The Legal Effects of Social Media Addiction

Technology is not what it used to be. With advances in smartphones and various platforms, social media was born in the early 2000s. When social media was created, it was not as big as it is today. In society now, people are addicted to social media, and it has effects on mental health. The level of connectivity at all times can sometimes be dangerous, mentally and physically. A scenario could be comparing one’s life to another’s and mentally demeaning oneself because of that. Continuous scrolling, craving likes and comments, and constant motivation from the platform are ways that social media keeps its users connected. There are serious negative effects of social media when someone is connected at a dangerous level. In a recent Los Angeles County Superior Court case, a jury awarded the plaintiffs $3 million in compensatory damages and an additional $3 million in punitive damages for the harms brought to her through Meta and YouTube’s platforms. The verdict in her case affects numerous cases pending in state court related to social media addiction.

“Malice, Oppression or Fraud”

The woman in this landmark case, Kaley, sued Meta and YouTube due to her childhood addiction to social media in a California court. The trial was the first in a consolidated action to hold social media companies responsible for the harm caused by their platform design choices. That litigation includes more than 1,600 plaintiffs, including families and school districts from across the nation.

Many parents outside of the courthouse, on one of the many days in the five-week trial, were sitting outside waiting for the verdict. Parents are concerned for their children’s health and feel that social media is at the core of their children’s mental health issues. Children who are young and impressionable are the most susceptible to the addictive features of social media. Jurors found Meta and Google’s actions to be ones of “malice, oppression, or fraud” in accordance with the operation of their platforms.

Facts of the Case

Kaley started using Instagram when she was nine years old and YouTube when she was six, and no attempts were made by the platforms to block her due to age restrictions. Kaley said that she stopped engaging with her family due to her high levels of social media consumption. At age ten, she was experiencing anxiety and depression, which was later diagnosed by a therapist.

Along with anxiety and depression, Kaley began to hyper-fixate on her physical appearance and began using filters on social media platforms at a very young age. Since then, she has been diagnosed with body dysmorphia by a medical professional.

The goal of social media platforms is to keep the user on the app for as long as possible. One way to keep users on an app for long periods of time is infinite scrolling. The continuous feed of videos and posts encourages users to utilize the app for long periods of time.

The Findings of the Landmark Case

The jury found that Meta and YouTube were negligent and that such negligence was a substantial factor in the harm to the plaintiff. Meta and YouTube knew the design of their platforms was dangerous, knew that users would not realize such danger, failed to mention such danger, and that failure played a role in Kaley’s injuries.

The Algorithm

When logging into your own social media account, you will notice that the posts are curated to things that you like, share, and comment on. That is no coincidence. There are two main reasons for this: advertisements and keeping you on the app longer. Social media platforms, like Meta, are worth billions of dollars. But the platform is free to users. The lack of cost is possible through advertisements. The more the advertisements are directed toward a certain audience, the more likely a person is to purchase a product. There is a calculated science behind the algorithm that leads to social media addiction.

Algorithms are meant to individualize the experience of each social media user. The system provides a basic set of instructions to the social media platform about what to show and what not to show to a specific user.

Currently, over 5.4 billion people worldwide use social media every day. A projection from Statista shows that by 2030, there will be almost 6 billion people using social media daily. The reason for the growing number is the addictive nature of the apps, which is causing users to stay on the platform for hours on end.

As of February 2025, the average amount of time spent on social media every day in the United States is 2 hours and 16 minutes. The amount of social media use is impeding everyday activities like driving. More than half of all drivers say that they tend to find themselves checking their social media while driving. People are willing to put their lives at risk to check the newest post or comment, which are key signs that social media is addictive and that it is affecting people mentally and physically.

What Is Social Media Addiction?

Social media addiction is a type of behavioral addiction that is focused on the uncontrollable urge to log in and devote copious amounts of time and effort to social media to the point that it impairs other parts of the victim’s life. As social media is growing and easy to access, psychologists estimate that as many as 5% to 10% of Americans meet the criteria for social media addiction today.

