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Amy Shearer lives in Newburgh. She is the mother of Julia “Frog” Shearer.
To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
My daughter, Julia, was 18 years old. We called her Frog. She was artistic and loved being outside in nature, camping, and exploring new places in Maine off the Golden Road. She always felt the most herself when caring for her animals and was always trying to expand our family by rescuing any creature in need. But social media changed all of that for her.
Social media consumed Frog’s attention, and she quickly became addicted. She secluded herself in her room and lost interest in her farm family, her hobbies, and being with friends. Frog became severely depressed and began missing school, often walking around like a zombie who couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. Tragically, Frog took her own life and posted her suicide on social media.
It wasn’t until I lost her that I realized how many hidden social media apps were flooding her with content glorifying self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide. I thought that being online would help Frog connect with friends, but little did I know that being on social media was like inviting predators right into her very own room.
Recently, the Senate Commerce Committee passed online child safety legislation out of committee, sending it to the full Senate for a vote. Critically, this legislation requires tech companies like Meta, Google, and other platforms to design safer products by law while protecting parents’ rights to fight for all kids in court by filing cases against Big Tech. Now that the bill is headed to the floor, Sen. Susan Collins has a chance to prevent other families from experiencing what our family experienced. I hope she takes it.
Judges in California and New Mexico forced the biggest tech companies in the world to finally turn over internal company information, giving parents and the American public a glimpse into how tech companies choose to manipulate kids rather than try and keep them safe. I was there at the courthouse in Los Angeles as the jury looked at that evidence and determined that Big Tech deliberately built apps designed to target and addict children and young people. Now, it’s Congress’ turn to act.
That is why what legal rights Congress says parents have in the Senate’s Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is so important. What was once hypothetical has now been proven in court. But Meta has already said it will appeal the New Mexico verdict, and they are still trying to keep more internal Meta evidence from being unsealed.
The only way to protect parents’ ability to seek legal accountability for what these companies have done to our children is to make sure federal legislation protects states’ ability to pass stronger protections and preserves parents’ rights to file cases in court. Any bill that reaches the president’s desk should strengthen that accountability, not weaken it.
Sen. Collins has the power to ensure a strong version of KOSA passes the Senate and protects the progress families like mine are making in the courts. I put my name on a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee asking for this bill. I’m asking her to fight for the rights of parents and children across Maine by supporting the bill that passed through the Commerce Committee with unanimous, bipartisan support. For the sake of America’s kids, do not let Big Tech weaken the bill.
Frog’s future was taken from her. She was two weeks away from high school graduation when she took her own life and was planning to attend college in the fall to study marine biology. I can’t undo what happened to Frog. But I can ask the people with the power to stop it from happening to someone else’s child.
Collins and her colleagues should vote for the bill that passed unanimously out of the committee — a bill that holds these companies responsible for making safer design decisions and preserves the rights of families like mine who are still fighting for accountability.