Push for youth social media safeguards revived in WA Legislature

Avery Ping had a knack for noticing who in a room might be having a bad day and checking in on them. He wanted to be a psychiatrist.

But the Olympia teen was addicted to his screen, his father Aaron said. He wanted to get away from his phone, and Aaron was adamant about limiting his screen time.

“For a developing teenage brain, it’s going to be training that brain for impulsive behavior,” Aaron Ping said. “Dopamine reward schedules, it has a really harmful effect on the developing mind.”

Aaron Ping feels that effect is what led Avery to seek out the hallucinogenic drug MDMA on Snapchat in late 2024, leading to his overdose death. He was 16.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/01/19/push-for-youth-social-media-safeguards-revived-in-wa-legislature/