North Carolina
CurrentG.S. 115C-81.26 — Social Media and Mental Health
The standard course of study must teach social media's health effects, misinformation, behavior manipulation, permanence of online information, personal security, cyberbullying, predatory behavior, human trafficking, reporting suspicious behavior, and protective skills.
- Jurisdiction
- North Carolina · State / DC
- Policy status
- Effective
- Implementation phase
- Current
- Requirement
- Required
- Grades
- Once during elementary, once during middle, twice during high school.
- Audience
- Students
- Learning evidence
- Student instruction required
- Instrument
- Statute / enacted law
Dates & implementation
Adopted / approved
Jul 1, 2025
Legal start
Jul 1, 2025
Current GS115C-81.26 requires instruction once in elementary school, once in middle school and twice in high school. Enacted through SL2025-38 §2(a).
A legal effective date can precede school implementation. This record documents policy intent or requirements; it does not independently confirm delivery in every classroom.
Funding & support
Funding details not confirmed
Dedicated funding and current award availability are not established in this collection. This does not mean no funding exists.
Evidence & source location
GS115C-81.26 opening paragraph and items1–8; SL2025-38 §2(a).
Law effective July 1, 2025; instruction applies beginning in the 2026-27 school year. No exact classroom start date stated. S.L. 2026-41 §7.52 also directs Healthful Living standards revisions for 2028-29.
Review history
Reviewed against official sources
Source availability checked Oct 4, 2026: Source reopened. This is separate from verification of the policy claim below.
Source review date recorded in database: 2026-10-04
2026-10-03 — Carried forward from the source-linked baseline; topic, grade and evidence-type inventory reviewed. Individual source was not re-opened in this update. 2026-10-04 — Substantive source review: Current GS115C-81.26 read. Corrected frequency: once elementary, once middle, twice high school; law is SL2025-38 rather than a new2026 act.
Record ID: NC-2026-SOCIAL-LIT-001
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