Rosa Li gives surgeon general food for thought
The psychology scholar critiques Vivek Murthy’s idea of a warning label for teen social media use.
Rosa Li tries to find different ways to illustrate a salient point to students in her Psychology 180 course on social media, technology and the adolescent brain: “Research is really complicated. The real world is highly nuanced.”
That’s why Li, a teaching assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ psychology and neuroscience department, felt compelled to respond to U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s call for warning labels on social media. She wrote an opinion piece for Slate that called the analogy between Big Tobacco and Big Tech misleading.
“It’s a very complicated issue,” said Li, a member of Carolina’s Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain and Psychological Development. “I think technology and screens are so deeply embedded in our society that you can’t just slap a warning on it and be done with it.”
Li answered questions on what the research tells us about kids and social media and offered a comparison of her own for youth social media consumption.
Were you surprised when the surgeon general made those remarks?
No. He initially declared a state of emergency regarding youth mental health in general. Then he put out a nice health advisory about social media and mental health that was scientifically well balanced. I think the fact he’s bringing it up and turning it into a national conversation is a really good thing.
While he was promoting his advisory, it did seem like he was trying to push for more formal regulation or legislation rather than just talking about it.
Why is the comparison of social media to smoking misleading?
Correlational studies looking at time spent on social media and well-being seem to support what we call a Goldilocks hypothesis: Using a little bit of screen time or a little bit of social media leads to the best outcomes, while too much can be harmful. Those are just correlational studies, but in general, I think there’s good evidence suggesting that it’s not like cigarettes — that a little bit can be OK and might even be beneficial.
People report stronger feelings of social connectedness. They feel they can find more support from their friends. There’s also a lot of research suggesting that being able to connect with people online is especially beneficial for folks with marginalized identities.
Why did you say food and having a healthy diet is a better comparison?
A lot of earlier studies just focused on blanket screen time — how much you’re consuming. Now the field is moving toward what people are doing online and trying to get into the diet aspect.
You can do lots of different things, positive and negative. You can passively watch an endless supply of TikToks or maybe you’re getting creative and making your own. When you’re posting your own content, are you getting positive feedback or are you getting bullied? Is social media use getting in the way of sleep or homework or are you able to use it at an appropriate time?
How do you educate children and parents on what sort of use is healthful?
Get the whole community onboard. Pediatricians should start asking about your kid’s screen time habits. There’s a push now for more education at the K-12 level. Just like you would have health class, you would have a class about digital literacy.
I think more education for parents is also really important. I recommend parents keep tabs on their kids’ social media use in age-appropriate ways. This may mean viewing social media together to start, and then as kids get older and more responsible, giving them more independence while still checking in and talking to them about what they’re seeing or doing.
