LINCOLN, Neb. (COLOGNE) – For many people, picking up the phone or scrolling through social media is a thoughtless act. It's something people do for hours every day. On Tuesday, the U.S. Surgeon General stopped by Lincoln to discuss social media and how it's impacting young people across the country.
Dozens of people gathered at Brian East to hear from Dr. Vivek Murthy on this topic. He said children and their parents everywhere were suffering from this problem and urged people to take action.
Murthy said that while there are benefits to using social media, there are harmful effects on children.
“Increased risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression, the impact on children's feelings about themselves, especially their body image, and the erosion of time previously spent on sleep, learning, and face-to-face interactions. ” said Dr. Murthy.
Dr Murthy said on average children spend about five hours a day on social media, doubling their risk of symptoms of anxiety and depression. In 2023, Dr. Murthy published recommendations regarding the impact of social media on the mental health of young people. He said up to 95% of children between the ages of 13 and 17 use social media, and a third of them use social media at any given time.
Dr. Dave Myers of Bryan Medical Center said these statistics, along with the pressure they feel from social media, are contributing to rising rates of suicide and suicide attempts among children.
“There's a lot of pressure on me to be an influencer, to be, to get all these likes,” Dr. Mears said. “This is how you can gain popularity all at once.”
Dr. Murthy said this is not a difficult task for children or parents to tackle on their own.
“Social media has been around for 20 years,” Dr. Murthy says. “The fact that no effective safeguards have been put in place by Congress during this period is, to me, outrageous.”
Dr Murthy said measures need to be taken not only on safety and privacy standards, but also on data transparency. He said parents can set these limits at home by implementing “technology-free zones” while teaching their children how to use social media responsibly.
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