Surgeon General's Social Media Warning
Teens & Kids: Step Away From Your Smartphones
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Joseph Cress - Iowa City Press-Citizen - USA Today
Good morning!
It’s (almost) official. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce tonight that he is officially running for the Republican presidential nomination during a live discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk on, where else, Twitter at 6pmET.
DeSantis argues that he is the only candidate who can beat former President Trump in the primary, and then defeat President Biden in the general election.
🥊 Round 1: The Ron vs. Don slugfest. A Trump adviser is already mocking the Twitter rollout as “out of touch,” saying “this way (DeSantis) doesn’t have to interact with people and the media can’t ask him any questions.” 🍿
BTW: We’ll do a bigger breakdown of DeSantis’ background, policy positions and recap his announcement in tomorrow’s newsletter.
~ Mosheh, Jill, & Courtney
🎙The Mo News Podcast: Listen to the latest episode to get more information and insight into today’s top news stories.
🗞 NEW WARNING ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA & KIDS
AN URGENT MESSAGE
A stark warning from US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy went out on Tuesday: Social media could present a “profound risk of harm to the mental health and well being of children and adolescents.”
THIS IS A BIG DEAL
Murthy issued a public advisory in a 19-page report, with an urgent message about the “potential negative impact of social media on children and adolescents,” and the need to study the issue further.
What is a Surgeon General public advisory? It calls attention to an urgent public health issue and provides recommendations for how it should be addressed. Advisories are not binding, but they are reserved for significant public health challenges that require immediate awareness and action.
According to the report, teens are being exposed to “extreme, inappropriate and harmful content,” that “normalizes” things like self-harm and eating disorders. Cyberbullying is also common. And as kids are increasingly spending their time on social media, we’ve seen declines in exercise, sleep, and spending time in person with friends.
In an interview with the NY Times about his advisory, Murthy said:
“Adolescents are not just smaller adults. They’re in a different phase of development, and they’re in a critical phase of brain development.”
- Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General
THIS IS YOUR BRAIN, THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Case in point, the report finds that frequent social media use may be associated with distinct changes in the developing brain in the amygdala, which impacts the way we experience emotions, and the prefrontal cortex, which impacts personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior.
Mo News’ Jill Wagner discussed this issue during an interview with cognitive psychotherapist Niro Feliciano recently for a special edition of the podcast. Feliciano said that kids’ brains are literally not going to develop and look like ours because of social media use. Here are a couple highlights from our conversation. Part 1; Part 2
BY THE NUMBERS
According to the report, 95% of teens say they use at least one social media platform. One in three teens say they use social media “almost constantly.” On average, teens spend 3 ½ hours on social media EVERY DAY.
** Nearly 40% of children ages 8 to 12 use social media, even though the required minimum age for most sites is 13. **
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?
The Surgeon General says more research is needed, but that until now, “the burden of protecting youth has fallen predominantly on children, adolescents, and their families. So we’ve got to do what we do in other areas where we have product safety issues, which is to set in place safety standards that parents can rely on, that are actually enforced.”
The advisory called on tech companies, policymakers, researchers and families to do more to understand the issues around young people and social media, and figure out standards to help keep them safe.
SOME IMMEDIATE CONCRETE TIPS:
Families should create a social media plan.
Have tech free zones, particularly around bedtime.
Parents should model responsible social media behavior.
Translation: Parents: Put down your phones!
✔︎ Mo News Reality Check: It comes as we have been seeing this huge jump in mental health issues among young people over the last decade. A 2019 study that found teens who spent 3+ hours a day on social media "faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety."
The Surgeon General has been sounding the alarm on loneliness and depression in general, making mental health a major focus.
🗞⏳ SPEED READ
Fox Weather
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📌 Trump criminal trial scheduled for March 2024, in the midst of Republican primary voting (NY TIMES)
📌 Apple strikes multibillion-dollar supply deal with Broadcom to build chips (WSJ)
📌 A super typhoon is barreling toward the US territory of Guam with deadly winds and 25-foot storm surge (CNN)
📌 South Carolina readies 6-week abortion ban (AP)
📌 New list reveals 3,400 San Francisco buildings may be at severe earthquake risk (NBC NEWS)
📌 HBO Max is officially just ‘Max’ now—what you need to know (CNBC)
📌 Analysis: Cable news could be dead within decade (Washington Post)
📌 Former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke says there’s more work ahead to control inflation (CNBC)
📌 Bipartisan immigration bill would boost border funds, expand lawful migration and legalize some immigrants (CBS NEWS)
📌 LeBron James, 38, says he will consider retirement this offseason (ESPN)
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🗓 ON THIS DAY: MAY 24
Brooklyn Bridge - Source: Traveler Lifes
1787: The U.S. Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia, where 55 state delegates drafted the Constitution of the United States.
1883: The Brooklyn Bridge opened, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan in New York City. President Chester Arthur and NY Governor Grover Cleveland opened the bridge, which was considered a brilliant feat of 19th-century engineering.
THE BACKSTORY: It was a woman, Emily Warren Roebling, who was integral to the bridge’s construction. Her father in law, John August Roebling, a famous designer and builder, started the job in 1869, but would die very early on from a tetanus infection. The job then went to his eldest son Washington (her husband), who, three years later, contracted decompression sickness. Emily then oversaw the construction of the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge to completion.
1941: Singer, songwriter Bob Dylan, called the “Shakespeare of his generation,” was born.
2000: 'Dawson's Creek' aired American network television's first primetime romantic kiss between two men.
2022: Nineteen children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde—the deadliest shooting ever at a Texas public school.
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