When the prophet and the governor disagree: LDS parents caught in conflicting guidance on teens and social media use

Latter-day Saint teens dedicated to persuading wary parents to allow them on social media have some powerful allies: the leaders of their faith.

From President Russell M. Nelson and senior apostles to a former president of the global Young Women organization, the top brass of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have repeatedly called on youth in recent years to use the technology to spread the good word and help win converts.

“Now,” apostle M. Russell Ballard, who died in 2023, wrote in the church’s For the Strength of Youth magazine in 2021, “may I ask you to join the conversation by participating on the internet, particularly with social media, to share the gospel and explain in simple, clear terms the message of the restoration.”

To which researchers on the effects of teen social media use say — not so fast.

Clinicians, academics, educators, even the U.S. surgeon general and Utah’s own Gov. Spencer Cox have closed ranks in recent years against the platforms they believe are fueling a mental health epidemic plaguing America’s youth.

“These companies,” Cox, himself a Latter-day Saint, recently warned, “are killing our kids.”

Caught between such differing direction, faithful Latter-day Saint parents are left to decide for themselves which voices of authority to prioritize on a subject where they are told the stakes — saving souls or lives — couldn’t be higher.

What LDS Church leaders are saying about teens and social media

Not all Latter-day Saint leaders provide the same level of enthusiasm when it comes to social media. Indeed, some have cautioned against spending time on the technology, while others have tempered their encouragement with warnings about its potential dangers.

Nonetheless, the overriding message, particularly when aimed at youth, remains: God needs your posts, pins and shares.

A year after Ballard’s For the Strength of Youth article, then-Young Women President Bonnie Cordon echoed a similar call to action in the same publication. Writing not just about social media but internet use generally, she said, “As you use technology for good, you will be an important part of the Lord’s battalion striving to gather Israel. The world needs your goodness and the Lord’s light!”

The key, she and others return to again and again, is moderation.

In a 2023 For the Strength of Youth article, a Latter-day Saint teen described how a decision to join social media at age 10 precipitated a “cycle of self-loathing and addiction.” By 14, he began planning to take his own life.

Intervention by parents and caring church leaders prevented the worst, and today, the author wrote, “I’ve built a platform on social media that I can use for good.”

This idea that social media, when properly managed, can be a positive influence in teens’ lives is repeated in Taking Charge of Technology, a youth pamphlet that encourages readers to always have a clear purpose and plan when using the technology.

The Salt Lake Tribune reached out to a church spokesperson, asking whether experts had participated in the pamphlet’s production, along with questions about whether recent research had raised concerns at church headquarters on the subject. No answers were provided.

The research on social media and teens

While some studies suggest that minors — especially the marginalized — may benefit from supportive online communities found on social media, consensus remains that the cons far outweigh the pros in the majority of cases.

“The current body of evidence indicates that while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents,” the U.S. surgeon general neatly summarized in a 2023 report, “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being” to those same individuals.

Those possible harms, per the report, include depression, self-harm, disordered eating, poor sleep, exposure to predators, cyberbullying, attention issues, low self-esteem and suicide.

“Further,” the report adds, “some researchers believe that social media exposure can overstimulate the reward center in the brain and, when the stimulation becomes excessive, can trigger pathways comparable to addiction.”

Not all young people are equally at risk, according to the American Psychological Association’s health advisory on minors and social media. The advisory states that “the effects of social media likely depend on what teens can do and see online,” maturity level, time spent on the various platforms and their home environment.

However, as the report points out, users control only so much of their social media experience before algorithms designed to hook them take over.

Meanwhile, research says major unknowns remain, including the long-term consequences of social media use during adolescence and the best strategies for protecting teens who use the technology.

Comparing recommendations

What, then, are kids and parents to do? The answer, of course, depends on whom you ask.

The church’s Taking Charge of Technology pamphlet provides the following guidelines for youth engaging in social media:

• Have a daily limit for screen time.

• Interact only with close family and friends.

• Have device-free areas at home.

• Set up a family charging station.

• Use a content filter.

New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt takes an even more aggressive stance. Writing in his blockbuster book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” Haidt spells out the following ground rules:

• No smartphones before high school.

• No social media before 16.

• No phones or other internet-connected devices at school.

That, paired with “far more unsupervised play and childhood independence,” he writes, is the best way for youth to “naturally develop social skills, overcome anxiety and become self-governing young adults.”

Utah’s governor weighs in

In 2023, Utah became the first state in the nation to pass laws restricting how minors can use social media apps. The governor signed two bills — one aimed at regulating when and how the state’s young people can use the technology, and the other at stopping companies from designing addictive features.

“Gov. Cox and I both feel very strongly that social media is not appropriate for minors,” said Aimee Winder Newton, a senior adviser to the Republican leader and the director of the administration’s Office of Families. “There are not enough guardrails in place … for any of us to say that it is safe for [those under 18] in any form.”

It’s a tall order, telling teens today they won’t have access to social media until they are old enough to vote. But Winder Newton said Cox “practices what he preaches.”

The governor’s 17-year-old daughter, Winder Newton said, is not on social media.

“Parents know that it’s not good for their kids,” she said. “I don’t know if parents understand the depth of the harm that can occur. Everybody wants to think that their kid is exempt from this, and it’s just not the case.”

Editor’s note • This article mentions suicide. If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or chat at 988Lifeline.org. This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.