Executive summary

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called for warning labels on social media. Concluding from the scientific consensus of negative mental health effects on the developing brains of youth, the effectiveness of labels is up for debate. This brief will explain the scientific context and legislative future for limits or warnings on social media for tomorrow's youth.

Background

Earlier this year, Murthy placed a call to quickly place a warning label on social media platforms to protect online youth and adolescents. Murthy emphasized the relationship between mental health harm and social media, mentioning that young people who spend more than three hours a day on social media are at double the risk of experiencing anxiety and depression symptoms. Murthy stated plans to work with lawmakers to ensure that warning labels are mandated and to begin regulating current social media features that contribute to excessive usage among youth, such as push notifications and ‘infinite’ scrolling. The US surgeon general also extended the call to social media companies, asking them to share their data on the health effects of their platforms and encouraging independent safety audit processes. 

Although Murthy’s proposal is geared towards raising awareness and advocating for immediate change, the US surgeon general also made mention of the ongoing debate regarding the impact of social media on mental health. 

History

Current Stances

In recent years, the idea of placing health warnings on social media platforms has gained significant traction. Much of this attention has stemmed from concerns about adolescent development and mental health. In June of 2024, the U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, called for considering warning labels on social media platforms. The rise of social media in the 2010s prompted an uptick in research on the topic. Much of this research highlighted how excessive usage of platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat correlated to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and body image concerns among teens. One noteworthy study in 2019 revealed that adolescents who spend over three hours a day on social media doubled their risk of developing many of these symptoms. Murthy emphasized that the potential harms of social media on teenagers – including anxiety, depression, and body image – is troubling due to its addictive nature and that these harms must be communicated to users. 

This movement of regulating the impacts of social media on mental health has led to a dramatic push for labels. Although it is true that these platforms foster connection between peers, Murthy calls attention to the need for stronger regulations to protect young users from the various privacy violations and harmful content that may stunt their development or damage their mental health. The ongoing discourse of its harm mirrors historical precedents, such as the implementation of tobacco warnings in the 1960s. The clear message was successful in increasing public awareness and behavior of societal change. However, many critics argue that warning labels could breach free speech rights and are ineffective in addressing the issue, so there is a push for regulatory approaches – such as stronger privacy protections and transparency about data collection practices – to ensure safety for all users instead.

While social media is critical to connectedness and communication between peers in this digital age, its harm is notable. Continued efforts to mitigate the issue through ethical and legal frameworks are necessary for technology to grow while maintaining safety for adolescent development. 

Policy Problem

The advent of social media use amongst teenagers and young people across the globe within the last decade has led to significant concerns about their harmful and pervasive effects, especially surrounding mental health and the spread of disinformation. According to a report by Yale Medical School, which studied teens ages 12 to 15, those who used social media more than three hours a day “faced twice the risk of having negative mental health outcomes, including depression and anxiety symptoms.” Furthermore, it suggested that such use of social media platforms has contributed to other negative outcomes within youth populations, such as “cyberbullying-related depression, body image and disordered eating behaviors, and poor sleep quality linked to social media use.” Excessive use of social media among many teenagers has caused them to develop feelings of inadequacy and isolation, often as a result of the counter-productive and toxic discourse these platforms have provided a breeding ground to. This has perpetuated a cycle of mental health challenges amongst these users, furthered by the lack of a system to identify and support such individuals who are victims of the vicious cycle.  Moreover, excessive use of social media can also pose substantial harm to young people’s mental health by causing them to develop addiction and compulsive behaviors. These online platforms’ algorithms are designed in a way to maximize the amount of time users spend on their app, often resulting in addiction amongst young users as, over time, they start to compulsively check their notifications and profiles while potentially feeling the obsessive need to update their social media pages continuously. Such behaviors can lead to a multitude of negative effects as these individuals grow up, including decreased attention span and heightened stress amongst others. As a result, warning systems that ensure that parents and teens are better informed of these risks beforehand must be implemented to ensure that they can engage with social media in a healthier, more balanced way. 

Moreover, excessive use of social media can also pose substantial harm to young people’s mental health by causing them to develop addiction and compulsive behaviors. These online platforms’ algorithms are designed in a way to maximize the amount of time users spend on their app, often resulting in addiction amongst young users as, over time, they start to compulsively check their notifications and profiles while potentially feeling the obsessive need to update their social media pages continuously. Such behaviors can lead to a multitude of negative effects as these individuals grow up, including decreased attention span and heightened stres,s amongst others. As a result, warning systems that ensure that parents and teens are better informed of these risks beforehand can be implemented to ensure that they can engage with social media in a healthier, more balanced way.

Policy Options

The recent call by U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy for warning labels on social media platforms highlights a growing concern about the negative impact of social media on the mental health of adolescents. With evidence suggesting that excessive social media use is linked to increased risks of anxiety and depression among teens, there is an urgent need for policy interventions. These policy options outline three alternative policy options aimed at mitigating these negative impacts: enhanced age verification and parental controls, mandatory mental health impact assessments for social media platforms, and the promotion of digital literacy and mental health education in schools. Enhanced age verification and parental controls: Requiring social media companies to implement robust age verification systems and enhanced parental control features can provide a first line of defense. 

