By Jodi Grant and Delaney Ruston

The calls to protect our kids from the harms caused by social media are intensifying. The Surgeon General issued an unprecedented call to put warning labels on social media platforms. Los Angeles’s Unified school District, the second largest school district in the country,  announced a ban on cell phones in schools, to begin next January. California Gov. Newsom and Virginia Gov. Youngkin are proposing the same in their states. New York just became the first state to prohibit social media platforms from offering addictive social media feeds to young people. Utah revised its laws limiting children’s access to social media to help survive legal challenges. Congress is considering numerous measures to protect kids from the harms social media can cause.

Confronted with mounting evidence that, as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says, “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” officials are taking action. That’s important, welcome and, most would agree, overdue.

But there’s something else we could be doing to give children and youth alternatives to spending hours each day on social media: Make the afterschool programs that engage and educate them, filling those otherwise-idle hours with constructive activities, available to all.

We’re far from that now. Today in the United States, for every child in an afterschool program, four more are waiting to get in. Some 24.7 million children not in an afterschool program would be enrolled, if a program were available to them. That’s the highest number ever recorded. Ninety percent of parents rate the quality of the afterschool program their child attends as excellent or very good and, in a 2020 survey, 85% said afterschool programs help reduce their kids’ unproductive screen time.

Yet, there aren’t nearly enough of these programs and the shortage is sure to get worse as pandemic relief funds wind down. Fewer afterschool and summer learning programs mean more children and youth at home, too often resorting to screens as babysitters. For Black and Hispanic teens, social media use is especially high. 

As the Screenager’s documentary shows, while overuse of social media is a problem for all children, those without access to afterschool activities or programs are even more likely to spend their afternoons on a screen.

The alternative afterschool programs offer is powerful and has been shown to support positive youth development. A 2020 Search Institute study found that young people in out-of-school time (OST) programs develop strong relationships with program staff. They said programs make them feel welcome and they see programs as accepting and supportive of youth from different cultures and backgrounds. Youth in the study were more likely to build supportive relationships in their afterschool programs than in other places – and youth who reported having strong relationships had higher self-rated social and emotional competencies, including self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and relationship skills.  

There’s also a wealth of data showing that children and youth in afterschool programs are less likely to participate in other inappropriate behaviors. In one example, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America 2022 National Youth Outcomes report found that Club participants in grades 9 - 12 were more likely than other high schoolers to have abstained from substance use, including vaping (83 percent vs. 64 percent) and marijuana use (83 percent vs. 75 percent). Other research confirms these positive outcomes are long-lasting; a 2022 study found that those who participated in organized afterschool activities at ages 15 and 18 were less likely to abuse substances at age 26 while unsupervised time with peers after school increased the chance that they would binge drink and use marijuana at age 26.

We think the best way to protect our children from the dangers associated with social media is, as they say, “yes and.” Yes, we need to consider all the warnings and strategies that hold the promise of progress. And we also need to provide alternatives – the kind of rich, engaging, hands-on learning opportunities quality afterschool programs provide.

This common sense solution is at risk, though. As pandemic relief for afterschool programs winds down, our country needs to step up. Leaders at the national, state and local levels need to do more to ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to attend high-quality afterschool programs. School boards and districts should partner and contract with local community groups, museums, libraries, and businesses to create exciting, engaging places for students to be when the school day ends. 

This common sense, cost efficient solution is a win for our children and youth, our working parents, and our communities. 

Jodi Grant is executive director of the Afterschool Alliance. Delaney Ruston is a primary care physician and creator of three Screenagers movies.