In a significant public warning, the Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has highlighted the potential risks of social media for young people, emphasizing the need to understand the potential harm it can cause to their mental health and well-being. Dr. Murthy’s 19-page advisory acknowledged that while social media can be beneficial to some users, there are indications that it can profoundly impact the mental health of children and adolescents.
The advisory provided practical recommendations to help families navigate their children’s social media use. It suggested setting boundaries, such as keeping mealtimes and gatherings device-free to foster social connections and conversation. It also recommended creating a “family media plan” to establish expectations for social media usage, including guidelines on content and privacy protection.
Dr. Murthy called on tech companies to enforce age restrictions and implement default settings with robust safety and privacy standards for children. Additionally, he urged the government to establish age-appropriate health and safety regulations for technology platforms.
The report by the Surgeon General comes at a time when lawmakers at the state and federal levels are grappling with how to regulate social media use, with many of them belonging to generations that witnessed the advent of social media or grew up without it. Montana recently passed a bill banning TikTok, leading to a lawsuit from the app’s parent company, while Utah became the first state to require parental consent for users under 18 to have social media accounts.
Research conducted by Pew Research indicates that a significant majority of teenagers, up to 95%, use at least one social media platform, with a substantial portion using it almost constantly. As social media usage has increased, so have reports of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation among adolescents.
The Surgeon General’s advisory could spur further research to better understand the relationship between social media use and mental health issues in young people. It adds to a growing chorus of voices calling for action on the impact of social media on adolescents. The American Psychological Association recently issued guidelines advising parents to closely monitor their teens’ social media use and urging tech companies to reconsider features that may contribute to negative effects.
While research on the connection between social media and mental health remains nuanced and complex, it suggests that social media can have both positive and negative effects on the well-being of young people. Excessive use of social media and screens, in general, can displace activities crucial for brain development, such as sleep and exercise. On one hand, social media provides a platform for connection, community, and self-expression for many young people. On the other hand, it also exposes them to harmful content, cyberbullying, and social pressures during a critical phase of identity formation.
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The Surgeon General’s advisory underscores the role of technology companies in creating addictive behaviors and highlights the need for safety standards to protect children who have unwittingly become part of a long-term experiment. Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, responded to the advisory by stating that many of the recommended measures were already implemented, such as privacy settings for users under 16 on Instagram.
It is important to note that the Surgeon General’s advisory does not offer specific guidelines on healthy social media use or condemn its use for all young people. Instead, it aims to raise awareness of the urgent public health issue surrounding social media and provide recommendations for addressing it.
Although the Surgeon General’s position does not have direct regulatory authority, past reports from Surgeon Generals have played a significant role in shifting national conversations on topics such as smoking, HIV/AIDS, and obesity. Dr. Murthy has previously labeled gun violence as an epidemic and highlighted the public health crisis of loneliness and lack of connection in the country.
He stressed the need for clear guidelines and safety standards to alleviate the burden faced by users and families in navigating social media.
