UNH Today

In the face of unimaginable loss, and the exasperating early stages of what was shaping up to be a protracted battle to prevent similar tragedies, Kristin Bride ’91 found herself at an emotional crossroads.

Bride was reeling from the death of her 16-year-old son, Carson, who took his own life June 23, 2020, after being cyberbullied via the YOLO app integrated into Snapchat. YOLO advertised a policy that said it would reveal the identity of those who cyberbully and ban them from the app, Bride says, but she reached out to the company about her situation four times and failed to receive a response each time.

“Really at that point, I had a decision to make – do I accept this and just grieve quietly, or do I rip off the Band-Aid and go public?” Bride says. “I chose to be vocal about it.”

That could prove to be an historically significant fork in the road. Bride didn’t just speak out about what happened to Carson – she is fighting to prevent it from happening to anyone else. She has become one of the leading forces behind the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which this summer passed in the Senate by an overwhelming majority of 91-3 and is now slated to be taken up by the House.

KOSA is a bill aimed at protecting children from the harms of social media and online platforms. It would require social media companies to prevent and mitigate online harms like social media addiction and cyberbullying, as well as any algorithms promoting suicide, eating disorders, substance abuse and more.

According to the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all U.S. teens have experienced bullying or harrassment online. Time Magazine reports that between 2010 and 2019, teen depression rates doubled, with teenage girls seeing the largest spike (the article references a Center for Disease Control study that reports nearly one in three high school girls considered suicide in 2021, a 60% increase since 2011.)

Those sharp increases coincide with a significant rise in social media use — the Time article notes that by 2016, 90% of teen girls were using social media every day, and points to a pair of studies drawing distinct links between social media use and declining mental health among adolescents.

“There is a community that builds, because there are so many other families who have had these horrendous tragedies happen to them. When this all started, I felt very alone, but so many other parents have come forward with similar harms,” Bride says. “I really feel like we have developed a community with a common goal of getting federal legislation passed so this doesn’t happen to any other kids.”

Thanks to a surprise connection made through LinkedIn, Bride found an important partner in that quest in a fellow Wildcat. Jennifer Libby ’97 is the founder and CEO of Promly, a social organization focused on “providing holistic support and education for Gen Z in places they will naturally gravitate to, both online and offline.”

Libby was at an event when someone mentioned Bride’s name and encouraged the two of them to connect, and a quick LinkedIn search revealed that they shared not only a cause but an alma mater. Bride and Libby are united in their conviction that KOSA addresses an industry that has been significantly underregulated, particularly as more and more children are online at an earlier age.

Libby has spent more than 20 years as a therapist working with high-risk adolescents, so KOSA is a cause she was immediately able to connect with. Promly got involved in the process several years ago and has brought a significant advantage to the table – the power of the inclusion of young voices.

Promly was able to get youth representation formally included in federal policy – for the first time in U.S. history, Libby says – as the organization’s Gen Z team co-authored the Kids Advisory Council, a youth-included policy oversight guideline that Libby hopes could be replicated in future policies. In Libby’s eyes, given that these harms are impacting so many young people, who better to give a long overdue voice in the process.

“Our mission is about amplifying the youth voice, not just in this policy but in other policies in Washington, D.C.,” Libby says. “We’re looking at how we can create a long-term better future for young people around the globe. To me this is a double win, because we’re not just putting more critical guardrails in, we’re changing history – this is the first time in the United States that the under-25 voice has had a formal seat at the table in federal policy. And that’s pretty huge.”

“Some of the most powerful meetings we have had is when we have parent survivors in the same room with youth advocates, because in so many ways they can be the voice of our children who no longer have a voice,” Bride says. “It’s very, very powerful.”

The next step is attempting to push the bill officially over the finish line in the House. The bipartisan support shown in the 91-3 vote in the Senate took a lot of time and convincing to achieve, both Bride and Libby note, and achieving the same outcome in the House remains a daunting task (a July AP story noted that the bill’s “fate is less certain in the House,” though it went on to add “but President Biden has indicated he would sign it if it passes.”)

Bride and Libby are gearing up for the extensive conversations ahead with lawmakers that will be necessary to secure support of the bill.

“That’s where we have to put our boots on the ground in D.C. and really put some pressure on,” Libby says.

An earnest and emotional sharing of experiences from those who have been directly impacted by online and social media harms has been the approach that has garnered the strongest response thus far. Bride has openly shared the details of her family’s situation in order to shed light on the issue (she and other families have been featured in the New York Times, and Bride has also shared Carson’s story via podcast) and she says personal stories like hers are what have resonated most with lawmakers.

“What I’ve noticed is that our stories get attention – we’re not just talking about policy and the legislation, but we’re making it real for the legislators and their staffs to see the true impact of having absolutely no checks on this industry for 30 years,” Bride, who encourages those interested in offering their support for KOSA to reach out to their U.S. representative and ask them to co-sponsor the bill, says. “Realizing the power in our personal stories has been important.”

Libby plans to be right there with Bride as the battle continues and is grateful that she managed to connect with a fellow UNH graduate to advocate for what she believes is a vitally important cause.

“It’s kind of like the universe pulls people together knowing that they’re supposed to do the right thing,” Libby says.