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U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made headlines last year after he issued an advisory about social media and youth mental health. In a New York Times op-ed published in June 2024, he declared that it is time to require a surgeon generals warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. This is just the latest volley in the surgeon generals fight against the youth mental health crisis, which he has called the defining public health issue of our time. By proposing a surgeon generals warning label akin to those on tobacco products, Murthy is implying parallels between Big Tech and Big Tobacco. Both are multibillion-dollar industries where profits are prioritized over peoples well-being and where vulnerable and impressionable youth are seen as key targets for gaining market share and potentially lifelong customers.

I teach an undergrad course on technology use and adolescence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I frequently give talks to the general public about social media and youth mental health. A big part of my job is thinking about how to distill a complex and constantly updating field of research into accurate yet accessible take-home messages, and I think the analogy between Big Tobacco and Big Tech is the wrong one to make.

Such an analogy is misleading about the effects of social media. Tobacco is clearly and definitively harmful. The research on social media is more ambiguous and complicated. While some youth are harmed by itlike those who are cyberbullied or using social media so excessively that it is disrupting their schoolwork or sleepothers benefit from or even thrive on it. The surgeon generals advisory even has a whole section on the potential benefits of social media use, like increased feelings of social connection and online social support, especially for youth with marginalized identities who may struggle to find in-person support. Simply warning that social media use is associated with harm flattens a complex reality without offering specific solutions.

The relationship between food and health is extremely complex, and we intuitively understand that such complexityexists.

My preferred analogy when discussing social media and mental health is not tobaccoits food. Big Food is also a multibillion-dollar industry that puts profits over health and hopes to turn youth into long-term customers through marketing and careful product design. But the relationship between food and health is extremely complex, and we intuitively understand that such complexity exists.

For starters, we do not argue about whether food is good or bad. We recognize that some foods are healthier than others, some are OK in moderation, and others should be avoided at all costs. Similarly, some social media behaviors are clearly beneficial (making meaningful connections with peers), some should be more carefully monitored (comparing yourself to others that you see online), and others should be banned outright (viewing or creating content advocating for self-harm or problematic eating behaviors).

Furthermore, we know that individual characteristics may determine what is healthy for someone to consume. People with a family history of heart disease may need to be extra careful about what they eat, and many parents try to wait as long as possible before introducing their children to juices and sodas. Similarly, people with a history of depression may need to be extra careful about what they consume online, and parents should wait to introduce social media until their kids are mature enough to handle using it responsibly. (There are also parents who think their children should never have sugary drinks, just as there are parents who think their children should never have social mediaand children will probably manage to sneak access to both.)

A surgeon generals warning that food is associated with significant health harms would be technically true but not practically helpful. Instead, public health measures around nutrition and youth are multipronged, including more detailed and nuanced education about healthy eating habits for children and parents, involving pediatricians, schools, and communities, restricting what types of food are available at school, and regulating how foods can be marketed to children.

Likewise, a blanket warning about social media would not be especially helpful on its own. It may discourage some users or push some parents to pay closer attention to their childrens digital media habits, but it does not make the platforms any safer to use. We also need efforts from families, schools, health care workers, and communities to address the youth mental health crisisand tech companies must do their part as well.

I worry that requiring a surgeon generals warning could even backfire by discouraging tech companies from cooperating with researchers and mental health experts. The World Health Organization, U.S. National Cancer Institute, and former U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin have all declared that there is no safe level of tobacco use, so getting Big Tobacco to make their products safer is a nonstarter. But some researchers argue that a modest amount of screen time is associated with the greatest adolescent well-being, and Big Tech can make their platforms safer. (For example, Meta currently redirects searches associated with self-harm or disordered eating to mental health resources instead of harmful content.)

Murthys Social Media and Youth Mental Health Advisory contains a detailed bullet-point section on what platforms should do to minimize risks and maximize benefits. But would tech companies still want to work with a surgeon generals office that is portraying them as dangerous to our youth?

I also worry that a surgeon generals warning could end up shielding the tech companies against liability for harms caused by their platforms. Imagine how such a warning would be implemented: Every time users log on, they would see a pop-up about social media being associated with mental health harms. They may read it, or they may just reflexively tap I accept the risks, and now the responsibility for any consequences has been shifted to the user. Just requiring a warning lets tech companies off too easily. They can and must do more to protect people on their platforms.

A surgeon generals warning for social media is not going to solve our youth mental health crisis. That said, in just proposing this warning, Murthy is using his bully pulpit to bring national awareness to the importance of understanding how social media affects youth mental health. I am curious to see whether Congress will approve the surgeon generals request and, if so, whether it will be the first piece of a larger effort to improve youth mental healthor if it will end up as just a Band-Aid that plasters over deeper issues.

Original post:
The Surgeon General Says Social Media Is Like Tobacco. Hes Completely Wrong. - Slate