The latest national test scores in history and civics show a large and scary drop in student knowledge of what it means to be a good citizen.
That’s concerning enough, but when coupled with a survey of teens also released this month, it’s clear we’ve missed something huge when it comes to kids’ understanding of — and lack of respect for — their role in civic life.
Indeed, the Reboot Foundation survey found 59% of young adults with TikTok accounts said that if forced to choose between their social media or voting rights, they would give up the latter.
Among teens, the rates of voluntary disenfranchisement were even higher: 64% of those aged 13 to 17 said they would give up their vote to keep the apps’ content flowing.
Giving up their right to vote for their “right to post” is an alarming admission at a time the populace is politically fractured — and culturally splintered.
It also suggests further erosion in the cultural norms, such as the value of freedom, that serve as the bedrock of democracy.
But it also makes sense in light of these new test scores — young people may have simply failed to learn an appreciation for what they would be giving up.
The voting admission was just one data point in the report by Reboot, a foundation I founded to promote critical thinking and reflective thought.
It examined the central role the social-media app TikTok plays in young people’s lives.
When viewed with a wider lens, however, the report shows how social media have made young people vulnerable to influence in ways that affect what they think and what they believe to be true.
Social media have an unbelievable sway over the nation’s youth.
For millions of teens and young adults, it’s not just a social-media account — it’s their lifeline to the world around them.
Social media are a predominant source of entertainment; they’re also how young people stay current on politics, trends, sports, and everything in between.
This central role is clear in the data, as almost a quarter of young people spend more than four hours a day on TikTok alone.
These amounts are harmful, and experts advise that teens spend no more than two hours a day — total — on all screens to promote a healthy and balanced lifestyle.
What’s more, the Reboot report found a clear relationship between the amount of time teens spend on TikTok and their trust in the content they’re consuming: 42% of heavy TikTok users said they think the information on the app is “reliable,” compared with 23% of those who use it less.
This is problematic for many reasons.
But top among them is that recent studies have found as much as 20% of the platform’s videos contain misinformation.
After years of little meaningful action, lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures have woken up to the dangers social media pose to young users.
Bipartisan legislation in the Senate would bar children under 13 from having social media accounts.
Governors in several states have signed similar legislation already.
The recent momentum to do something — anything — to protect children’s mental health from social media’s dangers and help them enter civic life is a welcome change.
Limiting Big Tech’s influence machine is just a start.
Beyond the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act making its way through Congress, parents themselves need to play a stronger role.
They should think of a child getting a social media account as seriously as a teen getting a driver’s license.
Parents should help set social-media boundaries, closely monitor their children’s activities online and — importantly — consider whether their children should be on social media at all.
Ronald Reagan was right when he said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.”
Parents need to ask children to put down their phones not just at the dinner table but at their schools, in their living rooms, and in their bedrooms.
Americans have done a lot to protect the right to vote.
Millions have died in wars across the world that kept our nation free and democratic.
Others have sacrificed their lives in protest to ensure everyone has a chance to participate in the country’s democracy.
No doubt, the rise of social media has brought significant changes to the way people communicate and interact with each other.
Many are positive, but the negative effects of TikTok and its networked siblings are all too prevalent.
Social media make us less able to think for ourselves — and support the enduring norms that hold our nation together and make a true democracy possible.
Helen Lee Bouygues is the president of the Reboot Foundation, which she founded to elevate critical thinking and reflective thought in a time of vast technological change.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