Addiction to social media looks very similar to substance abuse addiction. Symptoms may include:

• Mood modification: Large amounts of time on social media can lead to favorable changes in emotional states.
• Salience: The state of being preoccupied with social media on a behavioral, cognitive, and emotional level.
• Tolerance: Ever-increasing use of social media over time to the point where one hour is not enough, and time on the platform grows to uncontrollable levels.
• Withdrawal symptoms: Experiencing unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms when social media use is restricted or stopped.
• Conflict: Interpersonal problems ensue because of social media usage.
• Relapse: Addicted individuals quickly revert back to their excessive social media usage after an abstinence period.

The algorithm plays a role in the addictive features of social media, but brain chemistry does as well. Human brains have a chemical called dopamine. It is a critical neurotransmitter and hormone that has the nickname of the “feel-good” chemical and accounts for the craving feeling. Dopamine is released into the brain’s reward system and tells the brain that what has happened was in the “like” or “pleasure” category.

When a person receives a like on their post, the brain releases a small amount of dopamine. But the high level of stimulation on social media can lead to high levels of dopamine being released, creating a “dopamine loop.” Such a loop can lead to addiction, as the brain is being told that such activity is pleasurable. The small hits of dopamine through endless scrolling allow for continued social media use. When the brain is overly exposed to dopamine, it can create a sensitivity to natural pleasure, which can lead to anxiety and depression.

According to the Addiction Center,

“Studies have shown that the constant stream of retweets, likes, and shares from these sites causes the brain’s reward area to trigger the same kind of chemical reaction seen with drugs like cocaine. In fact, neuroscientists have compared social media interaction to a syringe of dopamine being injected straight into the system.”

Therefore, the overuse of social media can rewire the brain, which is why it is so very important to protect children from social media addiction.

The Risks of Social Media for Children

Childhood for children with phones, computers, and social media is new ground. The increase in mental health issues started around 2011 to 2012, which was approximately the time that people switched to smartphones. As of today, 95% of teenagers own a smartphone.

Studies are being released citing the negative effects of technology and social media in adolescence. Roughly 42 percent of teens admit that social media keeps them from connecting with friends in person. Before social media, friends would go to each other’s houses, but with social media, people do not need to leave their bedrooms.

Bullying has always been an issue for school-aged children, but social media amplifies it. Videos and photos being shared within seconds can turn a bad bullying situation into something much worse due to the connectivity social media provides. Such events can be detrimental to their mental health, which can affect them into adulthood.

In a recent survey, 70 percent of teens with low social-emotional well-being feel left out or excluded when using social media. Without human interaction, children feel alone. Suicide rates among teens have https://www.healio.com/news/psychiatry/20201005/social-media-use-may-play-important-role-in-youth-suicide-expert-saysincreased in the age of social media. The slot machine of endless scrolling is exploiting dopamine-driven actions in children until they are burned out and cannot handle everyday life. Social media is increasingly linked to youth suicide, with an estimated 24% of suicides among 10- to 19-year-olds linked to high-risk digital technology use, such as cyberbullying and harmful content exposure. What is on social media can include explicit and harmful content for young children to be exposed to, and it is difficult for parents to regulate what is on their child’s feed. Social media addiction is real and is causing children to take their lives.

In the landmark case above, CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, testified about child safety on Meta’s platforms. Meta estimated that more than 4 million users under the age of 13 were on Instagram. This number represents approximately 30% of all 10- to 12-year-olds in the United States.

A study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2024 found that YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat were the social media platforms of choice for users ages 13 to 17. The U.K.’s Royal Society for Public Health and the Young Health Movement found that Instagram is the most detrimental social media platform to mental health, and it is the most popular. According to the same study, teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 noted increased feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and fear of missing out when scrolling on Instagram.

