Why do experts say we don’t need warning labels for social media platforms?

Warning labels are placed on products that can seriously harm our health, such as alcohol and tobacco. But the US Surgeon General wants to have a warning sign for social media. Dr. Vivek Murthy said the labels would be justified because of the supposed impact on teenage users’ mental health. He has been clear that he wants lawmakers to create legal rules that would require users to be warned about the potential impact platforms could have on them. “In an emergency, you do not have the luxury of waiting for complete information,” he wrote in a letter. The New York Times Editorial this week.

It’s a compelling case. But some experts say it’s also completely false and misleading.

“Social media should not be presented as something to fear, but rather as something to understand,” says Jess Maddox, assistant professor of digital media at the University of Alabama.

Nowadays, much of the conversation around social media seems to be trying not to make sense of it — at least not through a rigorous, science-based process. the The New York Times, in its reporting on Murthy’s plans, says “the science on the harmful effects of social media is far from settled.” This is in many ways an understatement. Calls for action to counter the alleged harmful effects of social media have grown louder in the past few months, thanks to the release of an eye-catching book by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt.

writing, The anxious generationhad become Instant bestseller When it was released in March. But critics say the book’s premise is based on a distortion of previous scientific research.

One Analysis by a reason I looked at 476 studies mentioned in Haidt’s book. Only 22 of the research papers actually point to heavy social media use and serious mental health issues. (The actual text of one study says the opposite of what Haidt claims it does, while other studies on which he relies heavily are often fundamentally flawed.)

However, the book’s eye-catching title and outlandish — literally — claims captured the public’s attention, as well as the attention of policymakers.

Murthy times The editorial never mentions Haidt, but it points to research suggesting that teens who spent more than three hours a day on social media were Double the possibility of suffering Symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that About half of the teens said Social media has negatively affected their body image. But what he didn’t say was that Recent research shows The use of smartphones and social media can improve teens’ moods.

“I believe this sets a dangerous precedent,” Pete Etchells, A.D., wrote Professor of Science Communication at Bath Spa University, in an email. “We simply don’t have clear, consistent evidence that social media (however you define that) causes poorer mental health (however you define that).”

However, not everyone agrees with Etchell’s assessment. Tech companies have brought Murthy’s plans on board, says Andy Burrows, a consultant at the Molly Rose Foundation. “Whether or not warning labels are an effective intervention, it is appropriate to consider all options to ensure technology companies do more to address harm that is inherently preventable, and to draw attention to subtle but increasingly clear evidence of risks to children’s safety and well-being.” “He says.

Murthy’s justification for adding a warning label to social media platforms appears to be that the technology companies that run them have not done enough to protect users from the harms to which many of them are undoubtedly exposed. In this sense, Maddox of the University of Alabama agrees with Murthy. “In the United States, we should demand a rein in these platforms,” she says. Fast company.

She believes that putting a warning label on social media and preventing younger users from accessing it is tantamount to giving up. “We shouldn’t just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Well, there’s nothing we can do,’” she says.

Etchells also fears that Murthy’s attempt to impose warning labels on us all could do more harm than good. “It’s a shame because it seems like a missed opportunity,” he says. “I would like to see lawmakers have conversations about how we advance digital literacy skills in a consistent and supportive way, and how we get tech companies to put user well-being at the heart of their design processes.”