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Let\u2019s be clear: Young kids, who are still navigating their sense of self, are locked into a hyper-digital world that comes with potentially fatal risks\u2014and spending way too much time there..<\/p>\n
The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy seems to agree. On Monday, he declared adolescent-use of social media a medical emergency<\/a>, and called on Congress to require social-media platforms to come with warnings, similar to those printed on alcohol, tobacco, or nicotine products.<\/p>\n Nearly all youth between ages 13 and 17<\/a> report using social media, according to a statement<\/a> by Murthy, and more than a third of those say they use it \u201calmost constantly.\u201d The use, he said in an op-ed<\/a> published by The New York Times<\/em>, \u201cis associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents,\u201d and some lawmakers, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are heeding his warning. On Tuesday, Newsom vowed to severely restrict<\/a> the use of smartphones in California schools and hopes to pass restrictions during the state\u2019s current legislative session, which ends in August.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cellphone bans, however, are difficult to enforce, and the bathroom\u2014a longtime location<\/a> students have used to indulge in their vices\u2014might become a contentious hotspot in the crackdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen adolescents spend more than 3 hours a day on social media, we are seeing an association with a doubling of risk of anxiety and depression symptoms,\u201d Murthy said in an interview<\/a> with NBC,<\/em> adding youths spend an average of about five hours per day on social media. \u201cMany of them say they can\u2019t get off it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Murthy recommends parents, teachers, and guardians establish \u201cphone free zones\u201d for children during meals, bedtime, and social gatherings\u2014and that children have no access to social media until they finish middle school. His advice has been taken seriously by lawmakers around the country: Last summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill prohibiting cell phone use<\/a> during class time, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is also considering smartphone bans<\/a> in New York schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n In California, Gov. Newsom is also spearheading more legislation in-line with Murthy\u2019s recent warning.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the surgeon general affirmed, social media is harming the mental health of our youth,\u201d Newsom said in an interview<\/a> with Politico<\/em>. \u201cI look forward to working with the Legislature to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day. When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies\u2014not their screens.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsom\u2019s push to crack down on phone use at schools isn\u2019t new: In 2019, he signed legislation <\/a>encouraging schools to create policies that would limit or simply ban student use of smartphones on school grounds during the school day, and last year, he wrote a letter calling on the tech industry to drop a lawsuit<\/a> against the children\u2019s online safety law he signed in 2022. His most recent announcement on smartphone use would deepen those policies.<\/p>\n While phone use and social media can be helpful at times, especially for those young people grappling with their sexuality<\/a>, it\u2019s clearly a growing distraction at schools. A report by nonprofit organization Common Sense Media found 97% of students used their phones during the school day<\/a> for a median of 43 minutes; keep in mind, the average school day<\/a> is around 6.5 hours. And in a 2022 global survey<\/a> of about 700,000 students aged 15, about two-thirds of respondents reported being distracted by digital devices in schools, while about half report being distracted by other students using devices.<\/p>\n Social media\u2014chock-full with photoshopped photos<\/a> of models, movie stars, and influencers, misinformation and more\u2014is also known to fuel mental health issues<\/a>, and often interferes with time that could be spent on more healthy activities like exercising, sleeping, eating, and socializing.\u00a0<\/p>\n Between age 10 and 19, according to Murthy\u2019s report<\/a>, childrens\u2019 brains undergo \u201ca highly sensitive period,\u201d when \u201cidentities and feelings of self-worth are forming.\u201d Frequent social media use could affect functions like emotional learning, impulse control, and emotional regulation. Although many social media platforms, like Facebook<\/a> and Instagram, require users to be at least age 13 to join, it\u2019s hard to regulate: Nearly 40% of children<\/a> between age 8 and 12 say they use at least one social-media platform.<\/p>\n The National Center for Education Statistics reports that as of 2020, 77% of schools prohibit students from using cell phones<\/a> during school hours. But Murthy\u2019s recent calls have prompted concrete action by many school districts. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation\u2019s second-largest school district, voted<\/a> to pass a \u201cPhone-Free School Day\u201d policy, which will ban the use of cell phones in the classroom and bolster the district\u2019s efforts to reduce youth anxiety and cyberbullying.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other schools that have banned phones, including the Village School of Naples, a private school based in Naples, Fla., reported a 94% improvement in mental wellbeing<\/a> after deploying a cellphone ban two years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. Sign up for free<\/a> before it launches on June 24, 2024.<\/div>\n