Greeting: Sunday morning briefing 9-29-24

As a father, I find it hard to imagine the world kids are growing up in these days. I was in late high school when our house first got the internet (old dial-up AOL), and had graduated college when social media first emerged (Myspace; I wrote a story about it for a local magazine). I was well into adulthood by the time I got a cell phone and even then you had to pay by the text and I had to hit 10 numbers just to write the four letters of my first name.

Today, my nine-year-old has friends with phones with unlimited data plans and access to everything beautiful and horrible on the internet. Young children are targeted with advertising for games and apps that are scientifically designed to be addictive. My teenager’s phone is practically an appendage.

Welcome to the Weekly Roundup, where we bring you the top stories from today’s Dayton Daily News and major stories from the past week you may have missed.

This week that includes the newest installment in our Mental Health Matters: Kids in Crisis series, which aims to help parents and caregivers understand the impact of technology like social media on youth mental health; and an analysis of local property tax delinquency following historic tax increases.

Our mission is to help you understand what’s really going on in the Dayton region. This includes comprehensive coverage of local governments and agencies, hard-hitting investigations, and in-depth analyses of important issues.

Do you have a news tip or an issue you think our reporters should look into? Contact me at Josh.Sweigart@coxinc.com, or you can use our anonymous tipline.

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Kids in crisis: How social media is affecting youth mental health

Credit: Jim Noelker

Our Mental Health Matters: Kids in Crisis special reporting project continues this week with a look at the role technology and social media play in youth mental health.

• Growing up on the web: This story from reporters Eileen McClory and Samantha Wildow tells the story of several local teens grappling with their social media use. That includes Rhiannon Price, who fell into an online community that promoted self-harm.

• Studies say: Several studies, including a 2023 Yale study reviewing brain scans of 9- and 10-year-olds, have linked overuse of the platforms to worse mental health outcomes.

• Key stat: According to a Common Sense Media study, youth ages 11 to 17 get a median of 237 notifications on their phone each day.

• The science: The way chemicals in your brain react to notifications and “likes” on social media is similar to a gambling disorder, a clinical neuropsychologist says in this story about how technology impacts your brain.

• Policy implications: This story looks at proposed federal and local policies that aim to help curb social media use among children.

• Kids in crisis: Go here for more from this project, including the first installment of the series, a Mental Health Matters community resource guide and more.

Tax delinquency, interest on late payments spike after historic property tax increases

Credit: Nick Graham

The impact of last year’s massive increase in taxable property values has been a major story for our region. Today we look at what impact that has had on property owners’ ability to pay their tax bills and what the incumbent county treasurer and his challenger say about that.

• Our findings: This story includes our key findings on how much property tax delinquency increased in Montgomery and Greene counties in the wake of tax hikes and what treasurers in those counties say.

• Double whammy: Those who fall behind on their growing tax bills have to pay them off at higher interest rates since they are tied to national interest rates that went up.

• Background: Historic property value hikes during the triennial property value update last year produced average countywide value increases of 37% in Butler, 30% in Greene and 34% in Montgomery counties.

• Political debate: Incumbent Treasurer John McManus, a Republican, touts the fact that the number of delinquent parcels has gone down on his watch. Democratic challenger Mohamed Al-Hamdani says the incumbent is too aggressive at selling liens to debt collectors and should work more with property owners.

• More taxes and politics: We surveyed readers about what issues matter most to them when deciding how to cast their vote in November’s election. Taxes was one of the top identified issues. So we had reporter Avery Kreemer write this analysis of how your vote in November could impact local, state and federal tax policy.