New Hampshire teenagers’ views on social media might surprise you.
A new civics essay contest run by the New Hampshire Bar Association offered a glimpse into the issue, inviting students to weigh in on whether the government should be able to regulate social media for minors.
The four students who won the contest agreed on two things: Students should have free speech rights to post what they want, and it's reasonable to limit what they see. But they split on how to do that.
Kendra Jozokos, a Salem High School senior who won first place — and a $5,000 check — said the government should require social media companies to enforce strict age limits.
“It would be so much more safer than just saying, ‘Oh, you're the parent, you do it,’ ” Jozokos said. “I just believe…no matter how hard (parents) try, the child will always get around it if that's what they really want to do.”
She cited seven U.S. Supreme Court cases in her essay but also relied on personal experience.
“When I was younger, I definitely saw some things that I shouldn't have seen on social media,” she said last week, after an award ceremony at the New Hampshire Supreme Court. “And it wasn't like I went looking for it. It just appeared on my feed, and my mom had parental controls all over my phone.”
Eva Piacentini, a Bedford High School junior who tied for third, said social media companies have some but not the sole responsibility to protect minors from inappropriate content. She said cyberbullying and misleading AI content on social media pose the biggest threats.
“We should focus less on the government regulating it and focus more on encouraging parents to really look out for their children,” she said.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte and state lawmakers have proposed restricting students' access to cell phones in class. Both Jozokos and Piacentini support the idea — their schools already do that. But they cautioned against banning cell phones from schools altogether, citing the risk of school violence.
“Being able to say, I love you or like goodbye to your parents, like it's heartbreaking, but it shouldn't be taken away from you because of the few kids that sit on their phone and don't do anything at all in class,” Jozokos said.
More than 120 students entered the New Hampshire Bar Foundation’s inaugural civics essay contest. Other winners included Addyson Kimball, a Merrimack Valley High School senior, and Benjamin Hourdequin, a junior at Hanover High School.
New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald congratulated the students at last week’s ceremony. He said the essays — and the students who wrote them — inspired him.
“They give us hope. They give us confidence for the future,” MacDonald said. “Do we need all of that right now? Yes we do. Attacks on basic norms, including the essential need for an independent judiciary, are on the rise and growing louder.”
