Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is calling for a warning label to be added to social media platforms in an effort to protect children’s mental health.
While advocates and experts have come out in favor of the idea, they also remain skeptical that a warning would work well enough to reduce the harms of the platforms.
In a New York Times opinion piece published June 17, Murthy wrote that social media is an “important contributor” to the mental health crisis among young people, who spend more than “three hours a day on social media [and] face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.”
“A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy wrote.
Nicole Hockley, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, an organization working to stop gun violence against children, agreed that a social media warning has potential to help kids.
“Kids are not just little adults. Young people are biologically more vulnerable to social media influencers and advertising, and more likely to engage in impulsive and risky behavior,” Hockley said in a statement. “We must protect children from harm—physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
David Bickham, research director in the nonprofit Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, told Healthcare Brew he is “very supportive of the surgeon general,” but also said that creating a warning that would actually work isn’t so simple.
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