Why Warning Labels On Social Media Aren't Going To Save Kids

Saving the youth of America from the evils of social media is an admirable goal, but its achievement will require parenting and not some miracle intervention from the government. 

In a New York Times editorial published Monday morning, United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy argues that Big Daddy Government needs to step in and require a warning label on social media to alert parents to the dangers associated with such platforms. 

"It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe," Murthy writes. 

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy believes social media should include warning labels similar to those that are included on cigarettes. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

That's admirable. 

Adults should be looking out for the best interests of children. The sad reality is that Murthy is preaching to a congregation of adults who are too busy scrolling through TikTok to parent their own children. 

The parents are too deep down a SnapChat rabbit hole to come up for air to make family dinners. According to a 2022 report, families were sitting down an average of three times a week for a dinner together. 

And it's not like Facebook-addicted Baby Boomers are some bastion of great social media behavior. Studies have shown that Boomers are on their phones scrolling social media just as much as Millennials. 

Together, we're a nation full of social media-addicted morons. 

Ah, but Dr. Murthy argues we won the war on tobacco by using warning labels. The labels "can increase awareness and change behavior" just like they did when teens saw warning labels on the cigs, Big Daddy Government argues.

Experts say hobbies taking a backseat is the No. 1 sign your kid is addicted to social media; No. 2 is the constant need for validation, according to the New York Post. / Getty Images

Was it warning labels that won that war or was it grandchildren watching their grandparents die from cancer and lungs that were shot from years of hammering Pall Malls?

Seconds after arguing warning labels are necessary, Murthy makes it "clear" that "a warning label would not, on its own, make social media safe for young people." 

You don't say?

If warning labels aren't going to make social media safe for children, then what will? Parent groups? LOL.

Murthy fails to build a strategy for parents outside of warning labels, which he admitted wouldn't make social media safer. 

His best effort went something like this: "(P)arents should work together with other families to establish shared rules, so no parents have to struggle alone or feel guilty when their teens say they are the only one who has to endure limits."

This guy lives in a Big Daddy Government fantasy world. 

Vivek, that's your strategy to save the youth? 

When was the last time Vivek walked through a Walmart and observed Real America? He wants those people to form parent groups to set limits amongst families. That might be one of the funniest things I've ever read in a government editorial. 

Has this guy ever been to the fentanyl-riddled parts of this country to see how people are living like zombies? Vivek, those parents aren't hopping on Zooms to create social media taskforces with their fellow junkie parents. 

Hey, smart guy, so how can parents win this war against social media turning into addictions for their children?

As the father of 11 and 7-year-old boys, I'm not going to act like I've entered this war as of yet, but there have been moments. 

I've had a girl in my driveway telling a neighborhood boy he looks "stoned" in a photo on her phone while my 7-year-old was standing there. 

The girl was immediately told to move along. Leave. Get out of here. 

All I can do is to parent. Be present. Coach baseball teams. Coach soccer teams. Make burgers for the neighborhood kids who want to hop on the positivity train. Keep them fed. Make family dinners. Go on family trips. Make sure my kids have positive forms of entertainment in their lives. Take them to baseball games. Take them to the art museum. 

Encourage learning. 

Keep them busy with physical activity. Tell them to jump in the pool as much as possible. Wear their asses out. Keep my own face out of the phone as much as possible. Keep my own ass away from the work computer outside of work hours. 

Will this method ultimately fail? It could. But at least it's a smarter strategy than telling parents to build Zoom groups to hold committee meetings. 

It's interesting the surgeon general doesn't mention anything at all about encouraging kids to be active to stimulate their brains to the point that they don't depend on social media to get that dopamine release. 

That's Big Daddy Government for you. Always out of touch. Rarely, if ever, asking parents to parent.  

Is my strategy wrong? What's your own strategy to win the war against social media? Will social media warning labels save our children?

Email: joekinsey@gmail.com