The increasing use of social media is becoming so dangerous that US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says that it should come with warning signs similar to cigarettes and alcohol.
Yes, social media can be as harmful or even more. It is highly addictive and harms mental and physical health in multiple ways. It might be slow to act compared to substances of abuse, but then young minds are consuming social media in massive amounts a day. Many people are spending as much as half a day consuming/using social media.
There is increasing evidence that social media is one of the most significant contributing factors to the rise of mental health issues among adolescents and young adults. Mental health issues that were earlier mostly found in adults are becoming increasingly common in adolescents.
Thus, for example, social media is fueling the epidemics of issues like anxiety and eating disorders in the young population. Health experts are already warning about the deepening mental health crisis among teens. The majority of US teens are experiencing one or another kind of mental health issue, from anxiety to severe depression and increasing suicide rates.
Just take a look at the causes of death among teenagers in the US. The top three causes are unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. All of these are highly preventable causes of death. Not only that, mental health issues are among the leading causes of these deaths.
However, what is worrisome is how to reduce teens’ use of social media. Of course, warning labels would be insufficient. Taking certain regulatory actions to limit the daily social media use by teams might have the opposite effect. Further, calls for regulating social media in some manner have failed miserably.
Of course, not everyone agrees about social media harms, with some saying that most evidence is indirect. Nonetheless, direct, or high-quality evidence is increasing with each year. More and more studies are now showing the association between social media and lower self-esteem, body image, and mental health issues.
Although warning signs might have limited benefits, some experts argue that these warning signs have helped raise awareness regarding the health harms of alcohol and tobacco. Thus, they think that warning signs may also help reduce social media use by teenagers and young adults.
There are tens of ways in which social media can cause harm. For example, images of beauty as depicted in movies and social media may lead to reduced self-esteem and mental health issues. It might cause eating disorders. Not only that, many teens become dissatisfied with their lives and develop mood and emotional disorders.
These worries are real, considering that 95% of children and adolescents in the US regularly use social media. Those are massive numbers. Also worrisome is the number of hours spent browsing social media. Most teens are spending five or more hours each day.
Perhaps the biggest harm comes from various toxic beauty trends on social media, causing eating disorders and emotional disorders like depression.
Researchers say that one of the practical ways of overcoming this epidemic is by taking small steps at home, such as having phone-free periods for the family. For example, putting phones away when watching films with the family. Additionally, adults need to pay greater attention to their children and build better connections with them. They can also avail of telehealth addiction treatment, which can guide and support them in developing healthy digital habits.
