The US Surgeon General wants social media to come with a warning label

Social media is causing a mental health crisis for young people, according to Dr. Vivek Murthy, who wants to set up a reminder parents and adolescents

(Credit: Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• 🙅‍♂️ The US Surgeon General wants a warning label on social media

• 😔 Dr. Murthy links social media platforms to a mental health crisis

• 🚭 The warning label is being compared to tobacco labels

• 🤷‍♂️ Even Murthy admits it won’t fix the problem, but will drive awareness

What if, the next time you’re endlessly doom-scrolling, a pop-up stopped you to say: “Social media is addictive and can cause depression” – would it make a difference?

That’s the idea behind a new proposal by the US Surgeon General, who is calling for a warning label on platforms in a New York Times op-ed. If this sounds familiar, it’s not unlike warning labels on tobacco products, which, at least in those cases, have been known to increase awareness and change behavior.

“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,” writes US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy.

Murthy comes to the table with some facts about social media’s effects on minors, writing, “Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.”

App-limiting features like Apple’s Screen Time and Google’s Family Link are new self-imposed (or parent-imposed) remedies but rely on users to set up. What Murthy is proposing sounds mandatory. It’ll be interesting to see if the forthcoming iOS 18 update and Apple Intelligence increase or decrease smartphone usage time – especially if the new Siri summarizes articles and push notifications.

Two things to know

Some warnings about Dr. Murthy’s warnings. First, in his op-ed even he admits that warning labels won’t fix social media’s many ills, saying “A warning label would not, on its own, make social media safe for young people.”

He proposes additional measures, like forcing social media platforms to conduct independent safety audits and restricting addictive features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll. He says these features “prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.”

Second, measures like these are going to require legislation from the US Congress. While Murthy notes “strong bipartisan support” on some of these ideas, there are very few issues in which American policymakers completely agree and swiftly pass bills (especially this year). Even popular legislation often gets hung up in Congress.