According to a 2023 Gallup poll, the average U.S. teen spends nearly 5 hours daily on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X. Given the potentially addictive nature of social media and the reported links between excessive use and mental health issues, it’s hardly surprising that the U.S. surgeon general, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, wants something to change.
In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, Murthy suggested that putting a warning label on the platforms could help to reduce the harm to children and adolescents, just as the warning labels on tobacco products helped to reduce smoking rates. Although the results of research on social media usage and mental health outcomes in teens have been mixed, a notable 2019 study found that teens who spend more than three hours per day on social media have a significantly increased risk of experiencing depression and anxiety symptoms.
Previously, Murthy has stated that the safety of social media usage for teens hasn’t been established and should be regulated, just like other products aimed at children, including car seats and medication. In addition to the warning label, Murthy has also called for greater protection for young people from extreme content, as well as from online harassment, abuse, and exploitation. He would also like to see tech companies publicly share their data on the health effects of social media.
Murthy’s opinion piece was essentially a prod to Congress, which would need to pass legislation for the surgeon general’s warning label to appear on the platforms. There does appear to be bipartisan support for improving child safety online. Just last month, the U.S. Senate passed a pair of bills aimed at safeguarding children online, with provisions to strengthen privacy protections, ban certain advertisements, improve tools for parental supervision, and limit features that encourage continuous app usage. Although the legislative package passed 91 to 3, some advocacy groups expressed concern that the legislation could potentially restrict adolescents’ access to information about important yet sometimes controversial topics like climate change or racial justice.
Navigating the online world:
- The 2023 “Gallup Familial and Adolescent Health Survey,” which polled over 1,500 teens between the ages of 13 and 19, found the highest reported social media screen time among 17-year-olds, at 5.8 hours per day.
- The results showed that adolescent girls typically spend more time on social media apps than boys, at 5.3 hours per day compared to 4.4 hours.
- A 2022 Pew Research Center poll underlined several other alarming statistics about social media use. In that poll, nearly 95% of teens said they used at least one platform, and over a third reported that they were “almost constantly” online.
- Children under 13 are supposed to be restricted from accessing social media, but many have been able to get around this, even without help from their parents.
