Only a few months into 2026, and major tech companies are already experiencing heavy blows as court cases rise surrounding the mental health and the safety of minors.
According to NPR, a Californian jury found Meta and Google responsible for the depression and anxiety of a woman who chronically used their services during her developmental years, ordering that the companies pay the woman a collective $6 million for damages. Only a day prior, Meta already experienced a loss as a New Mexico jury ordered it to pay $375 million in damages for failing to protect underage users from predators on Instagram and Facebook properly.
These new developments, in turn, sparked questions about the effects on students at Rowlett High School. Major tech companies are present throughout the development process, as several academic courses use Google products and services, and many students use Meta products, such as Instagram, outside the classroom.
“My screen time [including the use of Chromebooks] is probably six hours if I’m being realistic,” junior Sophie Howard said.
Similar to the Californian case, though to varying degrees, it is no surprise that some students reported seeing changes in either themselves or their friends after prolonged exposure to these tech companies.
“My friends who use Discord and Reddit and those types of sites don’t go out and talk to anybody,” sophomore Alex Gragg said.
Along with affecting communication, other major consequences often associated with these tech companies are lowered self-esteem and increased comparisons.
“My friends have [been affected]. They would be comparing themselves to the girls they find online,” senior Kimberly Karos said.
In more extreme cases, prolonged exposure to these companies is linked to the endangerment of students.
“One of my friends went to the hospital [due to] cyberbullying,” senior Trevor Fidler said.
As is the main focus in the trials, these side effects of being online chronically can start at an early age.
“We had to ban YouTube,” sophomore Kaitlyn Narro said. “We downloaded YouTube Kids for [my five-year-old brother] and put all these restrictions on it, but somehow he would always get weird ads for kid games that were really vulgar.”
Google recently implemented new regulations to filter what minors consume on platforms like YouTube. Now, people must upload identification, such as a passport, driver’s license, or upload a picture for the AI scanner, in order to determine whether the person is over 18. This has received mixed reviews.
“I feel it will ultimately be harmful,” Gragg said. “You’re putting your personal information out there, and it’s really easy for hackers and scammers to steal that information. It’s also really easy to fake how old you look. Adults have done this on Roblox to get into servers with kids.”
Other people believe the pros outweigh the cons.
“You’re not as exposed to all the stuff you’re used to,” Fiddler said.
Conversations related to this topic will continue to increase once again as these trials continue to occur. Technology has a fine line between beneficial and harmful. The trick is to find a balance between technology and other grounding activities.
“Less time online is more time you can spend with other people,” senior Jaden Terra said.
