One of the United States’ most senior health officials, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, today said in an op-ed for the New York Times social media platforms should have warning labels regarding the potential mental health harms they could create in the young.

“The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency – and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” he said. This isn’t the first time Murphy has sounded the alarm where mental health and social media use are concerned. In 2023, he published a 19-page report, which cited research on the fact the youth of America probably spends too much time in social media enclosures where anxiety and depression could emerge.

In the op-ed, he referenced numerous studies, each that came to the conclusion that overuse of social media leads to less time spent among peer groups and less sleep time, while children are caught up in an environment where they are constantly comparing themselves with others. The latter, it’s believed, causes feelings of inadequacy and isolation.

Various social media companies have over the years attempted to introduce measures to tackle the issue of mental health from the overuse of their products. But when grilled earlier this year by U.S. Congress, the general feeling was that the companies aren’t doing enough. At the end of the day, the bottom line means more to them than mental health concerns.

The “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,” has since been introduced in the U.S., but there still seem to be some correlation or causation issues. Last year, researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute said they failed to find the “smoking gun” where mental health problems in the young and social media were concerned.

For Murphy, warning labels similar to those that are placed on cigarettes will help “regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.” He added, “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”

The onus to improve the situation also falls on the rest of society, he said, in that parents can create “zones” where kids are not allowed to use social media. “Schools should ensure that classroom learning and social time are phone-free experiences,” he said.

He likened the issue of social media to other harms that have been reduced in the past with nationwide interventions and legislation, such as seat belts for cars or various safety features being placed on airplanes. The U.S. and many other nations are also struggling with an obesity and health crisis, which is likely related to our consumption of ultra-processed food. Various foods now have warning labels on them, not that it seems to have done much good.

“Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes, or food?” he said. “These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability.”

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