meet their basic needs like sleeping, eating, and taking care of their personal hygiene. 

Jolie Delja, the executive director of Aim Youth Mental Health, stated that the respondents “connected this directly to relentless academic pressure. They asked for time to slow down, and the chance to learn and practice coping skills like breathing and mindfulness during calm moments, not just crisis ones.”

“Schools and communities do not need to invent entirely new solutions. They need to give students more time and space for the people, activities, and coping tools that already help them manage stress, including getting more sleep.”

Past studies have also revealed that teenagers who do go to bed earlier and/or sleep longer than others tend to have sharper mental skills and do better in school. 

Widome explained that while there may not be one direct nationwide solution to this problem, there are plenty of structural approaches that could help a lot of young people so they can truly take care of themselves, including starting the school day later. 

“Earlier starts are in direct conflict with preset rhythms of adolescent circadian biology,” she said. 

“A nation of sleep-deprived adolescents is not inevitable. We should embrace a culture of sleep, where sleep is actually valued and where we commit to enacting policies and other interventions that promote healthy sleep for everyone.”

The Planetary Peace Power and Prosperity Legacy Foundation

Where Dialogue Meets Action: The Work of the Planetary Peace, Power, and Prosperity Legacy Foundation

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The forces that shape human interaction aren’t always loud or visible. They’re often made of meaning—the stories people carry with them, the assumptions they come to treat as fact, the words that can turn a passing moment into a rupture. Entire relationships, institutions, and communities can pivot on language, on what is said, what is assumed, and what goes unspoken. For some educators, leaders, and organizers, the work begins there, not with policy or infrastructure, but with the dynamics of perception itself.

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social media

French Lawmakers Vote To Ban Social Media Use For Kids Under 15 

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French lawmakers have now passed a bill that would ban social media use for kids under the age of 15. This move is fully supported by president Emmanuel Macron, citing it as an ideal way to protect children from excessive screen time, mental health problems birthed from social media, and addiction. 

In a long overnight session from Monday to Tuesday, the lower national assembly adopted the text by a vote of 130 to 21, according to reports. Now, the bill will move to France’s upper house, the Senate, before becoming an official law. 

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In an online post, Macron stated that the vote was a “major step” to further protect French children and teenagers. 

The legislation will also work to ban mobile phones in high schools. This major move follows Australia’s social media ban for all under-16s in December, and would make France the second nation to enact a ban of this precedent. 

All over the world, the growth of social media has had a major impact on children and teenagers throughout their developmental years.  In a video broadcast last weekend, Macron stated that the “emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, either by American platforms or Chinese algorithms.”

According to the Guardian, French authorities want the social media limitations to be implemented from the beginning of the 2026 school year for newly made accounts. 

Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who currently leads Macron’s Renaissance party in the lower house, is hoping that the Senate passes the bill by mid-February so that it will be implemented on September 1st. 

“Social media platforms will then have until December 31st to deactivate existing accounts that do not comply with the age limit.” 

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Attal also emphasized that this legislation would counteract a “number of powers that, through social media platforms, want to colonize minds.”

“France can be a pioneer in Europe in a month: we can change the lives of our young people and our families, and perhaps also change the destiny of our country in terms of independence.”

The French Agency for Food, Environmental, and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) said that this month, they have observed and recorded multiple negative effects on adolescents from social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. These risks, which were seen more in girls as well, included cyberbullying and exposure to violent/inappropriate content. 

If fully passed, this legislation will enforce that “access to an online social networking service provided by an online platform is prohibited for minors under the age of 15.” The draft of the bill also excludes the use of online encyclopedias and other educational platforms.

In order to enforce this, there needs to be an effective age verification system put into place, which is “under way at the European level,” reports state. 

Back in 2018, France banned children between the ages of 11 and 15 from using mobile phones at school, and now Macron wants to extend that ban to high schools as well.

run

New Study Finds That Exercise Could Be As Effective As Medication In Treating Depression 

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According to results of a new study, exercise and moving your body could help relieve symptoms of depression at an equal level as medication.

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mental health

Mental Health And Treatment Has Become ‘Trendy’ Online: ‘A Slippery Slope’

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Mental health issues and treatment has gotten more destigmatized within the past decade. With conversations being more open and honest regarding what our bodies and minds are going through, it’s also created spaces where having a mental illness and taking things like antidepressants is “trendy.”

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