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Surgeon General warns of social media's negative impact on kids' mental health

Social media can have a negative impact on kids

The United States Surgeon General has issued a public advisory saying that social media harms the mental health of children, and is urging companies to give more than lip service to age minimums and other protections.

Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, the US Surgeon General, released the advisory on Thursday and shares statistics. The increased utilization of social media is a primary factor leading to depression, anxiety, and various other challenges among teenagers in the country.

For example, up to 95% of young people aged 13-17 report using a social media platform. Nearly two-thirds of teenagers report using social media daily, and one-third report using social media "almost constantly."

The nature of children and adolescents' social media usage and the content they encounter present significant concerns regarding mental health. Those who spend more than three hours per day on social media face twice the likelihood of developing mental health issues, such as experiencing symptoms associated with depression and anxiety.

A recent survey indicates that teenagers dedicate an average of 3.5 hours daily to social media. However, when questioned about the influence of social media on their body image, 46% of adolescents aged 13-17 expressed that it has a negative impact, making them feel worse.

Additionally, despite the typical minimum age requirement of 13 set by social media platforms in the United States, approximately 40% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 engage with social media.

The advisory notes that there is currently insufficient evidence to conclude whether social media is adequately safe for children and adolescents. It also emphasizes the importance of policymakers and social media companies alongside parents in managing the social media usage of children and adolescents.

"Policymakers need to step up and help ensure that we have strong safety standards, to help protect our kids from exposure to harmful content, and to also protect them from excessive use," Murthy said. That includes enforcing age minimums.

The guidance suggests that companies should develop improved safeguards to protect teenagers and reconsider features that may encourage prolonged online engagement among children.



7 Comments

omasou 8 Years · 646 comments

People are oblivious.

They want to cut the cable cord. They want commercial free streaming but what they fail to realize or just plain ignore is that social media is creating the wants and needs for useless junk that was previously the domain of magazine ads and TV commercials.

3 Likes · 0 Dislikes
baconstang 11 Years · 1165 comments

Bad huh?   Ya think?

1 Like · 0 Dislikes
tht 24 Years · 5734 comments

What’s the distinction between adults and children here, other than convention?

If social media is harmful to children, it will be harmful to adults, no? It’s only by convention that people over 18 are fully responsible for themselves and children are not, and therefore get a special carve out. The harm still applies to people of all ages. 

So, perhaps the surgeon general should include the warning to everyone. 

4 Likes · 0 Dislikes
macxpress 17 Years · 5930 comments

tht said:
What’s the distinction between adults and children here, other than convention?

If social media is harmful to children, it will be harmful to adults, no? It’s only by convention that people over 18 are fully responsible for themselves and children are not, and therefore get a special carve out. The harm still applies to people of all ages. 
So, perhaps the surgeon general should include the warning to everyone. 

I think it's harmful to adults as well. So much misinformation is spread via social media and it's just become platforms for hate. Everyone hates everyone and everything. It's easy for them because they're anonymous, or can be if they choose. People read misinformation and see it enough to think it's actually true and then try to make informative decisions based on their viewing of misinformation, sometimes to the point to where you cannot convince them otherwise. Hopefully this is somehow fixed but I don't have my hopes up. 

2 Likes · 0 Dislikes
baconstang 11 Years · 1165 comments

macxpress said:
tht said:
What’s the distinction between adults and children here, other than convention?

If social media is harmful to children, it will be harmful to adults, no? It’s only by convention that people over 18 are fully responsible for themselves and children are not, and therefore get a special carve out. The harm still applies to people of all ages. 
So, perhaps the surgeon general should include the warning to everyone. 
I think it's harmful to adults as well. So much misinformation is spread via social media and it's just become platforms for hate. Everyone hates everyone and everything. It's easy for them because they're anonymous, or can be if they choose. People read misinformation and see it enough to think it's actually true and then try to make informative decisions based on their viewing of misinformation, sometimes to the point to where you cannot convince them otherwise. Hopefully this is somehow fixed but I don't have my hopes up. 

I guess the hope / assumption is that adults, with their accumulated knowledge / experience will be a bit more immune to the flood of misinformation?