ScreenStrong founder Melanie Hempe outlines issues with the Wait Until 8th pledge and offers a solution for parents looking to protect their children from social media dangers.
On June 17, current Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, who also served under former President Donald Trump, called for new warning labels on social media platforms. The language he wants states that "social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents."
This follows Murthy’s public advisory last year warning that social media contributed to "a national youth mental health crisis." According to his advisory, "adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety."
Yet research shows teens on average spend nearly five hours per day on social media. Murthy also warned that age 13 is "too early" for social media and has previously suggested 16 as a better starting point.
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These warnings are backed with good reasoning. In 2023, former Meta employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar revealed an internal survey showing that 13% of young teens ages 13-15 received "unwanted sexual advances on Instagram in the last seven days alone." As reported in the Wall Street Journal’s 2021 "Facebook Files," Meta’s internal research found that one-third of teen girls reported Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies.
Vivek Murthy, US surgeon general, warns that social media is harmful to children. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg) (Getty Images)
It's not just Meta. These problems are widespread across social media. In 2023, researchers from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that TikTok’s algorithms........