Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts

Webinar Recording Now Available: Social Media & Our Youth

November 7, 2024

The recording and slides are now available from our November 1st webinar, Social Media & Our Youth, featuring Dr. Jill Walsh, Sociology Professor at Boston University and Founder of Digital Aged, and Liza Hirsch, Director of the Children’s Justice Unit at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. National conversations around social media safety and mental health have intensified, with 42 state attorneys general calling for a Surgeon General warning label. In this webinar we covered the evolving landscape of social media and its influence on young people, potential benefits and risks, the role of parents and educators in promoting healthy usage, implications of the proposed Surgeon General warning, strategies for addressing social media-related challenges, as well efforts underway by the Office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

Speaker Bios

  • Jill Walsh is a Sociology professor at Boston University. She is also the founder of Digital Aged, a consulting group that educates students, families, and educational institutions about positive technology use. She earned a PhD in Sociology from Boston University, a Masters in Public Policy from Brown University and a B.A from Harvard University. Before going to graduate school, she taught 9th-12th grades at an independent school in the Boston area. Her research looks at the way that digital media use impacts psychosocial well-being and development. Her book Adolescents and their Social Media Narratives: A Digital Coming of Age was published in 2017 and she publishes academic research on youth development and emerging media. Her research interests include social media and identity work, parasocial relationships, and the links between technology and mental health.
  • Liza Hirsch is the Director of the Children’s Justice Unit at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office where she works to advance justice and equity for Massachusetts children and youth through civil investigations, litigation, policy, and community engagement. She is a member of the AGO team working to address the impacts of social media on youth mental health. Prior to joining the AGO, Liza was a Senior Attorney at Massachusetts Advocates for Children, where she provided representation to low-income families in special education and school discipline matters and directed a program on disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. She previously worked as a manager in the Holyoke Public Schools, and as a Skadden Fellow/Staff Attorney at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and at Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston where she represented homeless and low-income families in housing and shelter matters. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law.


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