Pitkin County health leaders warn of social media’s effect on adolescents’ mental health

A New York Times guest essay from Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy calling for warning labels on social media platforms has Pitkin County leaders discussing how to protect local youth from the negative mental health effects of social media.

Pitkin County Public Health Director Jordana Sabella introduced Murthy’s essay during a Thursday board of health meeting to jumpstart the discussion in Pitkin County about the harm of social media. 

“It really draws the connection between social media among young people and the mental-health crisis that we’re currently undergoing, knowing that there’s a direct connection there,” she said. “Science hasn’t come to share exactly what percentage is affecting what, but the goal is we need to act now; we know enough to put the warning out.”

In his essay, Murthy called the mental-health crisis among young people an emergency and called for requiring a surgeon general’s warning label on social-media platforms, like those on tobacco products. A surgeon’s general warning requires congressional action and would regularly remind parents that social media has not been proven safe, he said.

The county has not taken formal action on the negative effects of social media on local youth, but Health Board Chair Greg Poschman said it was something for the community to keep an eye on and begin discussing as a board. Sabella suggested ways to address the crisis individually, including implementing phone-free zones in homes or waiting until after middle school to allow children to access social media.

The Aspen School District has been acutely aware of the mental health impacts social media can have. District leaders spent a large part of the 2023-2024 school year addressing a growing cell phone use problem, which among other things has exacerbated cyberbullying in the school district. 

Unkind texts or Snapchat messages are capable of derailing a student’s day and affect their learning environment, district leaders have said. The school district hosted a town hall to discuss solutions to excessive cell phone use in March and will form a task force to determine the best way to address the issue.

In May 2023, the Aspen School District joined districts across the nation suing several social-media companies over the effect they can have on the mental health of students. The district is suing the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Google, and YouTube. 

A group of parents at the school district are also urging Aspen elementary and middle school parents to join a national “Wait Until 8th” campaign that encourages parents to wait until after eighth grade to give their students smartphones — one of Sabella’s suggestions to avoid the harmful effects of social media. 

Murthy said in his essay that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms. Results from the 2023 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey showed that about 65% of students in Pitkin, Garfield, Eagle, Grand, and Summit counties spend three or more hours in front of a TV, computer, smartphone, or other electronic device. 

“We know that three hours or more a day on social media for adolescents doubles the risk of anxiety and depression, and almost half of adolescents say social media, when they use it, makes them feel worse about their bodies,” Sabella said. “There’s the surgeon general saying that a warning label would, just getting it out there, indicate that social media has not been proven safe … This is not the one solution to this problem but could be a part of how we could draw more attention to this issue.”

Lucy Peterson covers education and Snowmass for the Aspen Times. She can be reached at 970-429-9152 or lpeterson@aspentimes.com.