TOLEDO, Ohio — In 2023, the US Surgeon General issued an advisory outlining the public health risks posed to children by social media; later, in June 2024, the Surgeon General began advocating to place warnings on social media sites similar to those on cigarettes.
As students head back to class in Ohio, the advisory and the advocacy can serve as a guide to parents to become more aware about how social media negatively impacts a child's mental health.
According to the Surgeon General, 95% of children aged 13 to 17 report using social media, while a third of them report using it "almost constantly". Meanwhile, adolescents, age 10 to 19 are at a period brain development and growth that makes them highly sensitive to outside factors. Social media can also disrupt things like sleep and physical activity, which are essential to physical health.
With all of these threats, the US Surgeon General said children should not be left to combat it alone.
According to the Surgeon General, these problems must be addressed by a variety of people, including:
- Researchers
- Policymakers
- Technology companies
- Parents and caregivers
- Teachers
- Young people
A child psychiatrist from Toledo said the U.S Surgeon General is making an effort to improve pediatric mental health because the threat imposed by social media is on the rise, and it impacts kids younger and younger every day.
Dr. Julia Burrow with ProMedica Pediatrics said more visible threats include constant exposure to a variety of topics and bullying. She said it creates negative thoughts around their mood, their self-esteem and even how they feel about their bodies.
The doctor believes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other platforms create direct access to your kids that can have both positive and negative impacts to their mental health.
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"They can leave messages - mean and degrading messages - through these apps that the child does not want to be impacting their lives every day. Cyber bullying is not always disclosed to parents and teachers, but is something that the child is trying to manage on their own, having a great impact on their mental health," said Burrow.
Burrow said parents should create limitations.
"There are different filters that we can use but I encourage most parents to go ahead and educate themselves right along with their child," Burrow said. "So, if they are going to download an app on their child's device, then they should also download the app on their own device so that they can learn how it works and utilize that app to put in the feature."
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