II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 971 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a program on children 

and the media within the National Institute of Health to study the 

health and developmental effects of technology on infants, children, and 

adolescents. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 25, 2021 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. SASSE, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to authorize a 

program on children and the media within the National 

Institute of Health to study the health and developmental 

effects of technology on infants, children, and adolescents. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children and Media 

5 Research Advancement Act’’ or the ‘‘CAMRA Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT 

2 EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHILDREN, 

3 AND ADOLESCENTS. 

4 Subpart 7 of part C of title IV of the Public Health 

5 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285g et seq.) is amended by adding 

6 at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 452H. RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH AND DEVELOP8 MENT EFFECTS OF MEDIA ON INFANTS, CHIL9 DREN, AND ADOLESCENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National In11 stitutes of Health, in coordination with or acting through 

12 the Director of the Institute, shall conduct and support 

13 research and related activities concerning the health and 

14 developmental effects of media on infants, children, and 

15 adolescents, which may include the positive and negative 

16 effects of exposure to and use of media, such as social 

17 media, applications, websites, television, motion pictures, 

18 artificial intelligence, mobile devices, computers, video 

19 games, virtual and augmented reality, and other media 

20 formats as they become available. Such research shall at21 tempt to better understand the relationships between 

22 media and technology use and individual differences and 

23 characteristics of children and shall include longitudinally 

24 designed studies to assess the impact of media on youth 

25 over time. Such research shall include consideration of 


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1 core areas of child and adolescent health and development 

2 including the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) COGNITIVE.—The role and impact of 

4 media use and exposure in the development of chil5 dren and adolescents within such cognitive areas as 

6 language development, executive functioning, atten7 tion, creative problem solving skills, visual and spa8 tial skills, literacy, critical thinking, and other learn9 ing abilities, and the impact of early technology use 

10 on developmental trajectories. 

11 ‘‘(2) PHYSICAL.—The role and impact of media 

12 use and exposure on children’s and adolescent’s 

13 physical development and health behaviors, including 

14 diet, exercise, sleeping and eating routines, and 

15 other areas of physical development. 

16 ‘‘(3) SOCIO-EMOTIONAL.—The role and impact 

17 of media use and exposure on children’s and adoles18 cents’ social-emotional competencies, including self19 awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relation20 ship skills, empathy, distress tolerance, perception of 

21 social cues, awareness of one’s relationship with the 

22 media, and decision-making, as well as outcomes 

23 such as violations of privacy, perpetration of or ex24 posure to violence, bullying or other forms of aggres25 sion, depression, anxiety, substance use, misuse or 


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1 disorder, and suicidal ideation/behavior and self2 harm. 

3 ‘‘(b) DEVELOPING RESEARCH AGENDA.—The Direc4 tor of the National Institutes of Health, in consultation 

5 with the Director of the Institute, other appropriate na6 tional research institutes, academies, and centers, the 

7 Trans-NIH Pediatric Research Consortium, and non-Fed8 eral experts as needed, shall develop a research agenda 

9 on the health and developmental effects of media on in10 fants, children, and adolescents to inform research activi11 ties under subsection (a). In developing such research 

12 agenda, the Director may use whatever means necessary 

13 (such as scientific workshops and literature reviews) to as14 sess current knowledge and research gaps in this area. 

15 ‘‘(c) RESEARCH PROGRAM.—In coordination with the 

16 Institute and other national research institutes and cen17 ters, and utilizing the National Institutes of Health’s proc18 ess of scientific peer review, the Director of the National 

19 Institutes of Health shall fund an expanded research pro20 gram on the health and developmental effects of media 

21 on infants, children, and adolescents. 

22 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

24 the National Institutes of Health shall submit a report to 

25 Congress on the progress made in gathering data and exVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:05 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S971.IS S971

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1 panding research on the health and developmental effects 

2 of media on infants, children, and adolescents in accord3 ance with this section. Such report shall summarize the 

4 grants and research funded, by year, under this section. 

5 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec7 tion— 

8 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 

9 through 2024; and 

10 ‘‘(2) $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 

11 and 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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