Parental Social Media Monitoring Bill In State Assembly This Week

A bill giving parents the ability to monitor their kids’ social media usage will be presented in the Wisconsin Assembly this week.  The measure from Howard Representative David Steffen proposes parental controls for social media accounts started by their children under the age of 18.  Among those restraints would be an overnight “sleep mode” prohibiting online activity, an ability for parental monitoring of  the account, and restricting non-friend users from messaging their kids.  Steffen says he connects the decline of youth mental health and a rise in anxiety and depression to social media use.  The bill is similar to a law put in effect in March in Utah.