Why the U.S. Surgeon General Wants a Warning Label for Social Media – By Simmone Shah (TIME) / June 17, 2024
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called upon Congress on Monday to issue a warning label for visitors to social media platforms to combat what he called an “emergency” mental health crisis amongst youth.
“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,” he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
Murthy is calling for a periodic notification that reminds users of the risks. “A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” he wrote.
For decades, cigarette manufacturers have been mandated to place a similar warning label on packaging, cautioning users of the health risks. The warning was unprecedented when it was implemented in 1965 via Congressional action, after then Surgeon General Luther L. Terry released a report the year before outlining the links between smoking and lung cancer.
CONTINUE > https://time.com/6989369/us-surgeon-general-warning-label-social-media/
