Social media: Add tobacco-style warnings to protect children, says US surgeon general

Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, has called for Congress to put warning labels on social media platforms, similar to those on cigarettes, to protect children from mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.In an essay published in the New York Times on 17 June,1 Murthy said that such labels would remind children and parents that social media use has not been proved to be safe. Last year he issued an advisory about social media use and mental health in young people.2He said that social media use was contributing to a mental health crisis among young people, which he called an emergency, even though adolescents also used social media to stay in touch with friends and to find groups that shared their interests.Murthy wrote, “Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day with social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily…
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