3 tips for limiting negative effects of social media on children from a clinical psychologist (2024)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- In a phone addicted world, it can be hard to protect children from its negative impacts. But one clinical psychologist is weighing in to help.

The U.S. surgeon general has called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people’s lives, similar to those nowmandatory on cigarette boxes.

In a Mondayopinion piecein the The New York Times, Dr. Vivek Murthy said that social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people.

“It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe,” Murthy said. “Evidence from tobacco studies show that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”

Social media use is prevalent among young people, with up to95% of youthages 13 to 17 saying that they use a social media platform, and more than a third saying that they use social media “almost constantly,” according to 2022 data from the Pew Research Center.

Dr. Lisa Strohman, a clinical psychologist and online safety expert, first saw the harmful impact of online content during the Columbine High School shooting when she worked at the FBI. That shifted her focus to the psychological impact of technology and social media.

Strohman called Murthy's approach to social media refreshing.

"We haven't done anything to change it," Strohman said. "We know that something is happening that's nefarious and bad for our children, it's time to put a warning on it."

Actually getting the labels on social media platforms would take congressional action — and it’s not clear how quickly that might happen, even with apparent bipartisan unity around child safety online. Lawmakers have held multiple congressional hearings on child online safety and there’s legislation in the works. Still, the last federal law aimed at protecting children online was enacted in 1998, six years before Facebook’s founding.

Strohman believes labels are a good idea, but might not be a direct preventive measure.

"As a parent, we will deal with a lot of safety issues, if there's a label on a nutritional package, we want to talk about high fructose corn syrup, we want to talk about how that impacts our body, we talk about our kids and give them guidelines on those things," Strohman said. "Labels and that approach, philosophically is a great idea. We've got to figure out from a perspective of actual product safety, how they're going to work and how we protect kids more than just 'hey, this is a dangerous product.'"

Even with Congressional approval, warning labels would likely be challenged in the courts by tech companies.

“Putting a warning label on online speech isn’t just scientifically unsound, it’s at odds with the constitutional right to free speech,” Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the tech industry policy group Chamber of Progress, said to the Associated Press. “It’s surprising to see the U.S. Surgeon General attacking social media when teens themselves say it provides an important outlet for social connection.”

Last year,Murthywarned that there wasn’t enough evidence to show thatsocial mediais safe for children and teens. He said at the time that policymakers needed to address the harms of social media the same way they regulate things like car seats, baby formula, medication and other products children use.

To comply with federal regulation, social media companies already ban kids under 13 from signing up for their platforms — but children have been shown to easily get around the bans, both with and without their parents’ consent.

Other measures social platforms have taken to address concerns about children’s mental health can also be easily circumvented. For instance, TikTok introduced a default60-minute time limitfor users under 18. But once the limit is reached, minors can simply enter a passcode to keep watching.

In January the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee totestifyas parents worry that they’re not doing enough to protect young people. The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors.

Murthy said Monday that Congress needs to implement legislation that will protect young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content.

“The measures should prevent platforms from collecting sensitive data from children and should restrict the use of features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use,” Murthy wrote.

Strohman said the CDC reports an increase of self-harm, depression and suicidal thoughts in teenagers during the rise of social media.

"The fact that you can see that this is truly impacting them on such a deep level is most important," Strohman said. "It's impacting them in so many ways of where they're having to challenge themselves to try to keep up with this fake version of what we all are posting online that isn't attainable in real life."

The surgeon general is also recommending that companies be required to share all their data on health effects with independent scientists and the public, which they currently don’t do, and allow independent safety audits.

Murthy said schools and parents also need to participate in providing phone-free times and that doctors, nurses and other clinicians should help guide families toward safer practices.

Strohman recommends families first do an assessment technology usage and discuss the negative impacts on children of more than two hours.

"You're damaging your brain, the same way you are if you're eating really terrible food for yourself," she said.

She said it's important for parents to talk to their children about the possibility of encountering people with bad intentions.

"It's not being afraid to talk about the fact that there's people who make good choices in life and people that make bad choices. We don't have to scare them, do it age appropriate, but make sure that that you know that they have a healthy sense of skepticism when they're online."

And encourage kids to form an honest dialogue about their social media use before a dangerous situation presents itself.

"Kids are going to protect having access to that device at all costs, meaning they will lie, cheat and steal in many ways just to try to protect themselves so that you don't take that device away," Strohman said. "This isn't about us taking a device away, it's about knowing that there are going to be these situations that come up, we'll handle it together."

Strohman has also written two books on this topic Unplug: Raising Kids in a Technology Addicted World and Digital Distress: Growing Up Online.Those books are available for free byclicking here.

Strohman also works for a company called GameSafe.ai that develops software to detect inappropriate messages or dangerous behaviors on certain gaming software your child might use. Click Here for a link to download the software.

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