The US surgeon general on Monday proposed a bold new step in fighting social media's negative effects on children, suggesting the government affix social media platforms with a about the inherent risks of being too online. But social media experts and researchers are mixed on just how effective such a move would be. In a New York Times published this week, Dr.
Vivek Murthy called for government on social media platforms, citing recent studies that point to kids' worsening mental health in an increasingly digital world. "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," wrote, citing a 2019 American Medical Association study and a 2023 Gallup poll.
While scientific researchers are still the exact impacts social media has on children, Titania Jordan, chief parent officer at parental controls company Bark Technologies, said parents need only look around to see the ways in which kids are suffering. "The rates at which young children are struggling with , exposure to graphic sexual content, drug, and alcohol-related content — dying because of they've bought on Snapchat — the bullying, the depression, the disordered eating, the predators, the violence — all of those are way higher than anyone would imagine," Jordan told Business Insider. Last year, Murthy made a similar -related plea, issuing a surgeon general's adviso.
