Caveat emptor regarding social media use, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently warned that social media platforms should carry a warning label that they may harm the health of teenagers, a posture supported by research by child and adolescent psychiatrist Carol Vidal at Johns Hopkins. Vidal found a relationship between depression and social media use.

Vidal: Because you spend so much time on those platforms and because so much can happen, it's not the platform itself but it's this tool that you can use for many different things. Like for example there's more cyberbullying and no one is seeing it or monitoring it. For vulnerable populations like people with mental health problems or younger people I do feel like you have to understand that it's not all safe. A warning is worth at least so that parents know that you should be careful and monitor a little bit or educate or make sure that you know what's going on.    :30

Vidal notes that young people are very adept at the use of these platforms and that doesn’t mean they’re safe, so parents need to stay involved. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.