Julie Scelfo is a former New York Times journalist, media ecologist, and Founder of Mother’s Against Media Addiction (MAMA), a grassroots movement of parents fighting back against media addiction to create a world where real life experiences remain at the heart of childhood. Here is her testimony regarding two bills before the Assembly Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee.

My name is Julie Scelfo, and I am a longtime journalist, a mom of three, and the Founder of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA). I am testifying today in support of the New Jersey Kids Code Act (A4015) and the Social Media Mental Health Warnings Act (A4013).

MAMA is a grassroots movement of parents and allies fighting back against media addiction and creating a world where real-life experience and interactions remain at the heart of a healthy childhood.

Kids in New Jersey, and across the country, are being harmed by social media platforms that have been designed to addict. This addiction has created a national emergency in youth mental health.

I started MAMA after reporting on growing rates of suicide – not just in teens, but in tweens. Today, more 10 to 14 year-olds die by suicide in the U.S. than from every form of cancer combined.

For more than a decade, we’ve also seen elevated rates of youth anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders and more. Attention spans are falling, while reading and math scores go down. And the effects on our families, communities, and future workforce are profound.

As social media companies’ own internal documents show, these problems did not happen by chance. They were the result of intentional algorithm design choices and data practices picked to maximize profit.

In 2025 alone, Meta reported more than 52.4 million posts on Instagram and Facebook that encouraged suicide, self-injury, or eating disorders. So a modest estimate is that kids are exposed to over 50 million pieces of dangerous, unhealthy content on those platforms annually. Is it a surprise kids are suffering? Of course not.

Today, you have the power to do something about this urgent crisis.

The proposed legislation to implement the Age-Appropriate Design Code, known as the “Kids Code,” in New Jersey would legally obligate social media companies to take steps that protect technology’s most vulnerable users: our children. That includes no longer using their platforms’ most addictive design features to target minors and requiring the highest level of privacy protections for children by default.

The Social Media Mental Health Warnings Act would ensure that New Jersey parents have accurate information about the risks these platforms pose to their children. If a tech product being marketed to kids is unsafe for kids, families absolutely need to know.

Kids deserve to be safe. That’s why there are laws that ensure cribs and car seats are manufactured to certain standards, and that vehicles include seatbelts. By law, we don’t allow kids to purchase liquor, buy cigarettes, or visit casinos. Why should we allow social media companies to serve addictive products to children unfettered?

Big Tech wants you to believe that implementing standards to ensure their products are safe would somehow stall innovation, violate free speech or put marginalized groups at risk.

Don’t fall for it.

As a longtime journalist, you won’t find anyone who values free speech more. And I’m here to say these companies have the same responsibility as any other company.

Keeping kids safe online is something all parents want, and something this elected body can do now by voting to enact these critically needed pieces of legislation. Don’t wait for more New Jersey children and families to suffer harm that is preventable.

On behalf of MAMA parents across New Jersey, I want to share our deep gratitude to Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney, Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul, Assemblyman Cody Miller, and Assemblywoman Mitchelle Drulis for introducing these bills – and to Assemblymen Chris Tully and Balvir Singh for their Committee leadership.

Thank you for this opportunity and for putting our children’s safety ahead of tech company profits.