The Surgeon General Thinks Social Media Should Have a Warning Label

Here are four ways you can take action RIGHT NOW

Hello, everyone!

First things first, a warm welcome to new subscribers (including those from the

After Babel

Substack who read my post there about kids and smartphones). I’m thrilled you’re joining us.

There’s been a lot happening since last I wrote. On the personal side, my husband has been away on an extended work trip since May 13 (!!!), which has made it tough to stick to my aspirational newsletter schedule, let alone do things like exercise, clean the house, or remember to eat lunch. (A huge shout-out to any solo parents out there—you are doing hard work.) If you’ve wondered why you haven’t heard from me in a while, that’s why.

But more relevantly, the past month has seen some truly wonderful developments in terms of kids, smartphones, and social media that I am eager to share with you—and which I hope you’ll share with others who might be interested. Most importantly:

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US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Calls for a Warning Label on Social Media

Yesterday, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy published an op-ed in the New York Times calling for there to be a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, akin to the ones found on cigarette boxes, stating that “social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.”

As he writes, “A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.”

Xinmei Liu for the New York Times

Dr. Murthy has been sounding the alarm on the health risks of social media use for a while now, most notably in a health advisory he issued last May, but his call for a warning label is by far his most assertive move yet. Here’s my favorite paragraph:

Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars, planes or food? These harms are not a failure of willpower and parenting; they are the consequence of unleashing powerful technology without adequate safety measures, transparency or accountability.

In addition to calling for Congress to mandate a warning label, Dr. Murthy also advocates for changes including:

• Legislation from Congress “shield[ing] young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds.” The measures should “prevent platforms from collecting sensitive data from children and should restrict the use of features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.” (He also wants to see continued support for the federal Kids Online Health & Safety Task Force.)

• Requiring companies to “share all of their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public — currently they do not — and allow independent safety audits.” As he writes, “While the platforms claim they are making their products safer, Americans need more than words. We need proof.”

• Encouraging school administrators to make the school day a phone-free experience (including during lunch and recess) to help students focus and have time to socialize together in person without the distraction caused by phones.

• Encouraging pediatricians and other doctors, nurses, and public health leaders to “raise the issue of social media with kids and parents and guide them toward safer practices.” (I’m working on a resource kit specifically geared toward pediatricians. If you’re a pediatrician and have thoughts or requests for resources that would be helpful for you and your practice, please leave a comment—and/or share this post with your own kids’ pediatrician and ask them to do the same. )

• Encouraging parents to “create phone-free zones around bedtime, meals and social gatherings to safeguard their kids’ sleep and real-life connections — both of which have direct effects on mental health. And they should wait until after middle school to allow their kids access to social media.”

  • Given that this is easier said than done, he also encourages parents to “work together with other families to establish shared rules, so no parents have to struggle alone or feel guilty when their teens say they are the only one who has to endure limits.”

• Supporting young people who are trying to create change. (He specifically recommends checking out the Log Off movement and Wired Human.)

This is a big deal.

While the Surgeon General can’t mandate a warning label on his own — as he points out, that requires Congressional approval — such a strongly worded statement from “the Nation’s Doctor” is likely to have ripple effects even if the warning label does not come to be.

More specifically, I believe it will make it easier for government officials, school administrators, parents, pediatricians, and even teenagers themselves to take a stand against social media. And if Congress does end up approving a warning label, the effects could be even greater. An accompanying piece in the NYT points out that before cigarette boxes had a warning label, roughly 42 percent of American adults smoked. These days, it’s closer to 11.5 percent.¹

Four Things You Can Do Right Now

As Dr. Murthy writes, “One of the most important lessons I learned in medical school was that in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information. You assess the available facts, you use your best judgment, and you act quickly.” As he concludes, “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor.” We need to take action—and we need to do it now.

(Not convinced? Check out this post from Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch making the case for why we should not wait.)

To that end, here are four things that you personally can do today:

1. Share (and talk about) the Surgeon General’s statement with your friends, fellow parents, school administrators, and your kids’ pediatrician.²

Encourage them to do the same. The more people who are aware that America’s top doctor believes that social media is harmful for youth mental health, the better. (Here’s an article about it from the AP that I believe does not have a paywall; you can also share this post.)

2. Invite other parents and caregivers to join you in pledging to delay the age at which you give your kids access to smartphones and social media.

(They’re legally not even supposed to be on the platforms till they’re at least 13, and that age is purely the result of lobbying, so this should be an easy lift.) Just create a shared Google doc or spreadsheet that says, “We pledge not to give our children smartphones until at least high school or social media until they are at least 16”* and invite people to sign it. I created one of these for my daughter’s K-8 school in May, targeting preschoolers through sixth graders, and almost 10% of the students are already signed up!

*Note that there are different opinions on the appropriate ages. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation advocates waiting till at least high school for smartphones and 16 for social media; a recent report from the French government recommends waiting until they are at least 13 for smartphones and at least 18 (!) for social media; Melanie Hempe, founder of ScreenStrong, suggests 18 for both.

I personally prefer at least 16 for both because I think it’s easier to pick just one age, and also because if your kid has a smartphone, they’re likely going to have access to social media. (Parental control plans such as Bark or Canopy can be helpful.) Jon makes the valid point, though, that at this moment, waiting till 16 for a smartphone might feel too radical to some parents, and that high school is an easier starting target—which is why I’ve used his phrasing above. You can decide what feels right to you , but regardless of what age you choose, be sure to clarify that these ages are minimum recommendations.

