Gender could play decisive role in landmark L.A. social media addiction suit

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Ladies of the jury dabbed their eyes, sniffling as the 20-year-old on the witness stand described the hours she’d spent trying to fix her face before appearing in court that morning — her view of herself irreparably warped by what she characterized as a decade of addiction to YouTube and Instagram.“Whenever I got a bunch of likes I was really happy, and it made me feel really good about myself,” said the woman, known in court as Kaley G.M.

“If I didn’t, I would feel insecure, like I looked ugly.” One alternate juror wept openly during the testimony in Los Angeles County Superior Court, wiping her tears on her sweater.Kaley’s lawsuit is a test case chosen from among hundreds alleging that social media apps were designed to snare young kids and keep them hooked.

But it’s her Los Angeles jury that will set the stakes for thousands of suits still to come, making this one of the corporate world’s most closely watched legal battles.And as the landmark trial closes out its first month, gender has emerged as a dividing — and perhaps decisive — factor in the case.

Kaley, the first plaintiff ever to reach trial in a case seeking to hold platforms liable for alleged harms to children, said she became addicted to social media as a grade-schooler and has struggled for more than a decade.She charges the apps left her with anxiety, depression and body dysmorphia — a pathologically distorted self-perception, most prevalent in girls, that a growing body of research has linked to social platforms.

“Every single day I was on it, all day long,” the Chico, Calif., woman said Thursday, her voice tremulous and her cheeks flushed to the color of her rose maxi dress.“I can’t [stop], it’s just too hard to be without it, and every time I’ve tried to stop I’ve just been unsuccessful.” California In the absence of meaningful access to care, an old superstition h...