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Is social media "more like cigarettes, 🚬 where smokers often say they enjoy smoking, but more than 71 percent of smokers regret ever starting?" Brutal. A recent survey by The New York Times and The Harris Poll shows the mixed feelings #GenZ has about social media and potential regrets about starting so early. Have we swung too far being chronically online? I am one of the few that got to experience a childhood with and without my life online. But it's in Gen Z's DNA. 23%, TWENTY-THREE PERCENT of those surveyed admitted to being on social media for 7 (SEVEN) hours a day. 😵💫 And about 40% said social media negatively impacted their mental health. It's time for platforms, governments, and as one, parents, to step in and regulate this tech. It's a love hate relationship that people working in social have to delicately balance every day. Def worth the read by Jonathan Haidt and Will Johnson: https://lnkd.in/gVti6CCU

"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." - US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy I would argue social media is not just harming adolescents - it's harming us all. I remove Instagram completely from my phone about once a month, always conscious that I feel more frustrated and angry when I have access to the app. This is a concerning, but important, article to read. We haven't given these poor kids a chance! A few excerpts if you don't have the time.... "Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms..." The average daily use in this age group was 4.8 hours! "Faced with high levels of car-accident-related deaths in the mid- to late 20th century, lawmakers successfully demanded seatbelts, airbags, crash testing and a host of other measures that ultimately made cars safer. This January the F.A.A. grounded about 170 planes when a door plug came off while the plane was in the air. Why is it that we have failed to respond to the harms of social media when they are no less urgent or widespread than those posed by unsafe cars and planes?" Link here -> https://lnkd.in/gzmDNGVc

WAPO responded to the Surgeon General's NYT Opinion piece (calling for social media warning labels) with this decent summary of issues. Importantly, Tatum Hunter includes something that most media reports are currently leaving out: Murthy's call for social media companies to share data and research into health effects so independent experts can examine it. So Americans who follow mainstream media will hear all the sensationalist stuff equating social media with cigarette smoking, but not the things that could make for serious policy. Wearing my #MediaLiteracy educator hat I implore journalists to do better. Teens have real issues. A warning label is more likely to induce guilt than solve their problems. We need better policies and for that to happen, Americans need better info. The historian in me also wants everyone to zoom out and examine the trend lines for teen mental health since the end of WWII. The current swing isn't exactly cyclical, but neither is it unique. As psychologist Peter Gray (Haidt's colleague at Let's Grow) has noted, the overall decline dates back to the 1950s - long before social media or smartphones. Gray attributes the cause primarily to a decline in free play and independence (https://lnkd.in/gXAUtrPt). The decline in teen mental health is real and we are all responsible to address it. Focusing on easy fixes like putting a warning label on social media might be tempting, but it won't address any of the serious underlying issues. And for many teens it will be experienced as "connecting with your friends is bad for you." Not exactly the message we want to send. https://lnkd.in/gdfYQjsh

Reasons like: “But other parents allow it” “All my friends have it” Don’t outweigh the FACTS we know, such as: 🧠 Their brains aren’t ready Decision-making, impulse control, and critical thinking aren’t fully developed yet. ❤️ Their hearts aren’t ready Remember how bad it felt to be left out or made fun of when you were a kid back before smartphones? Compound that by 10,000 today. 🪤 Comparison traps abound Exposure to highly curated and often unrealistic portrayals of others’ lives can lead to feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, body image issues, and disordered eating. 🏥 Physical and mental health decline Excessive screen time, including social media use, can lead to addictive behaviors, reduced physical activity, and disrupted sleep patterns. Additionally - the dangerous content and sketchy people they encounter leads to deep distress, eventual apathy, and harmful behaviors. There are more reasons than I have room to type here - so I will pause and say that if you need help parenting in a tech world, I am here for you. Not to judge, but to help. Let’s make 2024 the year things start to get better for our kids. P.S. It starts with us.

Why are today’s teens more anxious, depressed, and suicidal than ever? Professor Jonathan Haidt's book The Anxious Generation is one of this year's “must reads.” Pick up a copy, especially if you have kids. In short: Kids used to play outside with their friends all the time. Today they’re talking to each other through 6 inch glass screens. This rewired kids’ minds, and not in a good way. #Depression is way up since 2012, the year most Americans owned a smartphone for the first time. Teens now spend up to 7 hours a day on their phones, mostly scrolling through social media. And they’re not reading about how the world is getting better. The stuff that goes “viral” is almost always negative. A new police shooting… the latest terrorist attack… and some political bickering. When young minds are exposed to a constant barrage of doom and gloom, who can blame them for feeling down? Phones are one hell of a drug. And if we don’t set ironclad rules about how we use them, they will ruin us. Here's what to do: 1️⃣ Don't buy a smartphone for your child. The evidence is overwhelming. Giving your kid an iPhone is a very, very bad idea. If they need a phone, buy a flip phone that only calls and texts. You’ll be able to reach your kids, and their brains won’t be melted by Instagram. Yes, this will make you an unpopular parent. Sometimes you have to choose between popularity and your kid’s well-being. A few years from now every half-decent parent will do this. Get ahead of the curve. No time to waste. 2️⃣ Lead by example. Don’t tell your kids to stay off Instagram when you scroll through Facebook. Show them—with your actions—to avoid this toxic stuff. When you're at home, don’t have your phone next to you unless you’re expecting an important work call. Put it in a special place so you won’t constantly check it. #smartphoneaddiction

First, choose interaction over vegetation. There is nothing revolutionary about this rule—forty-five years ago, kids were told by their parents to go outside with their friends instead of watching television. The difference now, besides the fact that the television didn’t fit in my pocket, is empirical evidence: today, we know that, in excess, solitary and screen-based diversion lowers happiness and can lead to mood disorders such as depression and anxiety. #digcit #digitalparenting

If you read food labels religiously when shopping at the supermarket, you may be intrigued by a new proposal of the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. He has called for a warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. In my latest column in The Straits Times, I consider the merits of his proposal. Indeed, he raises a very critical issue around the potential risks that social media use on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, X and Snapchat can present for the wellbeing of teens. These include diminished self-esteem when you compare yourself to those you deem ‘superior’ to you, feeling excluded when you are not invited to a gathering of peers or inadequate on seeing images of physically attractive celebrities. You can also get emotionally affected by extremist views that are widely shared and commented on. The list goes on. Notably however, an analysis of existing research by the American National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found the evidence to be equivocal with regard to whether social media influences an individual’s mental health as opposed to the individual’s mental health influencing their use of social media. Whereas some may criticise Murthy’s proposal for a warning label as a simplistic solution to a complex problem, I venture that he has successfully underlined the need for tech companies to take greater responsibility for the potential effects that social media use has on the mental health of teens. Acknowledging that the warning label is but one lever, he called for social media companies to open themselves to independent safety audits and further proposed that they be required to share all of their findings on health effects with independent scientists and the broader public, something they currently are not required to do. Full text access in comments

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Hearing loss can impact every aspect of your life. From emotional well-being to physical health, untreated hearing loss can lead to increased risks of falls, depression, anxiety, and even dementia. That's why experts recommend early treatment. Take the first step towards better hearing. https://ow.ly/gak250R6fyU #hearingloss #hearinghealth #betterhearing #earhealth

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