It’s also essential to remind people who are considering signing the pledge that they can get their kids phones before then; just not smartphones. Here’s a list of smartphone alternatives.

3. Talk about the issue with your own kids — regardless of whether they already use social media.

• If they’re young enough (and/or don’t yet have social media), talk with them about the business models of these platforms (i.e. they make money by manipulating us into spending our time and attention on them) and some of the negative effects that occur when we compare ourselves to people we see online. If you start early enough, you may be able to inoculate them against even wanting to be on social media—if we can get our kids to think that social media is uncool, we will have succeeded! (Another parent recently told me that his daughter has started to call out her mom when she’s scrolling through Instagram; my own daughter shakes her head while telling me about her 3rd grade classmates who supposedly are already on “TicTac.”³) The film The Social Dilemma is an excellent conversation starter for slightly older kids.

• If they’ve got older siblings who are already on the platforms, you can also let them know that we adults have recently realized that social media is not good for kids, which is why they will not be allowed to use it till they’re older. (We do the same thing for alcohol, after all!)

• If your kid already has social media, you can always consider changing course and revoking their access. (After all, parents changed their attitudes toward cigarettes once the health risks were clear.) Regardless, it’s definitely worth having a conversation with them about how they feel when they use the platforms, and if there’s any part of them that wishes that they didn’t feel such pressure to be on social media. You might be surprised by the conversation that results. For example, here’s how the Surgeon General describes an encounter he had with some students last fall:

  As often happens in such gatherings, they raised the issue of social media.

  After they talked about what they liked about social media — a way to stay in touch with old friends, find communities of shared identity and express themselves creatively — a young woman named Tina raised her hand. “I just don’t feel good when I use social media,” she said softly, a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

  Her confession opened the door for her classmates. One by one, they spoke about their experiences with social media: the endless comparison with other people that shredded their self-esteem, the feeling of being addicted and unable to set limits and the difficulty having real conversations on platforms that too often fostered outrage and bullying. There was a sadness in their voices, as if they knew what was happening to them but felt powerless to change it.

4. Delete your own social media accounts from your phone for the week.

(Trust me: the companies will still hold on to all your data.) Telling kids that social media is bad for them while simultaneously remaining tethered to our own feeds is the equivalent of telling them not to smoke while puffing on a cigarette. Let’s put our money where our mouths are: if we believe that social media is bad for mental health, then let’s all experiment with not using social media. Try deleting your social media apps and keeping them off your phone for the rest of this week. Invite your kids to join you. Then on Sunday night, have a conversation about what it felt like, and how it changed your interactions. (Note that a true social media “detox” could take upwards of 3 weeks, since heavy users are likely to experience withdrawal symptoms — but even a brief experiment can be eye-opening.)

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One More Optimistic Update:

I’ve started to officially collaborate with Jonathan Haidt and his team on their efforts to roll back the phone-based childhood, as he calls it, and offer children more opportunities for fun and unstructured play. You’ve probably seen or heard Jon the news: his book, The Anxious Generation, has been at the top of the bestseller lists for months, he’s been all over the media talking about kids, phones, and social media, and he (and his collaborator,

Zach Rausch

) are the creators of the

After Babel

Substack, which is a must read for anyone interested in these issues. (Seriously, you should click on that link and subscribe right now!)

I’ve now had a chance to get to know Jon and his team firsthand and learn more about how they’re thinking about and approaching this problem, and I cannot tell you how heartened and optimistic I am. They’re brilliant, they’re passionate, they’re practical, and they’ve got the attention of people who have the power to make changes happen. I’ve been worrying about kids, smartphones and social media ever since I started working on How to Break Up With Your Phone in 2016. But today, as I write this newsletter, I’ve never felt more hopeful.

With that said, we can’t just rely on the work of a few people; change is not going to happen unless all of us take action.

Dave Cicirelli, an artist who’s also collaborating with Haidt’s team, recently shared a video that illustrates how movements get started: we typically give the credit to the first person who’s brave enough to take a stand. But in reality, the most important people are the first followers: they signal to everyone else that it’s safe to join in.

So I encourage you to be a first follower. Take a stand. Say no to social media and smartphones for your kids.

It may feel scary at first, but I bet you that in just a few months, you’ll look around you and find that you’re dancing in a crowd.

To scrolling less and living more,

Catherine Price

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PS: I mentioned in my last newsletter, I gave a presentation about kids, smartphones, and social media at my daughter’s school in May and created an edited recording of it that you are welcome to share with anyone you think might find it useful. Jon Haidt called it "one of the best talks [he’s] seen on the problem of phone-based childhood," and said that "This is the video you should share with the parents of your kids’ friends." (Italics his.) Here it is again, if you’d like to check it out and/or share it.

PPS: Last year, I had the honor of meeting the Surgeon General personally when he invited me to be a guest on his House Calls Podcast to talk about screen/life balance and How to Break Up With Your Phone. I subsequently read his book, Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, and I’ve been a super fan ever since!

1. The decline in smoking rates is obviously not entirely attributable to the addition of a warning label, but the warning label did help to usher in a cultural shift by explicitly—and officially—stating that cigarettes cause harm, and hammering that message home every time someone picked up a pack of cigarettes. Before then, smoking had been marketed as being harmless, if not even healthy — my own mother, who’s a retired nurse, can remember a time when surgeons smoked in the operating room!

2. Pediatricians are an underutilized resource when it comes to the fight against social media and smartphones — they’re trusted authorities whose advice parents often actually take!

3. I find this so endearing that I refuse to correct her.