Is the smartphone panic dumb?

Impromptu

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”

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