Tova Harris Blog Post #2 - The Teen Social Media and Internet Safety Act and its Potential for Curriculum Development

(courtesy of The Tennessee Conservative)

As a librarian in a public library, learning how to best navigate social media, teen information behaviors, and the language of safety and consent via data privacy and other inherent consequences of monetization methods used within social media, I found myself combing through any recent legislation within the United States that offered any attempts to look at digital literacy from this vantage point.

This search led me to the Teen Social Media and Internet Safety Act within Tennessee. 

The Teen Social Media and Internet Safety Act, introduced during the 114th Tennessee General Assembly (2023-2024), was introduced in the House by Representative William Lamberth in February of 2023. It was then referred to the Education Instruction Subcommittee, then moved through House and Senate committees, with a companion bill SB 0811, sponsored by Senator Jack Johnson, to the Senate whereby in April 2023 both were passed by the House and Senate will broad support. In May of 2023, it was signed into Tennessee law by Governor Bill Lee, and has been active since July 2023. 

Now what exactly did this act mandate? Well, most significantly, it mandated curriculum development via the Tennessee Department of Education, in creating instructional materials for grades 6-12 on the topics of social media safety, Internet safety and time management, evaluating online content (including identifying misinformation and AI-generated info), understanding how social media manipulates behavior, and the legal implications of posting/sharing harmful content.

While not specifically communicated in the language of this act, the topic of educating on the behavioral manipulation by social media platforms, this ties into the back-end of tracking and profiling that monetization creates in its tracking of online user behaviors. 

The groundbreaking approach of mandated vs. suggested curriculum development for this topic for all K-12 grade levels has the potential to begin a standardization of how we as educators, teach our students and patrons about safety, ads, algorithms, and online user behaviors (an even lesson plans on who owns your data?). While only existing in TN at this time, I'm excited for the potential and the purpose of such work and its inclusion and intentional framework centered around the understanding and consciousness around monetizing methods embedded within all social media platforms.