News Investigation

The Woman With a Plan to Fight Screen Addiction

May 2024 🇺🇸 Hello Gloria

Suicide and self-harm are complex and never caused by one factor alone. Problematic screen use, cyberbullying, harmful content, and online exploitation may increase risk or intensify existing distress. If someone is in immediate danger or emotional crisis in the United States, call or text 988.

Outside the U.S.? Find your local helpline at findahelpline.com.

This Hello Gloria profile traces Julie Scelfo's path from reporting on youth mental health — including what she describes as rising suicide rates among tweens — to founding Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA) in 2023. The piece lays out MAMA's three-part approach: helping parents understand platform design and its associated risks, pushing for phone-free school days, and lobbying for regulation comparable to safety standards for other consumer products aimed at children, modeled explicitly on Mothers Against Drunk Driving. It also covers Scelfo's response to a common counterargument — that some LGBTQ+ youth rely on online community — by distinguishing regulation of harmful design from access itself, and notes her stated 2024 goal of expanding MAMA to ten states.

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"The Woman With a Plan to Fight Screen Addiction." Hello Gloria, May 16, 2024. https://hellogloria.com/essays/julie-scelfo-mama/

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