Surgeon general's social media warning raises eyebrows
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A warning label on social media could be as easy to ignore as an explicit music lyric notice.
Why it matters: The U.S. Surgeon General's recent call for a tobacco-style warning on social media platforms falls flat, some tech researchers and writers argue.
- Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a label on social media sites warning that they're "associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents."
- The call echoes parents' struggle on how to handle social media use for teens who largely aren't worried about their own screen time.
State of play: The chorus of responses to such a blanket warning on social media — which can be a safe haven for many communities — have ranged from skepticism to suggestions that it misses the point.
- Breaking up tech monopolies would be more effective than applying warning labels, Vox senior technology correspondent Adam Clark Estes wrote.
- The type of content viewed on social media matters more for mental health than length of time spent on it, Dr. Mitch Prinstein, the chief science officer at the American Psychological Association, told the New York Times.
- Social media labels could be more comparable to explicit lyric warnings on music, Business Insider's Katie Notopoulos wrote.
Catch up quick: Murthy in an op-ed for the New York Times called on Congress to act by mandating a surgeon general warning label on social media platforms. But such legislation is unlikely to get bipartisan support.
- Bills attempting to enact national tech regulation have stalled in the House and Senate. Tech regulation, including on social media, has been increasingly determined by judges and courts.
Reality check: It's unclear how the warnings demanded by Murthy would look and whether they'd be effective.
- Big Tech CEOs have largely evaded congressional accountability for their companies' impact on youth mental health.
Flashback: Splashy surgeon general warnings have previously misled the public.
- In 2020, then-Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Americans to stop buying face masks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, incorrectly claiming that they weren't effective in preventing the disease's spread.
Between the lines: U.S. surgeon generals can't actually enact policy, but their announcements often align with a presidential administration's agenda.
- President Biden's administration has shown interest in kids' online safety, last year launching an interagency task force focused on the subject.
Go deeper: Surgeon general calls for warning labels on social media platforms
