Surgeon Normal Vivek Murthy desires tobacco-style warning labels for social media. NPR’s Leila Fadel talks to medical psychologist Michaeline Jensen, who has studied social media’s impact on children.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
U.S. Surgeon Normal Vivek Murthy desires warning labels on social media. Murthy wrote this week in a New York Occasions opinion piece that social media is, quote, “related to vital psychological well being harms for adolescents” and mentioned {that a} warning label will assist higher inform dad and mom concerning the dangers. However are warnings is one thing which are vital and the way damaging is social media to younger folks? To reply that, we’re joined now by a medical psychologist who research social media and children. Michaeline Jensen is an affiliate professor of medical psychology on the College of North Carolina at Greensboro. Welcome to this system.
MICHAELINE JENSEN: Thanks for having me.
FADEL: So primarily based on the analysis, how damaging is social media really to adolescents’ well being?
JENSEN: So total, the analysis round how social media impacts psychological well being for younger folks is absolutely nuanced. And the conclusions aren’t in line with a quite simple social media harms psychological well being warning message as proposed by the Surgeon Normal this week.
FADEL: OK.
JENSEN: Normally, it is sophisticated, mainly, I suppose is the reply.
FADEL: Yeah.
JENSEN: And we will not conclude that at inhabitants degree, social media causes modifications in adolescent psychological well being.
FADEL: So is there one thing to the concept of placing a warning label on social media? Are there sure websites that will injury children or harm their psychological well being and others that do not?
JENSEN: So social – or warning labels slightly extra broadly might be efficient within the sense that they create consciousness, they usually typically level folks in the direction of what to do as a substitute of a dangerous exercise. So we do not know in any respect that social media usually causes psychological well being harms, nor certainly even that sure platforms are extra dangerous. Relatively what we all know is that some forms of engagement on totally different platforms which are social media, might be dangerous to adolescent psychological well being. So take, for instance, partaking in unhealthy social comparisons – so, for instance, round bodily look or our bodies, bodily our bodies. That may be dangerous to shallowness and physique picture and even disordered consuming. However that isn’t the one means that younger persons are partaking on social media, and certainly, many youth aren’t partaking in social media in that means in any respect.
FADEL: So, you say it is sophisticated. I imply, what do you assume total of what Murthy’s proposing right here?
JENSEN: So the concept of a warning label, I feel is attention-grabbing within the sense that he is drawing consideration, and I need to applaud him for this, to a extremely vital psychological well being challenges which are at the moment confronted by adolescents at this time. That half is essential, and I applaud him for that. Nonetheless, psychological well being difficulties themselves are sophisticated, they usually by no means have a single trigger. So it is arduous to say that slapping a warning label on social media will do a measurable quantity to enhance adolescent psychological well being.
FADEL: Are there issues about social media which have been good with regards to adolescents engagements on-line there?
JENSEN: There definitely are. So, certainly, younger folks are inclined to report that their on-line experiences are extra constructive than unfavorable, and sure forms of engagement on social media are notably helpful. So, as an illustration, extent to which younger persons are partaking on social media for social interplay and connection, particularly for youth who’re experiencing social isolation offline. So we noticed that very clearly throughout the pandemic, that that helps them. We additionally see that younger people who find themselves marginalized not directly of their offline lives – they profit fairly significantly from on-line social help and social networks, particularly in the event that they lack these helps of their offline lives. So we have seen that kind of proof for say LGBTQ+ use who might not have nice helps of their face-to-face environments or with their households, however who discover actual connection and help of their on-line social networks.
FADEL: So that you talked about that warning labels on the face of it are good within the sense of bringing consciousness to points round a product. However you talked about how sophisticated that is. Are there interventions right here that you simply assume can be simpler than a warning label?
JENSEN: Yeah, so consciousness will solely get you to this point. Younger persons are fairly conscious that there are purported hyperlinks between social media and psychological well being. I feel that what can be actually helpful to younger folks and their dad and mom can be some evidence-based steering on how they will interact on-line in ways in which do work for them. So dad and mom want steering round how you can maximize these potential advantages and reduce the potential harms. They do not actually need one other individual simply telling them to be careful with none steering on how to try this.
FADEL: Yeah. What concerning the limiting of cellphone use? I imply, on Tuesday, the Los Angeles College Board authorised a ban on college students utilizing cell telephones throughout the college day. What does analysis present us about how cellphone use at school impacts studying, psychological well being?
JENSEN: Yeah, this can be a little bit of various query within the sense that this could prohibit entry to cell telephones particularly, not simply social media. However social media is definitely one of many principal ways in which younger folks use their smartphones.
FADEL: Proper.
JENSEN: That is nonetheless a reasonably new query, and we do not have a ton of form of experimental or empirical proof on this, however we do know a little bit bit from analysis in different nations which have began rolling out these bans on how they may work. We do know that younger folks and their dad and mom are usually perceiving these each as positively and negatively. So, as an illustration, lecturers and fogeys within the Netherlands say that they are liking it, that they’ve this ban that they rolled out this yr. They are saying that their children are maybe much less distracted and connecting extra with their friends. However younger folks see each benefits and drawbacks. They are saying that they are much less distracted and extra linked to their friends face-to-face. However perhaps it is a little bit bit extra chaotic throughout passing durations. So I feel solely time will inform as we see proof about whether or not studying and different outcomes can enhance with issues like cellphone bans on college campuses.
FADEL: Michaeline Jensen is an affiliate professor of medical psychology on the College of North Carolina at Greensboro. Thanks in your time.
JENSEN: Thanks.
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