Big Tech is the new Big Tobacco, only worse, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in calling for more protections for children from online dangers.

"As a mom, I can tell you with certainty that our country is failing our children when it comes to their mental health and protecting them online,” Sherrill said at an appearance March 18 at Cherokee High School in Evesham. "And of course this is personal to me with my children, and to millions of parents like me ... on whom Big Tech has dumped this entire responsibility."

She said a youth mental health crisis, including rising rates for depression and anxiety, has been worsened "by unrestricted social media use and predatory, addictive algorithm pushed by Big Tech." 

Sherriill spoke two days after addressing the potential impact of artificial intelligence on children during another South Jersey stop in Mount Laurel.

"The best thing we can do for our students is to train them in AI," she told a gathering of several hundred people hosted by the Southern New Jersey Chamber of Commerce.

"Speaking to some of the people who are developing the technology, there's kind of a sense that either we as human beings will own AI ... and achieve great things from it, or we will see huge disparities in wealth and AI kind of taking over and really harming society as a whole." 

New Jersey's youth "need to direct [AI] and not be directed by it," Sherrill said, adding that the use of the technology should be embedded "in all of our curriculums."

The internet's dark side is also the subject of a March 19 appearance at Shawnee High School in Medford by investigators from the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office. Topics such as sextortion, cyber bullying, scams, swatting and child exploitation were on the agenda, a spokesman for the agency said.

Both Cherokee and Shawnee are part of the Lenape Regional High School District.

At Cherokee, Sherrill cited her firsthand understanding of the internet's impact on youngsters: One of her four children received a cellphone as a fifth-grade graduation gift and promptly gave up bedtime reading for online entertainment, the governor said.

She compared the pursuit of young users by social media platforms to once-common TV ads by cigarette companies. But, she said, Big Tech's tactics were more pervasive.

"They roll out new features every single day designed to addict us with advanced algorithms," she said. "It would really be a full-time job to keep up with your child’s online presence. Instead, parents are left with stories and stats and firsthand experiences of social media’s devastating impact."

Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, D-Burlington, another speaker at the event, warned that online abuse can also promote "eating disorders, disrupted sleep; and harmful content reaching kids far too easily."

"Now is the time to prioritize the mental health of New Jersey’s youth," Katz added.

Sherrill said that her $60.7-billion budget, awaiting action from members of the Legislature, supports measures to fight the harm of social media. For instance, the spending plan includes $500,000 for a new "Social Media Research Center" that's to focus on the relationship between digital technology and children's well-being.

The governor spoke before a small audience that included district officials and Cherokee students active in mental health initiatives. She posed for pictures before an orange-and-white Cherokee backdrop, then left in a black SUV.

As her motorcade pulled away, it passed several Cherokee students leaving at the end of the school day. Each one carried a cellphone.