By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Local experts and advocacy groups are reacting after Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the platform of causing harm to young users.
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This isn’t the first lawsuit against the social media platform in the state.
In 2023, the Tucson Unified School District joined dozens of other Arizona school districts in a class action lawsuit against social media companies. Their claims were similar to those in Mayes’ lawsuit regarding the addictive nature of TikTok’s algorithm. That lawsuit is set to go to trial in February.
Parents say the impact of social media use has been a growing trend in Southern Arizona, with effects on mental health rising inside and outside the classroom.
Psychiatrist describes addictive format
Sutapa Dube, an adolescent psychiatrist, said social media use can affect the age range named in Mayes’ lawsuit.
“So it’s like a continuous dopamine, dopamine, dopamine,” Dube said, “Children don’t have the self-control to be like OK, wait, I need to delay my gratification.”
Dube said she has talked with dozens of parents recently about impacts ranging from cyberbullying to a decrease in self-esteem and sleep deprivation.
She says the reason for the focus on TikTok has to do with the format of the social media platform.
“Like with Instagram it’s still kind of like little stories, there is some written stuff, but TikTok is very much straight video,” Dube said.
The format is something experts claim provides uninterrupted dopamine, leading to a more addictive format for pre-teens to use, according to local advocates both in and outside the classroom
Georgina Monsalvo, campaign director for Stand for Children Arizona, said 36% of Arizona high school students report persistent sadness or hopelessness, which she said could be tied to social media and cell phones.
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It has led parents like Dube to delay giving her sixth-grade student a cell phone.
“The addictive nature of social media is what we are concerned about, so as a parent I am not giving her a cell phone,” Dube said.
Schools consider cell phone policies
Some local school districts, like the Catalina Foothills Unified School District, have implemented cell phone policies in response, an effort Stand for Children Arizona has supported.
“Encouraging school districts to implement a full bell-to-bell ban because we know passing periods and lunchtime, things are happening there, and we want to encourage kids to socialize,” Monsalvo said.
Dube said it remains unclear what the lawsuit will mean for the social media platform in Arizona, but in the meantime parents play a role in keeping their children safe.
“We have to remember as parents we are guides and we are not always their friends, but we really have to be their guides, and that’s our job,” Dube said.
Mayes’ lawsuit focuses on TikTok’s algorithm and alleges the platform does not shield children from age-inappropriate content or adequately ban children under 13 from using the platform.
13 News has reached out to TikTok for comment, but we have not received a response as of 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9.
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