According to the U.S. surgeon general, children and adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, than those children and teens who do not. 

The statistic is cause for concern because a vast majority of young people use social media (95% of teenagers use social media); and a new survey shows that teens spend an average of three-and-a-half hours a day on social media. 

Several New York state elected officials want to act on this issue. Gov. Kathy Hochul, Attorney General Letitia James and two New York City Democrats, state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, are supporting two bills that would protect children from the more predatory aspects of social media like advertisements (S3281/A4967) and predictive algorithms (S7694/A8148).

Sen. Gounardes discussed the bills on Capital Tonight with anchor Susan Arbetter.