(Radio Iowa) – The U-S surgeon general is urging Congress to pass legislation requiring warning labels on social media, an idea that’s gaining traction among some mental health professionals in Iowa who treat teenagers. Jeff Reiland, a child and family therapist with Gundersen Health System, says a host of studies confirm that too much social media can poison a child’s well-being. “The problem has been getting worse,” Rieland says, “and there’s a growing body of knowledge that really helps confirm more and more our concerns that when kids are exposed to too much social media, they experience symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

He says there have long been concerns among parents, school leaders and mental health professionals about the impact social media is having on America’s young people. “Teenagers average about five hours of social media time every day, and we know it is a big part or a contributing factor to problems kids are having with anxiety and depression,” Rieland says. “When kids have more than three hours of social media time, they are twice as likely to experience depression.” Putting a warning label on social media won’t magically fix the problem, Rieland says, but it may be a good first step.

“Past efforts at creating warning labels on things like tobacco products, and alcohol, can raise public awareness,” Rieland says. “It can help people to recognize, ‘Oh, this is a serious thing.’ It’s so big that we need to warn you that this is a concern, that this could cause problems for your child, if used in excess.” If a kid sees his mom, dad or both spending a lot of time on social media, Rieland says that’s a key driver in the child devoting more time to the screen. “Parents are our first and our most significant teachers across our lifetime for a child or a teenager. And so, parents modeling screen use is going to be followed by their teenagers,” Rieland says. “There is plenty of evidence and many studies have demonstrated that when parents are really involved in social media use, their children are more likely also to be involved in social media use.”

Not all social media is bad, Rieland says, noting how it was the only way kids could connect during the pandemic. Gundersen Health System has clinics in Calmar, Decorah, Fayette, Lansing, Postville and Waukon, and a hospital in West Union.