By Dan Sullivan, U.S. State Senator for Alaska
Dear Alaskan,
I’m writing to you about an issue I hear about in every corner of our state: the growing crisis in children’s mental health, and how the online world is affecting it.
The statistics are deeply concerning. Suicide rates among young people have risen dramatically in recent years, more than 60 percent since 2007, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the same time, indicators of poor mental health, specifically among teenage girls, have surged, with nearly 60 percent reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2021—an alarming increase over the past decade.
What’s driving this? There are many factors. But I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that these trends accelerated alongside the rapid expansion of social media and the growing amount of time our kids spend online.
In July 2023, I hosted the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, in Anchorage to hold a series of town hall-style roundtables—as well as a Facebook Live discussion—to discuss the mental health crisis among our youth, how social media impacts that crisis, and how we can unite our resources to combat it. Hundreds of Alaska mental health experts, parents, youth, public officials, Alaska Native and non-profit leaders, attended and shared insights and possible solutions.
That work helped lead to the Senate’s recent unanimous passage of the Advancing Digital Support (ADS) for Mental Health Services Act—legislation I introduced to bring greater transparency and accountability to social media platforms. The ADS for Mental Health Act requires platforms to report on their targeted advertising and encourages them to dedicate a portion of that advertising space to mental health public service announcements and community-based resources. If these platforms are going to reach our kids every day, they should also be part of the solution.
This builds on broader efforts I’ve supported, including the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA 2.0), to give parents significantly more control over what their kids are allowed to see online and hold platforms accountable for harmful content.
These are positive steps, but we need to do more. Solving this crisis requires coordination across schools, health care providers, and community organizations. I supported the legislation that established the 9-8-8 national suicide and mental health crisis hotline and continue to back efforts to expand telehealth resources so that distance is not a barrier to getting help. Prevention remains central to all of this work. More than 90 percent of individuals who attempt suicide have a treatable underlying condition—meaning that, with the right support at the right time, lives can be saved.
We are also confronting another urgent and growing threat to our young people: fentanyl. Increasingly, illegal drug dealers are using online platforms to target kids, often disguising deadly substances as something harmless. That’s why I launched the “One Pill Can Kill – Alaska” campaign and worked to strengthen prevention and education efforts so that every family understands the risks.
There is nothing more important than protecting our kids. We can have the strongest economy and the best quality of life in the world, but none of that means anything if our kids are addicted, depressed, or considering ending their lives.
Solving this crisis will take all of us—parents, educators, Alaska Native leaders, health professionals, and policymakers—working together. By expanding access to care, strengthening prevention, and bringing greater accountability to the digital spaces our kids inhabit, we can begin to turn the tide on this crisis.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and ideas on how we can better support Alaska’s families and protect the next generation. For more information on my work to combat this crisis, visit my website at www.sullivan.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Dan Sullivan
United States Senator
