Testimony in Support of the Stop the Harms from Addictive Social Media Act (H.F. 4138 (Scott)) House Ways and Means Committee

Posted by Minnesota Catholic Conference on April 22, 2026

Chair Frazier, Chair Torkelson, and Members of the Committee:

The Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Minnesota, writes to express our support for H.F. 4138, the Stop the Harms from Addictive Social Media Act. Please vote yes.

Social media platforms are designed to addict users, and it works. Children spend nearly 20 percent of their day on social media.[1] The Minnesota Student Survey revealed that one in five students spends time online five nights a week between the hours of 12am and 5am.[2] And 97 percent of students report using their phones during the school day.[3]

Child brains are still developing, which makes them more vulnerable to falling into this addictive behavior. Social media algorithms coupled with age estimation technology are designed to understand what a user wants to see, and to push additional, related content towards that user. This can cause young people to spend more time online than they may wish, or to get pushed content that they would otherwise not have searched out. In Finland, they call this approach “algorithmic grooming.”

Instead of allowing the social media platforms to keep users online regardless of the cost, we can ask them to use the technology they already employ to keep children safe. They can eliminate the most addictive features on child accounts such as targeted advertising, infinite scrolling, and autoplay videos. In addition, they can require parental consent for youth under 16. If, by using their age estimation technology, they suspect a user is a child who did not achieve parental consent, the platform can boot the user off until consent is achieved.

These companies have the ability to keep children safe online rather than ushering them towards a childhood of addiction and online social pressures.

Protecting youth online is one step in a three-tiered approach that the Minnesota Catholic Conference has proposed to help keep children safe.[4] Studies have shown that when social media usage is limited, depression and anxiety go down, and people report higher rates of happiness.[5]

Minnesota has an opportunity to create impactful and life-altering changes for our state’s youth by passing H.F. 4138 and adding needed guardrails to online usage. Nearly half of teens say that social media has a mostly negative effect on people their age.[6] But given the addictive quality of these platforms and the social pressures that come with it, unplugging can feel nearly impossible. Let’s help solve the problem that teens themselves agree exists.

Please pass H.F. 4138. Thank you for your consideration.

Maggee Hangge
Assistant Director for Family Policy

[1] https://news.gallup.com/poll/512576/teens-spend-average-hours-social-media-per-day.aspx

[2] https://www.health.state.mn.us/data/mchs/surveys/mss/docs/statewidetables/statewidebygrade.pdf

[3] https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/2023-cs-smartphone-research-report_final-for-web.pdf

[4] https://www.mncatholic.org/protectchildren

[5] https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf

[6] https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health/