Why Gov. Cox called social media ‘a cancer on our society right now’

Announcing that a suspect in the Charlie Kirk murder is in custody Friday morning, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox spoke earnestly about what he called “moral clarity,” “internet fury” and the need to disconnect from social media and devices and to connect instead with one another.

He called social media “a cancer on our society right now,” describing the murder as “one so gruesomely displayed on camera in all of our hands and in all of our pockets. We are not wired as human beings biologically; historically we have not evolved in a way that we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery.”

Nor is the viral sharing of Kirk being shot the only example, he said, noting “we’ve seen another one with a gruesome stabbing very recently that went viral. This is not good for us. It is not good to consume.”

Cox is encouraging people to “log off, turn off, touch grass. Hug a family member. Get out and do good in your community” and added that it’s already happening “organically right now,” citing a friend in a small Utah city who told him that Democrats and Republicans are getting together for a discussion “just to find a way to find their better angels.”

This is the moment, according to the governor, who asked whether those at odds politically would “escalate or do we find an off-ramp?” He called that “a choice that everyone gets to make.”

Harm from viewing violence

He’s not alone in his concerns, particularly for teens and young adults. The UK-based Youth Endowment Fund reported on a survey of 10,000 children ages 13 to 17 that showed 70% have encountered real-life violent content online in the past year. A quarter of violent content teenage children see is “pushed by social media platforms,” the group said.

Only 6% was seen because teens actively searched for it. Most of it came to them through “newsfeed, stories and ‘for you’” recommendations.

While some worry that removing violence would amount to censorship, there are mental health experts who believe it’s a matter of protecting people, who don’t gain anything, but could be traumatized or otherwise harmed by the content.

Don Grant, a Los Angeles-area psychologist, author and researcher, who specializes in technology’s impact on mental health, told Deseret News this week that he believes all images of Kirk’s shooting should be taken down immediately. Grant chairs the American Psychological Association’s Device Management & Intelligence committee.

He earlier told Deseret News that exposure to graphic images can be “dysregulating and traumatizing.” But he admitted that simply turning off social media is probably not a realistic option now. So he believes platforms need to actively block such harmful images. For one thing, he said people not looking for it will stumble across it and be harmed.

ProPublica reported in 2023 that social media apps might also be fueling homicides among young Americans. The article called social media “an accelerant” of gun violence.

‘Words are not violence’

Cox quoted Kirk on turning off phones: “Internet fury is not real life.”

Earlier in his remarks, while describing the arrest of the suspect, Cox praised Utah for the absence of looting and rioting and violence in the aftermath of the shooting that killed Kirk at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, noting that instead “there were vigils and prayers and people coming together to share the humanity — and that, ladies and gentlemen, I believe is the answer to this."

He also rebutted the oft-heard phrase that “words are violence.” Instead, he said, “Words are not violence. Violence is violence and there is one person responsible for what happened here and that person is now in custody and will be charged soon and will be held accountable,” Cox said during the early-morning news conference.

“And yet all of us have an opportunity right now to do something different.”