U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy wants you to know Disqus is bad for your mental health and not just because of the periodic service issues. In a New York Times Opinion piece, Murthy urges Congress to pass legislation that would mandate warnings that “regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.”
“Legislation from Congress should shield young people from online harassment, abuse and exploitation and from exposure to extreme violence and sexual content that too often appears in algorithm-driven feeds,” Murthy wrote. “The measures should prevent platforms from collecting sensitive data from children and should restrict the use of features like push notifications, autoplay and infinite scroll, which prey on developing brains and contribute to excessive use.”
Citing the success of anti-smoking campaigns to reduce cigarette use, Murthy wants Congress to mandate social media companies release all information, data and studies they’ve commissioned or conducted relating to its effects on mental health, particularly when it targets children. Let’s hope he has more success getting it from social media companies than the government did getting smoking addiction information from tobacco companies.