Euronews Next asked an expert if social media should come with a warning about the risks it poses to mental health. Should social media come with a warning? A top US health official suggested this week that platforms should have warnings similar to those on tobacco packaging. “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency - and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general or leading spokesperson on matters of public health, wrote in an editorial published He also called on curbing the use of features that contribute to excessive use such as push notifications, autoplay, and infinite scroll.
But could this actually help people with their mental health? “Action starts with awareness,” Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer at the US-based company Bark Technologies told Euronews Health in an email. “We are hopeful that any type of warning will serve as a springboard for everyone to wake up and pay more attention to these insidious dangers,” she added. She highlighted that Murthy already called the public’s attention to the issue in a which said that nearly 40 per cent of children between 8 and 12 were using social media despite that 13 is the legal minimum age.
“But tackling these issues is a multi-faceted approach. It requires hard work and dedication from parents, caregivers–even kids themselves– coupled with lots of change from Big Tech, and of course, national measures and laws are helpful t.