The US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has issued a warning that social media could be harming our kids. His social media advisory is a welcome road map for what everyone — policymakers, tech companies, parents, kids and researchers — should be doing to better understand the impact of platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat on the developing brains of adolescents.
There are yawning gaps in our knowledge of social media’s effects at this critical point in development. Many of Murthy’s recommendations centered on filling those gaps. And while Murthy also offers advice for parents, educators and even kids themselves, the most urgent recommendations in the report are ones that companies need to take the lead on.
He’d like to see companies adding scientific advisory boards to guide safe product design, reacting swiftly if evidence of harm emerges, and doing more to enforce age minimums. Policymakers, who have been fumbling to put the social media genie back in the bottle via unconstitutional bans, should be pursuing these kinds of realistic recommendations around the design and use of these platforms.
