Should social media have alerts similar to tobacco? “We cannot continue to cover our eyes”
North American children, a recent survey revealed, spend an average of 4.8 hours every day on social networks, such as Instagram or TikTok, to which are added platforms such as YouTube. A situation of evident (and growing) dependence that last week led the US surgeon general (Portugal’s equivalent to the director general of Health) to suggest, in an article published in ‘The New York Times’, the introduction on these digital platforms of a warning (similar to what exists today on tobacco or alcoholic beverages) about the risks to young people’s mental health.
Vivek Murthy considers that, specifically in these age groups, and when used excessively and without parental control, our social networks “are not proven safe†and have become, today, a “powerful technology released without adequate transparency or accountability.”
The North American surgeon general, who last year had published a extensive report on the issue of overexposure of younger people to social media, he also states, pointing to scientific studies, that it increases the risk of developing mental health disorders (from depression to anxiety) in young people who spend more than three hours a day on these digital platforms.
Vivek Murthy therefore suggests that the technology giants that own the platforms, in addition to inserting the aforementioned messages about addiction, impose minimum age limits on the use (without consent or parental supervision) of networks social networks – currently, the vast majority of platforms impose a minimum age of 13 years -, also proposing the end of so-called infinite “scrollingâ€, i.e., there should be a limit on browsing time on platforms.
