By Breanna Reeves, Black Voice News
Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy reiterated the impacts of social media on the mental health of children and adolescents in a New York Times Op-Ed, calling on Congress to issue a warning label on social media.
“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,” Murthy wrote in the op-ed, published on June 17.
Murphy explained that teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face “double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.” As of summer 2023, these adolescents had an average daily use of 4.8 hours.
Last year, Murphy issued a Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health which noted that nearly 95% of young people ages 13-17 reported using a social media platform in 2022. In the advisory, Murphy outlined the harmful effects of chronic social media use such as symptoms of depression and anxiety, low self-esteem and impact on sleep.
Murphy addressed Congress in his op-ed because implementing a warning label on social media has to go through Congress. He referenced evidence of tobacco warning labels, which were established in 1965 and led to increased awareness and decline of tobacco use.
“To be clear, a warning label would not, on its own, make social media safe for young people,” Murphy noted. “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.”
Murphy called out social media companies, insisting that they must be required to “share all of their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public…and allow independent safety audits.” Currently, social media platforms do not share such data with the public.
In January, California Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) introduced Senate Bill 976, also known as “Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction,” which would “protect children from the dangers associated with social media addiction.”
If passed, SB 976 would restrict online platforms from sending or curating addictive social media feeds to minors without the consent of their parent or guardian. The bill would also prohibit a social media platform from sending notifications to minors between midnight and 6:00 AM, and during the school day without the consent of a parent or guardian.
“We’ve waited long enough for social media companies to act. SB 976 is needed now to establish sensible guardrails so parents can protect their kids from these preventable harms,” said Skinner in a press statement.
With Tik Tok becoming one of the most used social media platforms, efforts to ban the app in the U.S. have been underway for several years. In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill that requires TikTok to be sold or banned in the U.S. by Jan. 19, 2025, in regard to concerns over TikTok’s China-based ownership.
“The moral test of any society is how well it protects its children,” Murphy stated. “We have the expertise, resources and tools to make social media safe for our kids. Now is the time to summon the will to act. Our children’s well-being is at stake.”
