U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said he believes 13 is too young for
children to be on social media platforms, despite some of the most popular
platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, allowing users to be that
age.

Murthy told CNN on Sunday that he believes being on social media "does a
disservice" to kids early in their teen years.

"I, personally, based on the data I've seen, believe that 13 is too
early," Murthy said on "CNN Newsroom." "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."

Murthy did not say if there will be any official guidelines or advisory
based on that perspective.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, requires users to be
at least 13 years old to use its platforms, according to the company's
website.

TikTok and Snapchat each also require users to be at least 13-years-old,
according to their respective websites.

Google, the parent company of YouTube, does not allow kids under age 13 to
create their own Google Account. YouTube allows parents to set up a
"supervised account" for a child under age 13, for which they can control
the content settings, according to its website.

In most cases, the social media sites require people to enter their birth
dates in order to sign up as users.

Murthy said he would like to see parents "band together" to keep their
young teens off social media given they are allowed on the platforms
starting at age 13.

"If parents can band together and say you know, as a group, we're not
going to allow our kids to use social media until 16 or 17 or 18 or
whatever age they choose, that's a much more effective strategy in making
sure your kids don't get exposed to harm early," he told CNN.

MORE: School district sues social media giants for 'creating a youth
mental health crisis'

Murthy's comments come just over one year after he issued an advisory
highlighting a crisis in youth mental health, and said the need to address
the issue was "critical."

Murthy's advisory noted that technology can have many benefits for youth,
but can also expose kids to unhealthy content. It also urged stakeholders
throughout society to take action to address youth mental health
challenges.

Social media use is linked with symptoms of depression and anxiety, body
image issues, and lower life satisfaction for some teens and adolescents,
research shows. Heavy social media use around the time adolescents go
through puberty is linked with lower life satisfaction one year later, one
large study found.

But not every teen has those experiences. Researchers are still working to
understand who�s most at risk of negative effects from social media, and
it�s not clear yet if there are differences in mental health effects based
on when kids first start using social media.

�We still know very little about what age is right for young people to
start using social media, especially as social media use is very varied
and impacts different people in different ways,� Amy Orben, a psychologist
who heads the Digital Mental Health program at the University of
Cambridge, said in an email to ABC News.

Tips for parents
With social media such a prevalent part of daily life, it may seem
overwhelming for some parents to try to limit their child's use.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends no more than two
hours of screen time or social media use a day for young people.

For children under the age of 2, the American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends no screen time at all.

MORE: Social media use linked to brain changes in teens, study finds

For older kids, limits on screen time should be individualized and age-
based, according to the AAP.

The AAP recommends parents encourage physical activity, set social media
and screen time limits for older kids -- such as not going on social media
while doing homework -- and create unplugged spaces, like the dinner
table, in the home. The organization also recommends parents create a
"Family Media Plan" with their kids that can help set priorities and act
as a type of contract.

In 2019, ABC News' Diane Sawyer led a special report, that looked at the
impact of screen time and social media.

In the special, a panel of experts shared tips for parents looking to rein
in children and teenagers' use of technology, in their homes and in their
day-to-day lives.

Here are their seven tips.

1. Children younger than 18 months should avoid screens entirely with the
occasional exception of a few minutes of FaceTime with family, according
to Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, director of Temple University's Infant Language
Lab, and Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a professor of psychology at New York's
Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

2. For children older than the age of 2, limit screen use to one hour with
parental supervision, according to Hirsh-Pasek and Dennis-Tiwary.

3. Have an open-ended discussion about screen time in the house and what
family members feel they need. Allow everyone to weigh in to the
conversation, according to husband-and-wife therapists Don and Carrie Cole
of the renowned Gottman Institute in Seattle.

4. Agree on some simple things, like establishing one phone-free hour
after dinner so that everyone can do something together, Don and Carrie
Cole recommend.

5. Use social media to connect with each other rather than making it the
enemy, according to the Coles.

6. If there's conflict or the screen-time plan doesn't seem to be working,
take a deep breath, be kind to each other and begin again � without
criticism, defensiveness or contempt, according to the Coles.

7. Discuss the consequences for breaking a screen time limit ahead of time
so that if your child has a meltdown, the consequence is known, according
to Don Cole.

If you're interested in leading your teen on a social media detox, "Good
Morning America" technology correspondent Becky Worley shares her tips
here after leading a group of 10 girls from Northern California aged 13
and 14 on a two-week detox from all social media.

13-year-olds are too young to be on social media, US surgeon general says
originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com

https://news.yahoo.com/us-surgeon-general-says-13-195956723.html