These systems should include technologies such as biometric verification or government-issued ID checks to ensure users are above the minimum age requirement. Additionally, parental control features can be implemented to allow parents to monitor and limit their children's social media use, set time restrictions, and block inappropriate content. Stronger age verification can prevent underage users from accessing platforms not suitable for their age group. At the same time, enhanced parental controls empower parents to protect their children from potentially harmful content and excessive usage. This approach can help reduce exposure to inappropriate material and the mental health risks associated with prolonged social media use, fostering a safer online environment for adolescents​. There is popular opposition to iage verification with its practicality and impact. Methods of verification, such as face-scanning to verify age, have already been rejected by the FEC if they are not unpopular with teens. The ways age verification can even come to praxis is yet to be seen. Mandatory mental health impact assessments: Introducing legislation requiring social media platforms to conduct regular assessments is another viable option. 

Independent bodies should carry out these assessments and evaluate the effects of platform design, algorithms, and content on users' mental health. Results should be publicly available, and platforms must implement recommended changes to mitigate identified risks. By mandating mental health impact assessments, social media companies will be held accountable for the psychological well-being of their users. This can lead to the redesign of harmful features, such as infinite scroll and autoplay, and the implementation of protective measures like exposure limits to distressing content. Transparency and accountability can drive platforms to prioritize user health, ultimately reducing the adverse mental health outcomes associated with social media use​​.

Digital literacy and mental health education: Integrating comprehensive digital literacy and mental health education into school curriculums is also a potential solution.

Programs should focus on teaching students about the responsible use of social media, recognizing signs of mental health issues, and developing coping strategies. Schools should also provide resources and training for teachers to support students in navigating digital environments safely. Educating young people about the potential risks and benefits of social media use equips them with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions. Enhanced awareness can lead to healthier social media habits and resilience against negative influences. This proactive approach addresses the root of the problem by fostering a generation of digitally literate and mentally resilient individuals, thereby reducing the long-term impact of social media on adolescent mental health​.

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Conclusions

As social media becomes increasingly prevalent in the average teen's everyday life, averaging up to 4.8 hours a day, health professionals believe that social media platforms should require a surgeon general’s warning label. From a medical perspective, such viewpoints on the warning labels in social media platforms stem from the negative mental health effects social media poses onto teens. Teenagers who use social media for more than three hours a day are twice as likely to experience signs of anxiety and despair. Furthermore, almost 50% of teenagers claim that social media makes them feel worse about their bodies. 

Studies have shown that tobacco warning labels provide evidence that warning labels have the power to raise awareness and alter behavior. However, Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, admits that a warning label alone would not make youth social media safe. He has made specific suggestions for platforms, legislators, and the general public to make social media safer for children in my advice from a year ago about social media and the mental health of young people. These policies, which now have broad bipartisan support, continue to be the top priority for healthcare providers with similar views of Dr. Murthy.

Healthcare workers such as Dr. Vivek H. Murthy see a vision of warning labels creating a more healthy relationship between teens and social media platforms. In order to create these improvements that will make social media safer for our kids, the federal government could continue to invest in initiatives that focus on these issues. For example, the Kids Online Health & Safety Task Force could keep up its leadership to help diminish the negative effects social media is having on its youth. The next steps to create this healthy relationship with social media for those with this “treat the cause” mindset can be to continue pushing for congressional action that permits the surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms. 

Acknowledgment

The Institute for Youth in Policy wishes to acknowledge Anagha Nagesh, Megha Madgula, Nolan Ezzet and other contributors for developing and maintaining the Policy Department within the Institute.

References

1. Bickham , David, Elizabeth Hunt , Benoît Bediou, and Micheal Rich. “Adolescent Media Use: Attitudes, Effects, and Online ...” Boston Children’s Digital Wellness Lab, August 2022. https://digitalwellnesslab.org/wp-content/uploads/Pulse-Survey_Adolescent-Attitudes-Effects-and-Experiences.pdf. 
2. “Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Actions to Protect Youth Mental Health, Safety & Privacy Online.” The White House, February 15, 2024. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/23/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-actions-to-protect-youth-mental-health-safety-privacy-online/. 
3. Riehm, Kira, Kenneth Feder, and Kayla Tormohlen. “Associations between Social Media Time and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems among US Youth.” JAMA Psychiatry, December 1, 2019. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2749480. 
4. Rothwell, Jonathan. “Teens Spend Average of 4.8 Hours on Social Media Per Day.” Gallup.com, October 13, 2024. https://news.gallup.com/poll/512576/teens-spend-average-hours-social-media-per-day.aspx. 
5. Smoking cessation: A report of the surgeon general, 2020. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2020-cessation-sgr-full-report.pdf. 
6. Social Media and Youth Mental Health, 2023. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/sg-youth-mental-health-social-media-advisory.pdf. 

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