Forest Hills sues giants of social media

District joins lawsuit in effort to address growing mental health crisis among youth

One of the area's smaller school districts has agreed to join a lawsuit against the nation's social media giants in an effort to address the growing mental health crisis affecting America's young people.

Forest Hills School District in Cambria County has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown that charges, "American youth are facing possibly the most severe mental health crisis in history" (due to excessive use of social media like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube).

"The defendants' misconduct is a substantial factor resulting in a youth mental health crisis, which has been marked by increasingly higher proportions of minors struggling with anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm and suicidal ideation," the lawsuit continues.

It goes on to charge that the algorithms or computer programs used by the social media platforms have caused young people to be vulnerable to cyberbullying and to comments from others like "I hate you" and "Nobody likes you."

Those comments are like harpoons to the hearts of the children who are the recipients, it is stated in the lawsuit.

The issues caused by social media are often played out in the schools, and, according to the Forest Hills petition, there are not enough therapists to care for the growing number of mental health issues among the young.

"The minors (in the Forest Hills Schools) ... are experiencing a similar health crisis as observed nationally," the lawsuit stated.

Forest Hills is a school district with about 1,800 students and includes an elementary school and a high school.

As of this year, the district employs eight school counselors, one psychologist and two nurses.

The lawsuit states that social media has led to an increase in the number of students in crisis, to increased vandalism within the schools and the need for increased mental health services.

It proposes additional training for teachers to identify children with issues, and to recognize the harms caused by social media.

The district also wants to educate the students as to the dangers of using social media.

Forest Hills is being represented by its solicitor Ron Repak, who is associated with the Butler law firm of Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter & Graham.

Repak said the point of the lawsuit is to hold the social media giants accountable for the material they permit on their platforms and hopefully convince them to adopt internal controls to address the issues.

Repak said Forest Hills will be among at least 25 school districts from western Pennsylvania filing lawsuits.

He predicted the lawsuits will eventually be transferred to the northern district of California for disposition as part of the federal court's Multi-District Litigation program.

Repak said Meyersdale School District on Wednesday night was the latest to join the list of plaintiffs.

One of the counts against the social media companies is that they create a public nuisance, and Repak said they should be held accountable for the problems caused by their platforms.

He said social media are not the only cause concerning the distressing increase in mental health problems among the young, but they are a contributing factor.

Forest Hills Superintendent David Lehman, in discussing social media, noted how it benefits him, enabling the school district administration to easily communicate with parents through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

"Forest Hills uses social media as an effective communication platform to inform parents and to celebrate student and school success," he emphasized.

But he stressed, it is difficult for parents to monitor their children's social media activities.

"Social media impacts the school in several ways," Lehman said.

Relationship issues, for instance, can become a school problem.

Social media sometimes dares students to do things.

One platform for instance encouraged students to slap a teacher, another to see how much destruction could be done to a restroom.

"We have been fortunate that we have not had students engage in these social media dares," he stated.

He reported that Forest Hills counselors work with students on a regular basis "navigating issues from social media platforms, which have trickled into the school setting.

"We attempt to teach digital citizenship as part of our curriculum. When issues like these arise, we try to take prompt action to resolve issues," Leham continued.

But he emphasized his priority is the safety of the staff and the students.

In the lawsuit, Forest Hills argued the business of social media is to sell advertising, and like in other instances, such large companies focus their attention on minors because they are most likely to access and become addicted to cell phone usage.

"Schools are struggling not only to provide students with mental health services but also to deliver an adequate education because of the youth mental health crisis," according to the lawsuit.

It concluded students in grades six to 12 identify depression, stress and anxiety as their most prevalent obstacles to learning. Students in middle schools and high schools fail to get enough sleep on school nights -- another obstacle to learning, it was explained.

"These negative mental health outcomes are also the most common symptoms of excessive social media use," it was stated in the lawsuit.

"We used to send notes," Lehman quipped.

Social media, he explained, now enables people to say things they would not say face-to-face.

U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson is presiding over the Forest Hills lawsuit.