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Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that children join social media platforms too young and believes that they should not be permitted access until the age of 16 or 18.
Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter currently permit individuals who are at least 13 years old to sign up.
This, according to Murthy, might give teenagers a “distorted” sense of self during their formative years.
Murthy stated on CNN, “personally, based on the data I’ve seen, I believe 13 is too young.” The slanted and frequently misleading social media atmosphere does many of these children a disservice.
Murthy hypothesized that adolescents who utilize social media will develop “hypersensitivity” to criticism as adults.
As a result of research suggesting linkages between social media use and depression among adolescents, medical practitioners are quite concerned about adolescent use of social media.
Murthy acknowledges that it will be difficult to keep youngsters off of these platforms, given their increasing popularity among classmates, but he feels that parents must stand firm to protect their children.
CNN quoted him as saying, “If parents can band together and say, as a group, we’re not going to allow our children to use social media until they’re 16 or 17 or 18 or whatever age they choose, that’s a much more effective way to make sure your children aren’t exposed to harm too early.”
Murthy, who has served as Surgeon General under both the Obama and Biden administrations, warns that youngsters may be more prone to acquiring vulnerabilities and will be vulnerable to bullies if they are on social media platforms at too young an age.
The 19th and 21st Surgeons General of the United States related a sorrowful story of a mother who visited him in his office and told him about the tragic suicide of her 11-year-old daughter due to “merciless” social media cyberbullying.
“Her daughter had begun using social media, had seven accounts on three different platforms, was unfortunately mercilessly bullied by people on these platforms, and struggled to leave but was unable to”
This month, JAMA Pediatrics released a research indicating that adolescents’ brains are being reprogrammed by social media.
The frequency with which 178 12-year-olds from three public middle schools in North Carolina check Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat was examined.
The participants next took part in a Social Incentive Delay exercise to determine how their brains reacted while anticipating social benefits.
Dr. Eva Telzer, a developmental psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-author of the study, said, “Our findings suggest that monitoring behaviors on social media in early adolescence may tune the brain’s sensitivity to potential social rewards and punishments.”
“Those with habitual checking behaviors exhibited initial hypoactivation but increased sensitivity to potential social cues over time, whereas those with nonhabitual checking behaviors exhibited initial hyperactivation and decreased sensitivity over time.”
»Surgeon General says children at the age of 13 are too young to use social media«