Luz Rivas — Referenced as having reminded the committee that one in four men under 30 have no close friends.
Luz Rivas — California is cited as one of the states that introduced legislation to regulate loot boxes in 2018.
Luz Rivas — Chair Valencia is acknowledged for her leadership of the committee’s work and thanked for convening the important conversation.
Mr. Bardouche — The chair announces the next witness will be Mr. Bardouche.
Vihon Bardwaj — Vihon Bardwaj, representing Generation Up, opens his testimony by saying he will draw on his own lived experience and that of his peers to discuss three areas of concern. He argues that the technologies young people use every day are harming their lives, with particular impact on young men, and that tech companies profit from youth vulnerability. He then begins a personal example about first using Instagram as part of that broader testimony.
Dr. Kay — Describes how social media algorithms targeted his insecurities during puberty, especially around acne, and made him feel at fault.
Dr. Kay — Explains that targeted ads and content worsened his acne-related insecurity and argues that young people cannot reasonably be expected to resist expert-designed manipulation.
Dr. Kay — Describes fitness content as another form of entrapment for adolescent boys, especially because it presents unrealistic muscular ideals.
Dr. Kay — Argues that influencer-driven fitness content leads young men to waste attention and buy unsafe products while adopting unrealistic ideals.
Dr. Kay — Says social media exploits genuine interests and insecurities to create fear, anxiety, and comparison, with young men experiencing harms in intensified ways.
Dr. Kay — Argues that young men lack positive role models and that celebrated men rarely model patience, humility, emotional honesty, or care for others.
Dr. Kay — Says platforms reward certainty and contempt, despite public claims about diversity and inclusion, and that harmful content contributes to racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and homophobia among young men.
Dr. Kay — Links harmful online content to rising prejudice and to damage in real-world relationships, then transitions to social isolation as another vulnerability.
Dr. Kay — Says toxic masculinity discourages male friendship and emotional openness, making AI chat systems especially appealing despite their unreliability.
Dr. Kay — Warns that AI systems can reinforce existing beliefs and misinform users, then transitions to the stakes of reduced pathways for young men.
Dr. Kay — Describes how repeated negative messaging can cause young men to withdraw from participation and conclude that some futures are unavailable to them.
Dr. Kay — Says the effects of digital harm show up later in enrollment, disengagement, and young men being out of school and work, after choices were shaped years earlier online.
Dr. Kay — Concludes that the problem should be addressed through policy rather than by placing the burden on individual adolescents.
Dr. Kay — The chair thanks the witness and notes the importance of hearing from his generation before introducing Dr. Kay as the next speaker.
Dr. Kay — Introduces himself online, thanks the committee, and says he personally lived through the challenges facing young men and boys.
Dr. Kay — Shares his own history of video game addiction, poor academic performance, and a long path through college.
Dr. Kay — Explains his path from college to monkhood to medical school and psychiatry, focusing on technology addiction.
Dr. Kay — Says technology is changing rapidly and that the burden of dealing with its addictive nature falls mostly on individuals and parents.
Dr. Kay — Continues testimony about technology addiction, emphasizing the scale of corporate efforts to maximize engagement and the burden on parents.
Dr. Kay — Says his parents had to restrict his technology use and argues parents today are more outgunned by technology than in the past.
Dr. Kay — Argues that inherited parenting skills are no longer sufficient because modern technology is fundamentally different and highly addictive.
Dr. Kay — Explains that he began teaching about video game addiction on Twitch.tv as part of his effort to combat the problem.
Dr. Kay — Says his Twitch stream unexpectedly became the fastest-growing stream on the platform during COVID.
Dr. Kay — Frames the committee's work around purposelessness, disconnection, and addiction in young men, and says most young men want healthy relationships instead of pornography.
Dr. Kay — Says Healthy Gamer focuses on providing help and large-scale solutions, and references Chair Valencia's point about changing the approach to the problem.
Dr. Kay — Argues for a macroscopic shift in how the problem is viewed and says mental health is more than treating mental illness.
Dr. Kay — Says mental illness is often treated pharmacologically and that medication and psychotherapy both have roles.
Dr. Kay — Says many young men do not primarily need therapy for a diagnosis, but are struggling with purposelessness and directionlessness that manifest as addiction.
Dr. Kay — Explains that addiction and depression can stem from transdiagnostic factors such as isolation, and says Healthy Gamer develops interventions.
Dr. Kay — Says Healthy Gamer develops education and intervention programs and cites a New York study showing improved grades from social and emotional skills training.
Dr. Kay — Argues that teaching emotions and socialization can improve academics and says these skills are taught through YouTube and Discord events.
Dr. Kay — Gives an example of practicing social skills by holding a Valentine's Day event where people practiced asking someone out.
Dr. Kay — Says emotional awareness, emotional processing, and emotional quotient are skills that can be built and are part of the needed approach for young men.
Dr. Kay — Continues testimony on young men needing different skills, social skills atrophy, and rising addiction rates.
Dr. Kay — Says purpose and connection are the antidotes to addiction and explains the importance of having a reason why to overcome addiction.
Dr. Kay — Cites a coaching program result showing increased purpose or direction by 68% at 20 weeks.
Dr. Kay — Continues arguing for preventive strategies and interventions targeting root factors.
Dr. Kay — Thanks the committee for addressing the problem and says the session gives him hope.
Dr. Kay — Concludes by thanking the committee and saying collaboration has been lacking.
Dr. Kay — The speaker asks a follow-up question about pornography and parenting.
Dr. Kay — Referenced as part of the discussion on addiction, research, and online harms.
Dr. Kay — Cited for the point that the mental health impacts are real.
Dr. Kay — Invited to respond to the question about what more can be done besides banning gambling-like mechanics.
Dr. Kay — Explains that solutions should operate at multiple levels: research, lived experience, clinical practice, parenting, and education.
Dr. Kay — Argues that schools should prepare children for a changing world and that public health education about gambling is important.