How bullying shaped the surgeon general's fight against social media
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2024
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has been at the forefront of a movement to scrutinize the impact of social media and its potential harms. Last week, he called for placing tobacco-style warning labels on social media platforms to alert users that the platforms can harm children’s mental health.
Today, host Martine Powers talks to Murthy about what social media is doing to children and what type of effect warning labels could have on the issue. Plus, we talk about his latest advisory declaring gun violence a public health crisis.
Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sean Carter. Thank you to Stephen Smith.
If you liked this episode, check out this week’s episode of “Impromptu”; journalists on the Post’s Opinions desk talk about smartphones, anxiety about teen mental health, and whether warning labels on things like social media could actually work.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Dr. |
| 0:03.0 | Murphy, I just want to start by saying, |
| 0:05.0 | so in preparing for this conversation, |
| 0:08.0 | I came across a very exciting piece of information, |
| 0:10.0 | which is I believe you and I went to the same middle school. |
| 0:14.0 | What? Martine, really? |
| 0:16.0 | Palmetto Middle. |
| 0:18.0 | Oh my gosh. |
| 0:20.0 | Home of the Lancers. Yes, that is right. I haven't heard Lancers in years. Wow. |
| 0:30.0 | Yeah, yeah. And I just remember them because we had these like horrible orange shorts and gym classes with like the... |
| 0:34.8 | I remember. Yep, I remember those. Yeah. Yeah. |
| 0:39.6 | That is Dr. Vivek Murthy. And in addition to being a proud alumnus of Palmetto Middle School in Miami |
| 0:46.2 | Dade County, he is the United States Surgeon General, basically the nation's top physician. So he thinks a lot about the well-being of kids in the U.S. |
| 0:56.0 | I've often wondered is middle school hard all over the world or is it just America? |
| 1:01.0 | Sometimes I wonder. |
| 1:02.0 | Dr. Marthy did not have a great time in middle school. is it just America? Sometimes I wonder. |
| 1:02.6 | Dr. Marthy did not have a great time in middle school, |
| 1:05.7 | but who did? |
| 1:07.3 | I can tell you plenty of stories of my Palmetto middle experience. |
| 1:11.9 | My classmates, a not so nice reaction to my intense |
| 1:15.5 | orthodontics, the one kid in seventh grade who told me that my hair looked |
| 1:19.6 | like Dawn King. And as you'll hear in this episode, Dr. Murphy has his own stories to share about the particular |
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