United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wants to add a warning label on social media. “It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” he wrote in an op-ed published on Monday in the New York Times, calling on Congress to take action to add the warning, which would be along the lines of the ones issued against tobacco and alcohol consumption.
Last year, Murthy published an advisory to help parents navigate children’s social media use. At the time, while concluding that “there isn’t enough evidence that it is safe for our kids,” Murthy also acknowledged in an interview with STAT that social media has some benefits, calling to “maximize the benefits and minimize the harms.”