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If TikTok and Snapchat are not harming kids, they should prove it

Lawmakers and parents cannot ban children from using social media, but tech companies can be more transparent about their apps’ impact on kids.

Nearly every teenager in the US is on social media, and the report notes that a third of teenagers report using it “almost constantly.”

Nearly every teenager in the United States is on social media, and the report notes that a third of teenagers report using it “almost constantly".

PHOTOS: REUTERS

Lisa Jarvis

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The US Surgeon-General Vivek Murthy has issued a warning that

social media could be harming our children.

His social media advisory is a welcome road map for what everyone – policymakers, tech companies, parents, children and researchers – should be doing to better understand the impact of platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat on the developing brains of adolescents.

There are yawning gaps in our knowledge of social media’s effects at this critical point in development. Many of Dr Murthy’s recommendations centred on filling those gaps. And while he also offers advice for parents, educators and even children themselves, the most urgent recommendations in the report are ones that companies need to take the lead on.

If TikTok and Snapchat are not harming kids, they should prove it

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