DeKalb school district reveals $4M social media addiction problem

The DeKalb County School District has spent over $4.3 million trying to remedy the harm caused by its students’ addiction to social media and will need much more money to keep up the fight, it has revealed in court filings.

The district urged a federal judge Friday to let its lawsuit against TikTok, Meta, Snap, YouTube and associated companies go before a jury in Atlanta. It pushed back against the companies’ argument that their social media platforms aren’t the cause of the district’s problems.

DeKalb’s school district, the third largest in Georgia, said its teachers spend 10-20% of their time in class dealing with social media distractions. It filed documents Friday showing its 91,000 students increasingly feel anxious, depressed, isolated and worthless, allegedly because of their addiction to social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram.

“In addition to mental health support personnel, DeKalb needs additional spaces to provide mental health services,” the district said, adding it would hire more psychologists and social workers if it had the funds.

DeKalb is one of hundreds of school districts nationwide that filed lawsuits alleging the social media companies designed their products to be addictive to young people to increase profits. Those complaints are among more than 2,000 similar cases that have been consolidated before a federal judge in California.

Davis Vaughn, an attorney for the DeKalb school district, said it and others were targeted by the companies to get more young people hooked on their apps. He said the district had to divert educational resources to address the widespread disruption caused by students’ social media addiction.

“Social media is the leading cause of issues that DeKalb is seeing in terms of preventing it from succeeding with its educational mission,” Vaughn told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

DeKalb County School District is the third largest and most diverse school district in Georgia. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

DeKalb is one of six school districts and the only one in Georgia to have its case selected for trial. But the defendant companies, including Google and Facebook, are trying to get the case thrown out before a jury can hear it.

The companies said the DeKalb district’s problems stem in part from its dysfunctional administration and the fact that more than 75% of its 138 schools and centers are considered “high poverty” by the state. They say the district has no evidence showing students’ use of their apps, and not other types of cell phone use, is to blame.

“At the same time, DeKalb has used Defendants’ platforms extensively to promote its own activities and connect with the community, including incorporating Defendants’ platforms into student outreach programs and encouraging students to utilize Defendants’ platforms in DeKalb sanctioned activities,” the companies wrote in a recent court filing.

Vaughn also represents the Georgia school districts for Clayton, Muscogee, Troup and Harris counties and the city of Marietta. He said the first of the six selected school district trials is scheduled to begin in May or June of 2026.

DeKalb is fifth in that line and its trial has not yet been scheduled, Vaughn said. He said DeKalb’s trial will be held in Georgia with the judge from California.

In its latest filing, the DeKalb school district said costs directly associated with social media addiction included more than $400,000 in the past school year for cell phone lockers and lockable pouches at some of its schools.

Vaughn said the district also had to spend time and money implementing social media guidelines and hosting associated events for students and their parents. He said its future costs to address the ongoing issue will be significant.

“This is not a problem that is going to go away overnight,” he said.

An expert hired by plaintiffs in the litigation recommended the DeKalb school district implement a 15-year plan to address social media addiction.