A Warning Label For Social Media Sites? Why the Surgeon General Thinks It’s a Good Idea

Over a year after issuing an advisory on social media and kids’ mental health, the surgeon general is sounding the alarm once more. This time, it comes in the form of a new New York Times op-ed, in which Dr. Vivek Murthy said social media should come with a warning label — literally.

Murthy is calling for a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, which would state that the sites are “associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents” and would “regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.”

Murthy’s reasoning is simple: recent data shows that such warning labels work. He cites studies showing that the surgeon general’s warning labels on tobacco products “can increase awareness and change behavior,” as well as a recent survey of Latino parents that found that 76 percent of participants would be “more likely to take action with their children, including limiting or monitoring their social media use,” with a warning label on social media sites.

Murthy’s article also serves to emphasize that the mental health crisis among kids and teens has reached “emergency” status. And social media is playing a major role, to the point that he believes these sites should “require” a warning label like the kind used for tobacco products. On this point, the data is clear: social media use can double the risk of anxiety and depression among teens when used more than three hours a day, per studies, and research also shows that it often has a negative effect on teen body image too.

Murthy can’t establish a surgeon general’s warning label on his own — it “requires congressional action,” he says — and he also notes that the label wouldn’t make social media safer. He went on to reference last year’s advisory, which provided “specific recommendations” that would make social media safer for kids. Those measures would focus on preventing online harassment, abuse, and exploitation of kids and teens online, as well as limiting exposure to violent and sexual content, preventing sensitive data collection from kids, and restricting addictive features like notifications and autoplay.

Those measures have yet to be put in place, and anyone familiar with the pace of legislative change knows not to hold their breath on that front. Even threats to the safety of our children are often not enough to spur federal action — just look at the gun safety movement for proof.

That said, Murthy also spotlights actions that parents can take to protect their kids from the worst parts of social media. For parents, he recommends:

Creating “phone-free zones” around bedtime, meals, and social gatherings “to safeguard their kids’ sleep and real-life connections”

Waiting until middle school to let kids on social media

Establishing “shared rules” with other families to support each other and to keep kids on equal ground with friends

“We have the expertise, resources and tools to make social media safe for our kids,” Murthy wrote, so there’s no excuse not to pull out all the stops. The surgeon general’s warning label would be just one step. It would also, ideally, show parents and leaders just how serious this issue is in order to create real, lasting change on this issue.

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