HQ Team
June 17, 2024: The US requires a warning label on social media platforms as they are significantly associated with “mental health harms” for adolescents, the United States Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy wrote in an op-ed piece in the New York Times.
The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor, Dr Murthy wrote.
“Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours.”
According to a Gallup survey conducted last year more than half of teenagers (51%) in the US spend at least four hours per day using a variety of social media apps such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Of the more than 1,500 adolescents social media usage amounted to 4.8 hours per day for the average US teen across seven social media platforms tested in the survey, according to a Gallup statement.
Congress approval
The average time spent on social media ranges from as low as 4.1 hours per day for 13-year-olds to as high as 5.8 hours per day for 17-year-olds. Girls spend nearly an hour more on social media than boys (5.3 vs. 4.4 hours, respectively).
“A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proven safe,” Dr Murthy stated in the opinion piece.
He cited evidence from tobacco studies to show that warning labels could increase awareness and change behaviour. However, Dr Murthy cannot unilaterally enforce the warning as it requires approval from Congress and no law has been introduced yet.
“Legislation from Congress should shield young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds.”
The Surgeon General wrote about an advisory he issued a year ago about social media and young people’s mental health. In that article, he included specific recommendations for policymakers, platforms and the public to make social media safer for kids.
“Such measures, which already have strong bipartisan support, remain the priority.”
Independent safety audits
Companies must be required to share all of their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public — currently, they do not — and allow independent safety audits, Dr Murthy said.
“While the platforms claim they are making their products safer, Americans need more than words. We need proof.”
Dr Murthy, in the op-ed article, wrote schools should ensure that classroom learning and social time are phone-free experiences.
“Parents, too, should create phone-free zones around bedtime, meals and social gatherings to safeguard their kids’ sleep and real-life connections — both of which have direct effects on mental health. And they should wait until after middle school to allow their kids access to social media.”
He wrote about a woman from Colorado named Lori, who told him about her teenage daughter, who took her life after being bullied on social media. “Lori had been diligent, monitoring her daughter’s accounts and phone daily, but harm still found her child.”
Seatbelts, airbags
Dr Murthy also furthered his argument by writing that lawmakers successfully demanded seatbelts, airbags, crash testing and a host of other measures that ultimately made cars safer after related deaths.
“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food?
“These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability.”
