Tech has been making the headlines this month, in large part due to warnings issued by the surgeon general. In particular, he has issued warnings regarding the risks that social media platforms serve for our youth, and young women in particular. (For an overview of why girls are particularly vulnerable in the digital sphere.

This is not a new risk. Psychological research has been documenting for quite some time the potential for social-media use to have negative effects on users, particularly through its association with promoting negative body images and unattainable standards of perfection and in inciting social comparison and lessening self-esteem. Frequent use of social media is also associated with poor mental health outcomes, and in particular, mood-related and anxiety-related disorders. The challenge in interpreting such research is that the majority of it is correlational, so cause and effect cannot be established.

Young people are particularly vulnerable to such negative associations because they are at a stage in their development when they are seeking to define themselves and carve out an identity. It isn’t that the other users aren’t at risk for negative impacts when navigating tech; it's just that young people are a particular at-risk period from a developmental standpoint.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) shared a study in December last year documenting how the algorithms for TikTok very rapidly suggest radicalized and problematic content to young female users regarding body image and the encouragement of disordered eating-related content. Similarly, the New York Times reported just this week that user data and sensitive information such as copies of identification, addresses, etc., are not well-secured by the company.

The surgeon general has identified that young people report feeling bad about themselves and their relationships with others when they go online, but at the same time, they also report an inability to stop doing so. The phenomenon of fear of missing out (FOMO) is real among users, and youth in particular appear to be trapped in a feedback loop in which so much of their social lives are dependent upon being active on social media platforms at the same time that frequent use on the sites can degrade the quality of their lives.

It is also important to consider that time spent on social media or more generally on one’s digital gadgets translates to time spent away from other pursuits that could more explicitly promote well-being, such as sleeping, socializing face-to-face with others, connecting with nature, and—just as critically when one is developing a sense of self or identity—connecting to oneself.

There is an interesting sub-literature within the field of psychology and social media looking at the role that solitude plays in the cultivation of a sense of self, and how that is being eroded for young people today who spend a lot of their alone or downtime on their digital devices. For a great read on the topic, I recommend recent work by Sherry Turkle of MIT, who has written extensively about the significant role solitude plays in the cultivation of our sense of self. She has also become more critical in recent years about the role that technology has played in eroding community and posing a threat to well-being among its users, particularly youth.

Social media is interwoven in the fabric of most people’s lives, particularly among young people, who tend to embrace technology with less skepticism than those born before the digital age. In calling for greater scrutiny of how social media affects young users, the surgeon general is challenging the way in which frequent use of digital devices has become normalized within our culture. The science largely supports his claims, and I applaud the effort to get parents and younger users to think more critically and deliberately about their relationships with their digital devices.