Save Korean youths from the digital onslaught

Teens who use social media for more than three hours a day double their risk of depression.

Oh Se-jungThe author is a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Seoul National University and former president of SNU. Crimes using deepfake technology have recently become a social issue both at home and abroad. Creating pornographic images with real faces of women by using artificial intelligence (AI) technology and spreading them on social media have caused indescribable pain to the victims. And yet, this kind of crime is the most extreme and rampant in Korea.

According to a U.S. cybersecurity company, 53 percent of the victims of the sexually exploitative deepfakes distributed globally in July and August last year were Korean women. This is likely a result of the country’s well-developed internet infrastructure, quick adaptation of new technologies and the lack of a system to investigate and punish cyber sexual crimes.

As AI technology improves, fake news also floods through social media. In particular, we are witnessing cases in which fake news are used by some people to threaten the fairness of elections.

As the serious negative effects of digital civilization were revealed, countries around the world have begun taking legal measures. In Europe, for example, the Digital Services Act has been in effect since February this year, making platform companies responsible for preventing the spread of illegal and harmful contents and fake news.

In a lawsuit against TikTok filed by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who died attempting a viral “blackout challenge,” a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia recently upheld the company’s liability for allowing the deadly content on its service. In Korea, bills against deepfake crimes have been belatedly submitted to the National Assembly.

Laws and systems to prevent and punish digital crimes should be put in place quickly. But the side effects of digital civilization are not limited to cybercrimes. Its impact on the mental health of young people is especially serious. In his recently punished book “The Anxious Generation,” American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt noted that the frequency of depression among Western teenagers increased by 2.5 times in the early 2010s, regardless of their race and social class, largely due to smartphones and social media.

The U.S. health authorities have also weighed in on the social media mental health crisis among youngsters. Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the Surgeon General of the United States, wrote in the New York Times in June that it’s time to require mandatory health warnings on social media, just like those on cigarette packs. He also argued that social media should limit push notifications and autoplay features that affect young people’s developing brains and encourage overuse. Of course, given the power of big tech companies, it is unlikely that Dr. Murthy’s proposals will be adopted immediately. But the United States also had a history of the surgeon general successfully placing health warnings on cigarette packs despite strong lobbying from tobacco companies.

In response to Dr. Murthy’s proposal, the attorney generals of 41 U.S. states sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to quickly pass legislation that would require social media to carry a warning that it is harmful to youngsters’ health.

Several governments around the world have also taken action to protect young people from social media addiction. For instance, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albright recently announced he will propose a bill later this year to ban children from opening social media accounts and that the age limit will be 14 to 16 years old.

But Korea is doing nothing although the country is expected to have the most serious smartphone and social media addiction among teenagers globally. According to a recent survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency, four out of 10 Korean teenagers are at risk of smartphone overdependence. Furthermore, one out of four children aged 3 to 9 are at risk.

The amount of time Korean teens spend on their smartphones varies depending on researchers, but some estimates put it at 4.7 hours a day during the week and 6.6 hours on weekends. According to the American Medical Association, teens who use social media for more than three hours a day double their risk of depression, implying that the mental health of Korean teenagers is being seriously threatened. It is time to take action quickly.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.