Surgeon-general’s call for warning labels on social media highlights concerns for teen mental health

Amid growing concerns about the effects of social media on adolescent mental health, on June 17, 2024, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for the addition of warning labels on social media platforms, similar to the Surgeon General’s warnings about cigarettes. and alcohol.

Murphy’s warning cites a study showing that teenagers who use more than three hours of social media a day face double the risk of mental health problems.

It comes a year after Murphy released a major public advisory on the links between social media and young people’s mental health.

As an eating disorder and anxiety specialist, I regularly work with clients experiencing eating disorder symptoms, self-esteem issues and anxiety related to social media.

I also have first-hand experience with this topic: I’m 16 years into recovery from an eating disorder, and as a teenager, I grew up when people started using social media extensively. In my opinion, the impact of social media on mental health, especially on diet and exercise patterns, cannot be mitigated simply by a warning label. However, it is an important starting point for raising awareness of the harms of social media.

Links, associations and causal effects

Experts have long suspected that social media may play a role in the growing mental health crisis among young people. However, the surgeon general’s 2023 warning was one of the first government warnings backed by solid research.

Critics of the call for warning labels argue that it oversimplifies a complex issue and that restricting access to social media in any way would do more harm than good. Some supporters think it’s a step in the right direction and far less restrictive than trying to start with more sweeping privacy regulations.

And so far, calls for action on social media regulation have fallen flat.

Researchers are limited to only studying associations, which makes it difficult to establish causal links. But there are many studies that show a link between watching media and worsening self-esteem, body image and mental health.

Additionally, there is scientific evidence that has shown the effectiveness of including warning labels in deterring the use of substances such as tobacco and alcohol.

However, the warning label strategy has been used for eating disorder content and digitally altered images online, with mixed results. These studies showed that warning labels do not reduce the negative impact of media on body image. Some of the research even found that warning labels can increase body and appearance comparisons, which are thought to be the main reasons why social media can be harmful to self-esteem.

Possible damages

Research shows that images of beauty as depicted in movies, social media, television and magazines can lead to mental illness, disordered eating problems and body image dissatisfaction.

Body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents is common and has been linked to reduced quality of life, worsening mood and unhealthy eating habits.

Adolescent and adolescent mental health has been in decline over the past decade, and the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the deterioration of youth mental health and brought it into the spotlight. As the mental health crisis grows, researchers have looked closely at the role of social media in these growing mental health concerns.

The pros and cons of social media

About 95% of children and adolescents in the US between the ages of 10 and 17 use social networks almost constantly. A 2023 study found that teenagers spend about five hours a day on social media.

Research has shown that social media can be useful for finding community support. However, studies have also shown that social media use contributes to social comparisons, unrealistic expectations, and negative mental health effects.

Additionally, those with pre-existing mental health conditions tend to spend more time on social media. People in that category are more likely to self-objectify and adopt the thin body ideal. Women and people with pre-existing body image concerns are more likely than others to feel worse about their bodies and themselves after spending time on social media.

A breeding ground for eating disorders?

A recent review found that, as with mass media, social media use is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder, body image dissatisfaction, and disordered eating. In this review, social media use was shown to contribute to negative self-esteem, social comparisons, decreased emotional regulation, and idealized self-presentation that negatively impacted body image.

Another study, called the Dove Self-Esteem Project, published in April 2023, found that 9 in 10 children and teens aged 10 to 17 are exposed to toxic beauty content on social media, and 1 in 2 say they this has an impact on mental health.

Researchers have also found that increased time at home during the pandemic led to more social media use by young people and therefore more exposure to toxic body image and dieting social media content.

While social media alone will not cause eating disorders, societal beliefs about beauty, which are reinforced by social media, may contribute to the development of eating disorders.

‘Thinspo’ and ‘fitspo’

Toxic beauty standards online include the normalization of cosmetic and surgical procedures and pro-eating disorder content, which promotes and romanticizes eating disorders. For example, social media sites have promoted trends such as “thinspo,” which focuses on the thin ideal, and “fitspo,” which perpetuates the belief that there is a perfect body that can be achieved through diet, supplements, and exercise. excessive.

Research has shown that social media content that encourages “clean eating” or following a diet based on pseudoscientific claims can lead to obsessive behavior around food. These baseless “wellness” posts can lead to weight cycling, yo-yo dieting, chronic stress, body dissatisfaction, and a higher likelihood of muscularity and thin-ideal internalization.

Some social media posts contain pro-eating disorder content that directly or indirectly encourages disordered eating. Other posts promote the deliberate manipulation of one’s body, using hurtful statements such as “nothing tastes as good as feeling thin.” These posts provide a false sense of connection, allowing users to bond over a common goal of losing weight, changing their appearance, and continuing disordered eating patterns.

While young people can often recognize and understand the effects of toxic beauty advice on their self-esteem, they may still continue to engage with this content. This is partly because friends, influencers and social media algorithms encourage people to follow certain accounts.

Areas without telephone

Small steps at home to reduce social media consumption can also make a difference. Parents and guardians can create phone-free periods for the family. Examples of this include putting away phones while the family watches a movie together or during mealtimes.

Adults can also help by modeling healthy social media behaviors and encouraging children and teens to focus on building connections and engaging in worthwhile activities.

Consuming social media carefully is another useful approach. This requires knowing what it feels like to scroll through social media. If spending time on social media makes you feel worse about yourself or seems to be causing mood swings in your child, it may be time to change the way you or your child interact with social media.

This is an updated version of an article originally published on June 7, 2023.