GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — "We know these are serious issues," State Representative Mark Tisdel (R-Rochester Hills) told 13 ON YOUR SIDE in a Wednesday interview. "The question is, how serious do we become, you know, in addressing these issues."
Those issues Tisdel is hoping to tackle through a bill he introduced earlier this month have to do with the amount of access those under the age of 18 have to social media.
Here in Michigan, he believes the solution comes through increased parental oversight.
"It's just common sense," he said.
And recent concerns from parents seem to support his own.
A national University of Michigan Health poll from just last year showed the top child health concern among parents who answered was the overuse of devices and screen time, followed right behind by social media and internet safety.
"If I came to you and said, 'I've got this great digital platform that will allow your 14-year-old daughter to communicate with men all over the world, 24 hours a day without your knowledge, simply sign here,' no one's going to go for that," Tisdel said.
Some social media platforms already require account holders to be over the age of 13, and some have moved to secure teens' accounts through guardrails such as restricting messaging from outside accounts with whom the teens are not already connected on the platform. Others allow the teens to opt in to parental supervision of their accounts.
Tisdel, however, wants to go further.
Among other things, the provisions bill calls for a requirement that a parent or guardian sign off on Michigan minors having accounts. The parent would receive a password or other access to the account and would be able to view posts and messages responses. They would also be able to set limits on the hours per day that their minor can use it.
Minors also would not be able to use the accounts between 10:30 at night and 6:30 in the morning.
"That's all I'm asking is that, if ultimately the parents and legal guardians are going to be responsible for their child's outcomes, you give them the authority to impact those outcomes," Tisdel said.
But whether the legislature will take up Tisdel's new bill is still an open question, given that the end of the year is approaching and other lawmakers are already calling for the legislature to use these last few months to tackle separate issues.
"If not, it's in the works," Tisdel said. "The language is there, you know, it's a priority that I can carry over to the next term, and we'll take it from there."