Funding goes to support research program on technology and media’s effects on infants, children, and adolescents

Washington (March 28, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) applauded that the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations package included $15 million for their Children and Media Research Advancement (CAMRA) Act, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that Congress passed into law in December 2022. The CAMRA Act directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Department of Health and Human Services to lead a research program on technology and media’s effects on infants, children, and adolescents in core areas of cognitive, physical, and socio-emotional development. With the 2023 Fiscal Year omnibus package including $15 million for Senator Markey and Representative Raskin’s CAMRA Act, $30 million will now be dedicated to this critical research initiative.

“As kids and teens spend more and more time staring at screens, it’s time for clear, scientific evidence that exposes Big Tech’s harmful impact on young people,” said Senator Markey. “The $15 million for the CAMRA Act will put the knowledge – and in turn, the power – into the hands of young people and their parents so that they can protect their health, safety, and wellbeing online.”

“This funding will ensure that the National Institutes of Health, entrusted with leading this critical research initiative, have the resources necessary to facilitate research on youth technology use and screen time,” said Representative Raskin. “This new research will empower parents, caregivers, educators and policymakers to improve the wellbeing of our kids.”

The CAMRA Act would commission research to investigate the impact of exposure to and use of media and technologies such as mobile devices, computers, social media, online applications, websites, television, motion pictures, artificial intelligence, video games, and virtual and augmented reality.

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