After a study published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics warned about how social media use “rewires” adolescents’ brains, the surgeon general has joined the fray.
Dr. Vivek Murthy appeared on CNN Sunday and warned that children should only be allowed to access the platforms once they’re between 16 and 18 — that’s up to five years older than social media companies currently allow.
“I, personally, based on the data I’ve seen, believe that 13 is too early,” he explained. “It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships, and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children.”
Like the study in JAMA, Murthy warned that young people are being bombarded with harmful messages that could damage self-esteem. Meanwhile, a recent NGO report claims TikTok’s algorithm targets “vulnerable teens” and recommends “harmful” content to them, sometimes as rapidly as every 27 to 39 seconds.
Murthy continued, “If parents can band together and say, you know, as a group, we’re not going to allow our kids to use social media until 16 or 17 or 18 or whatever age they choose, that’s a much more effective strategy in making sure your kids don’t get exposed to harm early.”