(Washington) The U.S. surgeon general called Monday for social media to display information about the risks young people face when spending time on them, similar to the mandatory prevention messages on cigarette packages.
“It is time” that authorities “require prevention messaging on social media platforms to warn of the significant dangers they pose to adolescent mental health,” wrote Dr. Vivek Murthy, senior health advisor to the American executive, in a column published by the New York Times.
These platforms are “a significant factor” in the mental health crisis affecting young people, he insists.
Spending more than three hours a day on social networks doubles the risk of causing symptoms linked to depression and anxiety in adolescents, recalls Vivek Murthy. In the summer of 2023, this manager writes, young people spent around 5 hours a day on these applications.
He does not name them, but it is TikTok, Instagram (Meta) and other social networks or platforms of this type which are in the viewfinder.
“Research around tobacco consumption shows that these prevention messages promote awareness and change practices,” writes the chief medical officer.
Social networks can have “extremely harmful effects” on the mental health of children and adolescents, he had already warned in a report in May 2023.