One day in seventh grade, my “training bra” fell out of my bag at school. A few boys got hold of it, tossed it around jokingly, and were inspired to give me the nickname “NoMo” for no movement, an apt but cruel description of my breasts, which certainly didn’t move or bounce like those of some of the other girls. For a few weeks, I endured the teasing, but then the event and the nickname faded. Yet it remains one of those embarrassing memories that, until now, I’ve only shared with a few people.
There’s one thing about the incident that I’m glad about: that it happened before the advent of social media. If the same thing had happened today, chances are there'd be a video about it that was uploaded, then shared schoolwide and beyond, leading to hundreds of mocking and cruel comments by people known and unknown.
The speed and ferocity of social media can be devastating to an adolescent’s mental health and self-esteem. Think back to middle school, when your hormones were raging, your parents were annoying, and your friends meant everything. Imagine how you might have felt if an embarrassing event was recorded, commented on, and shared to friends and random people across social media. You might have been called ugly and stupid. Strangers might even try to persuade you to “unalive” yourself, in social media parlance. Add sexual solicitation, bullying, body-shaming, isolation, reduced social skills, and the compulsive qualities of online use to the risks of social media, and we understand why the Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, is ringing the alarm bells — and why attorney generals of 42 states and U.S. territories joined together to call on congress to pass legislation implementing Murthy’s proposal to require........