How To Fight or Avoid Social Media Addiction

The simplest way to avoid social media addiction is to not be on social media at all. That may be easy to say, but it can save a person from experiencing body dysmorphia, anxiety, and depression.

If someone is suffering from social media addiction, there are ways to fight it:

1. Set time limits on social media apps. Many phones have the ability to restrict the amount of time a person can be in an app. When the time is used, the app will lock them out until the next day. This can help with “doom scrolling” and the “dopamine loop.”
2. Disable notifications. The more that a person’s phone dings with information from social media apps, the more likely they are to tune in and get sucked into hours of scrolling.
3. Set rules for phone usage. Create “no phone” rules during meals, while studying, or even for full days.
4. Be mindful. When opening a social media app, ask yourself if you are choosing to open the app or if it is based on impulse.
5. Replace social media. Social media provides dopamine highs and losing that can cause serious side effects on mental health. Discover hobbies that you may be interested in that can replace social media, so your brain is enriched in a fulfilling way.
6. Seek support. If self-help methods do not seem to be helping, contacting a behavioral therapist may be in one’s best interest for success in the battle against social media addiction.

The landmark California case for people like Kaley and 1,600 other plaintiffs is the first to open the door for people suffering from social media addiction that is causing mental health issues. Meta and YouTube are well aware of the addictive design of their platforms, and it was made with purpose. It is important to stay in control of one’s usage of social media because it can easily become out of control and alter one’s brain chemistry.

The effects of social media are often permanent, like the lives taken from children suffering from anxiety and depression due to social media. If you or a loved one is suffering, it is essential that you seek medical and legal assistance.

What Are My Legal Rights If I Suffer From Social Media Addiction?

If you or a loved one is suffering from mental health issues due to excessive use of social media, then you may be eligible to file a social media addiction lawsuit. The subject landmark case opens the door to acknowledgment by the courts of the harms associated with the addictive nature of social media. However, there is specific criteria required for a plaintiff to be eligible to file a lawsuit against a social media company for such injuries.

The Criteria:

1. You used Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Snapchat for several hours a day as a child, adolescent, or teenager.
2. You suffered from self-harm, suicidal ideation, body dysmorphia, or an eating disorder as a result of your social media use.
   1. There must be clear documentation proving such injuries were due to social media addiction, such as a diagnosis from a medical professional.
3. Treatment, like therapy, was required due to the social media addiction.
4. Users are typically 21 or younger when developing such issues.
   1. The brain is still developing when a person is under 21 years old, so it is more susceptible to injury from social media addiction at a younger age.

The case must be filed before the two-year mark of the injuries being diagnosed. In the state of Ohio, social media addiction claims have a statute of limitation of two years.

What Type Of Compensation Am I Applicable For?

Each case is different, so there is no promise of what a plaintiff will or will not receive. But a plaintiff in a social media addiction case can be awarded various forms of compensation:

• Compensatory Damages: Cover current and future medical expenses and therapy costs.
• Loss of Earnings: Compensation for reduced future earning capacity.
• Punitive Damages: Imposed to punish companies for negligent design.
• Injunctive Relief: Pushing for changes to app designs to protect future users.

Our Role in Social Media Addiction Cases

If you or a loved one is suffering from social media addiction, you need a skilled personal injury attorney to navigate your case and secure the compensation you deserve. Here at Charles E. Boyk Law Offices, our experienced attorneys are dedicated to helping you through these difficult times because we have stood in your shoes and know how difficult this process is for people. As one of the top-rated personal injury firms in Ohio, we understand the complexities of social media addiction and will work tirelessly to ensure that you receive the compensation and justice to which you are entitled.

Reach out to us today for a free case evaluation and discover how we can assist you in getting the justice and financial recovery you need. If we are unable to take your case, we will refer you to someone who may be able to help. Let us put our experience, connections, and expertise to work for you and support you every step of the way.