The Surgeon General Warns That Social Media Is Dangerous for Kids. Why Aren't Medical Professional Associations?

Published days after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's May 2023 advisory describing social media as a potential risk to adolescent mental health, this San Francisco Chronicle op-ed by Julie Scelfo asks why major medical professional associations had not followed with their own practice guidance or public statements. Scelfo argues the advisory reflects a position she says "a growing number of pediatricians, parents and scientists" already held, and contends that organized medicine's comparative silence leaves parents and pediatric clinicians without the kind of coordinated guidance that has accompanied other public-health advisories. The piece calls on pediatric and psychiatric associations to translate the Surgeon General's warning into concrete clinical and policy recommendations for member physicians and families.

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