The surgeon general wants to put cigarette-style warning labels on social media. The problem is, it seems obvious that social media would be bad for children's mental health, but the evidence is just not there. In fact, it might be *good* for kids' mental health....
Jun 19, 2024 · 1:39 PM UTC
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Mike Masnick compares it to the 80s and 90s moral panic over video games in this incredible story in the Daily Beast. Essentially, he argues there are real dangers to social media, but meaningless labels could make things worse thedailybeast.com/the-surgeo…
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That's not to say there are no risks. Social media companies have been responsible for astonishing harms to their users. But these are the result of policy decisions at tech companies, not something baked into social media itself
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Experts agree: the solution is regulation. But the problem Masnick and other's point out is a warning label lets politicians look like they're taking action without doing anything at all
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That's totally unlike cigarettes. @katienotopoulos covered this in an article yesterday. Cigarettes have warning labels. They also have tons of government mandated rules. It's illegal to sell cigarettes to kids, you can't advertise cigarettes on TV etc etc businessinsider.com/surgeon-…
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But a warning label with nothing to back it up puts the onus on parents, and it doesn't look like we're getting evidence-backed regulation anytime soon) Plus, social media companies could use the labels to avoid addressing problems. After all you're the one who ignored the label
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