Opinion: In the digital world, we need more than warning labels for kids

Screened media and personalized digital devices have infused the lives of American children and teens, so much so that former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for social media platforms to include warning labels. Is this a step in the right direction? It may be, but ultimately, it’s up to all of us to create a more collective, sustainable solution for keeping young people safe in the digital world.

To work toward this future goal, we can first look at the impact of past legislation. Surgeon generals have attached warning labels to tobacco and alcohol products over the years and, to an extent, these efforts have significantly helped. Remember when tobacco advertising was prevalent in television and movies? Research showed that cartoon figures like Joe Camel and smoking in screened media were associated with childhood smoking uptake.

This uptake was so concerning that, in 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement required several large tobacco companies to refrain from paid tobacco product placements, and the move led to a drop in youth exposure to tobacco in movies. Then, in 2012, the surgeon general released a report stating: “The evidence is sufficient to conclude that there is a causal relationship between depictions of smoking in the movies and the initiation of smoking among young people.”