About this episode
Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy recommended putting a warning on social media for minors last week, while governors from coast to coast have pushed for restrictions on teen phone use. But how worried should we really be, and what is there to do about it? Post columnists Amanda Ripley, Molly Roberts and Theodore Johnson talk through the dumbphone trend, how explicit lyric warnings on CDs backfired and what actually worked in the campaigns to stop kids from smoking.
Listen to Murthy talking to our colleagues on the daily news podcast, Post Reports, about why he sees social media as such a threat to young people.
"How bullying shaped the surgeon general's fight against social media"
Read more from the Washington Post:
“Surgeon general calls for social media warning labels”
“What research actually says about social media and kids’ health”
“Opinion | Why a warning label for social media is so crucial”
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Get every episode summarized
Each time Reasonably Optimistic publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
More from Reasonably Optimistic
The temperature is rising on AI. What comes next?
Reasonably Optimistic
I'm not anti-tax. But this one should go.
Reasonably Optimistic
What a Catholic feminist dares to say
Reasonably Optimistic
Where AI will be in a year — and in a decade
Reasonably Optimistic