CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The U.S. Surgeon General has called for a warning label to be put on social media platforms to alert people about negative health effects for young people.
Think something like the labels that started appearing on tobacco products in the 1960s.
TV9 spoke to Jonathan Platt, a professor at the University of Iowa. Platt joked he’s an academic and they tend to complicate matters, but regarding social media, he said, a few things are clear.
”Social media is not something that an 11, 12, even 13-year-old, should be using…to the degree that they are now,” he said.
Platt added the effects of social media on the brain at the age are different than for kids even just a few years older.
“There’s some evidence around…getting into a habit where you are only able to respond to sort of external stimuli.”
Attention, impulse control, and creating a strong sense of self were all areas where Platt said social media was potentially having an impact on kids.
In his opinion piece in The New York Times, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media have double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.
A Gallup poll from 2023 reports more than half of teenagers in America spend at least four hours per day on social media.
“We don’t really know very well…what are the aspects of social media use that are doing the harm,” said Platt.
Platt said a lot more research needs to be done on why and how social media is impacting kids, but he thinks a warning label could be a good thing.
”I think it would be a good start.”
A good start, but not a silver bullet, he said.
He said more research could lead to targeted regulation, but he added, it’s clear something needs to be done when it comes to young people and mental health.
”I believe that the data are telling us that we definitely need to do something,” said Platt. “We shouldn’t operate under the assumption that there aren’t any harms.”
Putting a label on social media would require an act of Congress.
TV9 reached out to several Iowa lawmakers to get their take.
“As a mom, I’m concerned about the serious challenges presented by social media, including its addictiveness, kids consuming inappropriate content, cyberbullying, and child exploitation via AI. I will continue to have conversations with my colleagues on ways we can hold Big Tech accountable and work to protect kids online, and I am hopeful we can find bipartisan consensus to do so.” — Rep. Ashley Hinson (R)
“In our society, we are increasingly aware of the impact of social media upon young people, and I am open to conducting additional information gathering to determine the best path forward. It took Congress well over a year to craft legislation regarding TikTok, and I believe any further legislation regulating social media should be similarly thoughtful and bipartisan.” —Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
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