The U.S. may not have a surgeon general right now, but that isn’t stopping Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from sending out a public health advisory usually reserved for America’s top doctor.
The surgeon general’s office issued a warning this week about the dangers of screen time for kids and teens, calling for a society-wide behavioral shift around technology. ”While screen use can have some benefits, the evidence of a range of risks to children’s overall mental and physical health is mounting,” Kennedy wrote.
“These negative outcomes are related to harmful use, including use by children with vulnerable medical conditions, along with the ubiquity of devices and features deliberately built into many tech platforms to promote “engagement,” a positive sounding word that, for too many young people, is a path to addiction-like behavior.”
In the absence of a Senate-confirmed surgeon general, Kennedy is leaning on Stephanie Haridopolos, a family physician who serves in the office of the surgeon general, to temporarily fill the role. Kennedy’s first surgeon general pick fizzled over concerns about her lack of experience as a practicing physician and her noncommittal approach to childhood vaccines — a perspective she shares with Kennedy, who had made a number of controversial changes to vaccine recommendations as the country’s top health official.
Kennedy urges action to shrink kids’ screen time
The new surgeon general’s report calls on parents, schools, and even healthcare providers to work together to reduce the amount of time that kids are exposed to harmful screen use, which it defines as “patterns of use that are excessive, difficult to control, or involve exposure to content or interactions that may harm a child’s well-being.” The surgeon general’s office specifically cites worries over developmental and cognitive risks, worse educational and physical health outcomes, sleep disruption, and behavioral problems linked to social media use, including cyberbullying.
“This Advisory is not only a warning, but also an invitation for all of us to enjoy a broader world, beyond the confines of screens,” Kennedy wrote in the advisory. “Join us as we seek to scroll less and live best. Let’s turn our screens off and our brains and bodies on, so that we can live real life.”
The report encourages parents to delay the introduction of screen time for children for as long as possible and to restrict use when devices like phones and tablets do eventually get introduced. The advisory, which urges parents to create a family-wide plan, recommends that kids under 18 months have no screen time, with less than one hour a day recommended for kids under 6, and less than two hours per day recommended from age six to age 18. It also emphasizes that the content a child is exposed to matters, warning that violent, inappropriate, or misleading content can be harmful to kids.
Beyond families, the advisory calls on educators to put “bell to bell” bans on phones in place — an approach that is already underway as many schools experiment with reducing access to devices as a way to reduce distraction and boost classroom performance. It also suggests that doctors ask about screen use during visits and monitor young patients for signs of detrimental screen use.
“Learn to recognize harmful screen use and its relationships to important health outcomes such as nutrition and sleep,” the advisory states in a section for health providers. “For children struggling with sleep, school, healthy weight, mental health, or behavioral issues, inquire about how the child’s media use might play a role in the problem.”
The report also criticizes tech companies for creating products that are intentionally addictive, with features like infinite scrolling and dark pattern design that keep people sucked in for as long as possible. It suggests that tech companies shift their designs to emphasize user wellbeing and safety over engagement, but offers few specifics for how the administration could actually hold the industry to account.
While the new advisory issues a warning about screen time for kids broadly, it isn’t the first of its kind. During the Biden administration, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued his own report on technology’s dangers for young people, but that advisory focused on social media in particular. “At this time, we do not yet have enough evidence to determine if social media is sufficiently safe for children and adolescents,” Murthy said in the advisory, which was issued in 2023 and not cited in the new report.