Can new rules -- and $18 billion -- protect kids from digital addiction?

Meta will pay $18 billion to settle lawsuits charging it knowingly addicted children to its social-media content. In addition, the company will limit teenagers to two hours day on Instagram and Facebook, limit usage between midnight and 6 am and silence notifications during school hours of 8 am to 3 pm. There will no more beauty filters and "like" counts, and age verification and parental control tools will be improved. (Enough to stop young digital addicts? Probably not.)

It's good news for children's mental health, but it's not enough, writes Emily Cherkin on The Free Press. She doubts that the agreement will "deliver effective safeguards for children."

Tech companies make money by getting users' attention, she writes. "While establishing time limits, disabling likes, and reducing notifications might add a little friction to children’s use of Meta products, it will not stop them from using Meta’s products in the first place, nor will it stop Meta from trying to get them to do so." The addictive algorithms will remain.

Furthermore, social media is everywhere -- including at school.

"The problem goes beyond the phones in children’s pockets; overwhelming research shows that we must now also worry about the laptops in their backpacks," Cherkin writes. "Thirty-nine U.S. states now have some form of policy in place to limit student phone use at schools, but nearly 90 percent of American public schools provide children with personal, internet-connected laptops or tablets."

Parents who spent their children’s early years delaying screen use or smartphone access are now sending their 5-year-olds off to schools where they spend much of their days staring at computers.

EdTech companies have the same business model as Meta. "Children’s engagement with the apps drives profits," she writes. "EdTech is Big Tech in a sweater vest."

Parents should "delay access to digital products at home, and model healthier technology use for our children," writes Cherkin, who's the author of a parenting guide called The Screentime Solution. But families can't do it alone. "We must also turn our focus to the internet-connected devices many children are using all day at school."

Spend the Meta money to fund real life, writes Elizabeth Gaines of the Children’s Funding Project  on The 74. The agreement "mentions funding for solutions, from youth programs to sports and dance, but not at the scale or scope of the harm that social media platforms have done."

Young people want "more places to gather with friends and caring adults to talk to," she writes. They crave "relationships, sports, music, books, movement, nature, counseling and places where they felt connected." They want after-school programs and recreation centers and arts programs, career exploration and apprenticeships.

States will get billions of dollars to support children's mental health. "Large-scale lawsuit payouts can either create lasting change or get lost in the political and economic shuffle," Gaines writes. My translation: Politicians will be tempted to plug budget holes, reward friends in the non-profit sector or just piss it away.