U.S. Surgeon General Warns 13-Years-Old Is Too Young To Join Social Media

U.S. Vivek Murthy, the surgeon general of the United States believes that children under 13 years are not old enough to use social media platforms. He cites children who are still “developing their identity,” Engagements like these can cause a distortion in their sense of self.

Murthy has been surgeon general under both the Obama administration and the Biden administrations. He shared this warning in an interview. CNNNoting that adolescents should not be allowed to access platforms until they are 16 years old, is a good idea.

“It’s a time, you know, early adolescence, where kids are developing their identity, their sense of self,” Murthy stated. “It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships, and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children.”

To join social media giants such as TikTok and Instagram, you must be at least 13 years old.

Murthy also noted the problem with addictive algorithms that pit youth against Big Tech.

“You have some of the best designers and product developers in the world who have designed these products to make sure people are maximizing the amount of time they spend on these platforms,” He stated. “And if we tell a child, use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers.”

“And that’s just not a fair fight,” He concluded. “And so that’s why I think our kids need help.”

Published by the American Medical Association, the Journal of the American Medical Association Study This month, we sampled 178 12-years-olds from North Carolina’s three public middle schools and looked at how often they use social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook.

Researchers discovered that individuals who have a habit of checking their phones showed hypoactivation at first, but increased sensitivity over time to possible social cues. Nonhabitual persons, however, had initial hyperactivation but decreased sensitivity.

“Our findings suggest that checking behaviors on social media in early adolescence may tune the brain’s sensitivity to potential social rewards and punishments,” Dr. Eva Telzer, coauthor of the study, is a professor of development psychology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

CNN interviewed Dr. Adriana Stacey about her use of social media to share information. “dopamine dump” The addictive nature of smartphones was compared to cocaine.

“It tells our brains to keep using that,” Stacey stated. “For teenagers in particular, this part of their brain is actually hyperactive compared to adults. They can’t get motivated to do anything else.”

Surgeon General Murthy called on parents to band together to prevent their children from logging on to social media platforms until they’re at least 16 years old.

“That’s a much more effective strategy in making sure your kids don’t get exposed to harm early,” He stated.

Officials from the Seattle Public Schools District filed a Forensics TikTok and Facebook were allegedly responsible for creating and intentionally cultivating a mental illness among youth. They also caused a public nuisance that affected Seattle Public Schools.

In his 2022 State of the Union Address (State of the Union 2022), President Joe Biden brought attention to social networking platforms. He said that the harm social media has caused to American youth should be made clear to all. “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.”