Amid growing concerns over the effects of social media on teen mental health, on June 17, 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for warning labels to be added to social media platforms, similar to surgeon general warnings on cigarettes and alcohol.
Murphy’s warning cited research showing that teens who use more than three hours of social media a day face double the risk of mental health problems . This comes a year after Murphy issued a major public advisory over the links between social media and youth mental health. As a specialist in eating disorders and anxiety , I regularly work with clients who experience eating disorder symptoms, self-esteem issues and anxiety related to social media .
I also have firsthand experience with this topic : I am 16 years post-recovery from an eating disorder, and as a teenager, I grew up when people were beginning to widely use social media. In my view, the impact of social media on mental health, especially on diet and exercise patterns, cannot simply be mitigated with a warning label. However, it is an important starting point for raising awareness of the harms of social media.
Experts have long suspected that social media may be playing a role in the growing mental health crisis in young people . However, the surgeon general’s 2023 warning was one of the first government warnings supported by robust research . Critics of the call for warning labels argue that it oversimplifies a complex issue and that limiting social media a.