______ Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9058 To require the Director of the National Institutes of Health to enter into a contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study addiction to and dependence on social media applica- tions, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 31, 2020 Mr. KENNEDY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To require the Director of the National Institutes of Health to enter into a contract with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study addic- tion to and dependence on social media applications, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘llllll Act of 4 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Jan 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9058.IH H9058 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9058 IH SEC. 2. NATIONAL ACADEMIES STUDY ON ADDICTION TO 1 OR DEPENDENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA APPLI- 2 CATIONS. 3 (a) STUDY.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 6 of the National Institutes of Health (in this section 7 referred to as the ‘‘Director’’), in consultation with 8 the Secretary of Health and Human Services and 9 the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission, shall 10 enter into a contract with the National Academies of 11 Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (in this section 12 referred to as the ‘‘National Academies’’) to conduct 13 a study on the clinical aspects of addiction or psy- 14 chological dependence of social media applications. 15 (2) TIMELINE.—In carrying out paragraph (1), 16 the Director shall require the National Academies by 17 the date that is 2 years after the date of enactment 18 of this Act— 19 (A) to complete the study under paragraph 20 (1); and 21 (B) to submit a report on the results of 22 such study to the Secretary of Health and 23 Human Services, the Director of the National 24 Institutes of Health, the Director of the Office 25 of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research of 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Jan 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9058.IH H9058 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9058 IH the National Institutes of Health, the Chair of 1 the Federal Trade Commission, the Chair of 2 the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the 3 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the 4 House or Representatives, and the Committee 5 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 6 the Senate. 7 (b) TOPICS OF STUDY.—The study described in this 8 subsection shall address the following topics: 9 (1) Whether use of social media applications re- 10 lease dopamine in a manner that could result in ad- 11 diction to such applications. 12 (2) The levels of dopamine released during use 13 of such applications and the rate of such release. 14 (3) The level and rate of dopamine release that 15 may increase the likelihood of addiction to such ap- 16 plications. 17 (4) The areas of the brain that are stimulated 18 when using such applications and what happens to 19 such areas. 20 (5) Whether use of such applications can result 21 in addiction. 22 (6) Whether addiction to such applications is 23 more likely among certain age groups. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Jan 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9058.IH H9058 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9058 IH (7) Why individuals would become addicted to 1 such applications. 2 (8) Whether there are common features or 3 functions of such applications that cause addiction 4 to such applications without physical dependence. 5 (9) Whether there is an amount of usage of 6 such applications that affects the likelihood of addic- 7 tion to such applications. 8 (10) Whether there are other risk factors that 9 increase or decrease the likelihood of addiction to 10 such applications. 11 (11) The symptoms of addiction to or depend- 12 ence on such applications. 13 (12) Whether there are withdrawal symptoms 14 when an addicted or dependent individual stops 15 usage of such applications. 16 (13) Whether use of such applications nega- 17 tively impacts other mental health conditions. 18 (14) The threshold at which such application 19 can have an effect on other mental health conditions. 20 (15) Steps that may be taken to mitigate or re- 21 duce the likelihood of addiction to such applications. 22 (16) Areas of research, in the short term and 23 long term, that may be useful in the future. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Jan 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9058.IH H9058 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9058 IH (17) What can be applied from other addiction 1 situations, and approaches, to studying the topics 2 listed in this subsection. 3 (18) Such other topics relating to the clinical 4 aspects of addiction or psychological dependence of 5 social media applications as may be determined by 6 the National Academies. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:02 Jan 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9058.IH H9058 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS