On the Meta Settlement
A message from the CEO of the MHLC, Annie Slease.
For years, we have seen the youth mental health crisis escalate with technology widely considered a significant contributing factor. Last week, Meta settled litigation claiming it designed its apps to be addictive to children despite their own understanding of the risks. With this landmark settlement, states have an incredible opportunity – over the course of 10 years – to make a generation-changing investment in youth mental health and wellbeing.
Never has our mission felt more urgent: to make the education framework of mental health literacy foundational in schools and communities.
Mental health literacy (MHL) provides knowledge and confidence about a critical topic that most of us never learned. According to leading MHL researchers, Wei and Kutcher, "With good mental health literacy, we learn how to take better care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. We are empowered and provided with the skills that we need to help us build better lives, better systems of care, and a better society."
What better foundation is there to ensure our next generation thrives?
With this settlement, The MHLC urges states to prioritize universal mental health literacy education in schools, equipping the next generation to understand, talk about, and care for their mental health. We stand ready to support states as they develop policies, build systems, and implement programs that fit their communities, and we look forward to celebrating stronger mental health literacy nationwide.
