Surgeon General calls for warnings on social media platforms
US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called for warning labels on social media, citing concerns about children’s mental health.
Parenting is daunting.
The top U.S. doctor, whose children are just returning to school, acknowledged this on Wednesday, highlighting the “silent struggles” parents face as they try to care for their children in 2024.
As parents spend more time caring for their children, they are paradoxically also working more, leading to a sharp increase in stress and feelings of isolation, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, said in a statement on Wednesday. He had warned about the mental health of young people in 2021 and also pointed to the dangers of social media, isolation and gun violence.
Now he’s reached out to caregivers and discovered how difficult it is to raise children. Parents and caregivers need support too, he says.
“This is one of those silent battles that a lot of parents are dealing with,” Murthy, father of a 7-year-old and a 6-year-old, told USA TODAY. “I hope we can shed light on something that affects millions of people across the country.”
Over the past decade, parents have experienced increased levels of stress. Nearly half of parents said their stress was overwhelming most days, compared with just a quarter of people without children, according to a 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association. More than three in five parents surveyed said no one understands how stressed they are.
The real stressors for the 63 million parents with children under 18 in the U.S. are many and varied, Murthy said. Some stressors have long been a concern for parents, including safety concerns, rising living costs and lack of sleep. Others reflect a new era of parenting. Gun violence, for example, is the leading cause of death among children. Parents also need to navigate social media and monitor their children’s concerns about loneliness and general mental health, as depression and anxiety are high among young people.
Parents are also working longer hours than previous generations. Mothers worked an average of 20.9 hours per week in 1985, compared to 26.7 hours in 2022, the statement said. During the same period, fathers worked from 39.8 to 41.2 hours per week.
That doesn’t mean they’re spending less time with their kids. In fact, Murthy says parents are spending more time caring for their children than previous generations. That’s partly due to the rising cost of child care. Extra hours at work and child care rob them of rest, relaxation and time with friends and contribute to feelings of isolation and loneliness, Murthy says. In a 2021 study, nearly two-thirds of parents – and more than three-quarters of single parents – reported feeling lonely, compared to just over half of people without children.
Parents’ mental health problems can affect their children, Murthy warned in his guide. Untreated mental illness or substance abuse in families can create negative experiences in children that can harm their mental, physical or psychological health. Depression, anxiety and problems at school or with other people can have lasting effects.
The statement called for policy reforms and promoting a culture that supports parents, including same-sex and nonbinary parents, blended families, foster parents and single parents. Murthy urged policymakers to strengthen child care through earned income tax credits, subsidies for childcare and early childhood education programs. In addition, he pushed for nationwide paid family leave, paid sick leave and programs to reduce poverty rates.
He called on employers to implement policies and training to support parents and caregivers in the workplace and to expand access to quality mental health care. He also asked families and friends to share the burden by reaching out to parents and caregivers and offering them support. That can be as simple as running errands or checking on a friend.
Parents need to put their own care first, Murthy said. Often parents only think about protecting their children, but the parents’ well-being “is really important too.”
“The time they spend taking care of themselves is not selfish,” he said. Ultimately, he said, it allows parents to “best care for their own children.”
Dr. Vivek Murthy talks about mental health
Dr. Vivek Murthy talks about the importance of asking for help and how we can help each other.
USA TODAY
