Surgeon General Calls for Warning Labels on Social Media Sites

The following is excerpted from an online article posted by HealthDay.

The U.S. Surgeon General announced Monday that he will push for warning labels on all social media platforms, stating that they may harm teens’ mental health.

“The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Dr. Vivek Murthy wrote in an essay published Monday in the New York Times. “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. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.”

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” he added.

Still, such warning labels require Congressional approval, and no legislation on the issue has yet been introduced in either chamber.

In his essay, Murthy asserted that the dangers of social media are as significant as those seen with road accidents or contaminated food.

“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?” Murthy wrote. “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.”

Source: HealthDay
https://www.healthday.com/health-news/child-health/surgeon-general-calls-for-warning-labels-on-social-media-sites