OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) – As a landmark trial in Los Angeles puts social media giants Meta and YouTube on trial over claims they deliberately addicted children to their platforms, students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh say the issue hits close to home — and state data suggests Wisconsin youth are already feeling the effects.
National trial targets Big Tech over youth harm
Opening statements began on February 9 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Meta, Instagram’s parent company, and Google’s YouTube face claims that their platforms were deliberately designed to addict and harm children. TikTok and Snapchat, originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums before trial.
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. The outcome could affect thousands of similar lawsuits filed against social media companies nationwide, including cases brought by more than 40 state attorneys general.
Wisconsin youth data shows a crisis
The 2023 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, administered to students across the state, found that nearly 79 percent of students reported using screens three or more hours every day.
More than 41 percent said they check social media hourly, and more than 53 percent reported using screens after midnight at least once per week.
The survey also found that one in five Wisconsin students reported five or fewer hours of sleep per night — and those students were more than three times as likely to report depression and nearly twice as likely to report anxiety. Nearly 18% of students said they had been bullied online.
Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, which administers the survey, said the data points to a mental health and emotional well-being crisis among the state’s youth.
Built to keep you scrolling
At UW-Oshkosh, the next generation of digital marketers is learning exactly how the apps used every day are built to keep users coming back.
Teaching Assistant and Digital Marketing Professor Kathy Fredrickson said social media platforms were built around an advertising model — and that growth depends on keeping users engaged as long as possible.
“All social platforms — their business model is advertising,” Fredrickson said. “The metrics that they have to evaluate their success are account sign-ups and engagement. So when you are driven by those metrics, you have to find new users.”
Fredrickson said that pressure to grow eventually pushes platforms toward younger audiences.
“When you are talking about billions of dollars being invested through advertising on these platforms, they need to grow their user base, and eventually it’s going to exhaust at the older demographics,” Fredrickson said. “Are our users really above 13 years old? That is an unknown.”
She said the shift in language around online audiences reflects how platforms prioritize revenue over consumer well-being.
“The internet evolved — we don’t call consumers consumers in the internet social media space, they’re users. And when you want more users, you want more users to engage with your content, so you can get advertisers to spend money with you,” Fredrickson said.
Fredrickson said the pace of change in the industry forces her to update her syllabus every semester — sometimes mid-semester.
“I always say the moment that marketers can’t keep up, they need to get out. That’s how quickly it moves,” Fredrickson said.
More than 41 percent said they check social media hourly.Students recognize the pull
For students who grew up in this digital environment, the design of these platforms is not abstract — it is something they experience daily.
Senior Ella Roux said she got her first iPod around age 10 and was on social media by 12 or 13. She said short-form video content is a significant driver of lost time — a pattern reflected in the state survey data showing more than four in 10 Wisconsin students check social media every hour.
“I think that a lot of it does have to do with the introduction of that short-form video content,” Roux said. “You can get lost in time so fast. When you’re scrolling through 30-second clips on TikTok, you don’t realize how much those all add up until you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh. An hour has gone by and I’ve done nothing.’”
Roux said about half of user time on Instagram is now spent on reels, and that the appeal goes beyond entertainment.
“We’re just so used to the notifications and that instant gratification of something popping up,” Roux said. “It’s really addicting to just open up your phone and scroll and see things, even if you’re there for a short period of time.”
She said the energy cost of scrolling is often underestimated — and the 2023 Wisconsin survey found that more than 15 percent of students reported using screens after midnight every school night.
“I think people don’t realize how much energy is spent when we’re scrolling,” Roux said. “We wake up, we roll over — we think, ‘Let’s relax for a little bit, scroll on the phone.’ But in reality, you’re burning through a lot of your energy when you’re scrolling.”
Sophomore Roger Dang, also a content creator, said he catches himself spending more time on platforms than he intends.
“I can genuinely catch myself and be like, ‘I’ve been on here for a little too long. I need to take a break,” Dang said. “Social media platforms will always keep you engaged by throwing something out to make it more personalized — like, ‘This is your new algorithm. This is what you like, keep enjoying it.’ Keeping you engaged the entire time.”
The personal cost of growing up online
Senior Dana Valdez said she received her first phone at age 10 and now spends around seven hours a day on her device between listening to music, watching videos, and editing her own content. Looking back, she said she was not ready for what social media brought with it.
“I kind of regret getting it so young, because at that time, I started to compare myself to those influencers going on these crazy trips,” Valdez said. “I just needed to live in the moment, and I regret that, and I wish I could go back to that.”
Valdez said the habit of reaching for a phone has become automatic — even when she knows it is counterproductive.
“Especially if I’m working out, I just instantly look at my phone between sets and I’m like, ‘Oh, why am I doing this?’ I could just keep doing my workout, and it would be more time-efficient. But instead I’m looking at my phone — just because everyone else around me is. It’s just a habit,” Valdez said.
She said social media creates a tension between connection and isolation.
“I can talk to people around the world and get connected that way, and I can get more opportunities professionally,” Valdez said. “But also more lonely, because when people are hanging out, they’re just looking at their phone instead of actually enjoying doing something.”
Roux said the effects extend to how young people communicate in person — a concern echoed by the state survey’s finding that nearly 18 percent of Wisconsin students reported being bullied online.
“I think that in a lot of ways, it has impaired social skills, just because we are so used to communicating over text and over the phone, and that’s been so normalized that a lot of the time we can forget how to converse face to face,” Roux said.
Platforms and parents both have a role
Dang said he has noticed some platforms beginning to address the issue, but said more needs to be done.
“TikTok has done this where it’s like, ‘Hey, you’ve been on here for a long time, take a break,’ being implemented into more of a concern for mental health — how we as teenagers see other people, and then we kind of fantasize about that lifestyle, or we get jealous,” Dang said. “Honestly, I think that these platforms need to improve on making it a safer place for consumers.”
Fredrickson said the responsibility does not fall on platforms alone. This semester, she said she introduced a new classroom exercise asking students to assess their own ability to be present.
“Parents need to ask themselves that question as well,” Fredrickson said. “If my child is with me, what is my ability to be present? How am I modeling my behavior? Am I scrolling myself while my child is next to me? Because children are watching. If you model behavior that you’re able to be present and engage with them — go outside, fly a kite, ride your bike, have dinner without your devices in front of you — it begins with that modeling of behavior. So that’s actually the starting point.”
Looking ahead
Valdez said she supports implementing age restrictions similar to those Australia enacted in 2025, which bar children under 16 from social media. She said she plans to set screen time limits for her own children, though she acknowledged the balance is not simple.
“I think I will restrict it on some levels, as my parents did — they would give me one hour a day,” Valdez said. “I think I would definitely do something about that.”
Dang said he believes experience, rather than hard rules, may be the more effective teacher.
“Most of the time, when you give hard rules to kids, they just end up breaking them anyway,” Dang said. “Having them learn through experience is probably the best way, in my opinion.”
Roux said screen time monitoring will be a priority regardless.
“Especially for the future generation — get kids outside, suck them away from the phone a little bit,” Roux said. “Just monitoring how much time they’re actually spending on electronics in the future is going to be really important.”
Students said they plan to monitor their own children’s screen time closely — to use the apps without being used by them.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, text “HOPELINE” to 741741, or call or text 988.
Copyright 2026 WBAY. All rights reserved.