U.S. Surgeon General Wants a Warning Label for Social Media, How it Could Work

• U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress to put a warning label on social media platforms.
• Social media contributes to the mental health crisis among children and teens, Murthy said.
• Other actions would also be needed, including social media legislation aimed at protecting the safety and health of young people.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D, is calling for Congress to put a warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media poses a harm to the mental health of children and teens.

“The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Murthy said in an op-ed in The New York Times June 17.

Murthy cited research published in JAMA Psychiatry showing that teens who spend more than three hours a day using social media have double the risk of mental health problems, including depression and anxiety.

Other research found that 46% of adolescents said social media made them feel worse about their bodies, while 32% said social media negatively affected their grades in school.

American teens spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, according to a 2023 Gallup poll. Over half reported using social media for at least four hours per day, the poll shows.

What a warning label can do

A warning label, which would require congressional action, “would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy wrote in The New York Times.

Joseph Trunzo, PhD, a professor of psychology at Bryant University, said the Surgeon General’s proposal is a good move.

“I’m in support of anything we can do to raise awareness of the potential dangers of social media, particularly for our youth,” Trunzo told Healthline. However, “it’s hard to say how much impact this is going to have.”

Similar labels appear on tobacco and alcohol products. Tobacco studies show that warning labels increase people’s awareness of the harms of smoking and change behavior, Murthy said.

In 1965, Congress voted to require that cigarette packages distributed in the United States carry a warning that said that cigarette smoking “may be hazardous to your health.”

Smoking rates have dropped since then. In 1954, 45% of Americans were smokers; by last year it had dropped to 12%, Gallup data shows.

However, the tobacco warning label was “coupled with a huge public health campaign and other significant efforts to get people to reduce or quit smoking tobacco,” said Trunzo.

“So I don’t think a warning label, by itself, is going to solve the problem,” he said, “but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.”

Concerns of how social media can affect mental health

Murthy has previously raised concerns about the potential harms of social media to the mental health of children and teens. But his recent call for warning labels is the most urgent to date.

In May 2023, he issued an advisory that said that we don’t have enough information to show that social media is safe and “there is growing evidence that social media use is associated with harm to young people’s mental health.”

The advisory called on policymakers and technology companies to take steps to protect the safety and health of children and teens. It also suggested ways for parents and young people to support healthy social media use.

While his op-ed this week took a stronger stance, Murthy acknowledged that “a warning label would not, on its own, make social media safe for young people.”

He urged schools to become phone-free environments and suggested parents create phone-free zones around meals, bedtime, and social gatherings to protect their child’s sleep and in-person social connections. 

And he recommended that parents limit their child’s social media use until after middle school.

“This is much easier said than done, which is why parents should work together with other families to establish shared rules, so no parents have to struggle alone or feel guilty when their teens say they are the only one who has to endure limits,” Murthy wrote in The New York Times.

The end of push notifications and infinite scroll ?

Murthy called on Congress to pass legislation to protect young people from online abuse, harassment, and exposure to violent or sexual content. 

These laws should also restrict social media features that encourage excessive use of the apps, he wrote — like push notifications, infinite scroll, and autoplay.

“Social media platforms are designed to keep eyes on the screen,” said Trunzo, “to make sure that people continue to use their platform.”

New York state’s legislature passed a bill earlier this month that would block social media platforms from showing suggested posts — fed by the algorithm — to people under the age of 18. Instead, feeds for minors would default to chronological order. A minor could still get posts the algorithm suggests if they have parental consent.

Platforms would also be blocked from sending suggested post notifications to minors between midnight and 6 a.m. without consent from their parents.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to sign the bill into law, AP News reported.

Other states have taken different approaches. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill in March that prohibits children under 14 years from obtaining their own social media account, and requires parental consent in order for 14- and 15-year-olds to have their own account.

In the op-ed, Murthy also called on tech companies to share their data on the health effects of the platforms with the public and researchers, as well as to allow independent audits of their platform.

“While the platforms claim they are making their products safer, Americans need more than words,” Murthy wrote. “We need proof.”

Takeaway

In an op-ed in The New York Times, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called on Congress to put a warning label on social media platforms, warning of the dangers to the mental health of children and teens.

Research shows that teens who use social media more often have a greater risk of mental health problems, including depression, anxiety and negative body image. On average, U.S. teens spend 4.8 hours a day on social media, Gallup research shows.

Murthy said a warning label will not, by itself, protect the mental health of children and teens. Other steps are needed, including phone-free zones in schools and at home, and legislation to limit the negative impact of social media on young people.