A Warning Label for Smartphones?

A Health Advisory Warning Might Remind Parents of the Dangers of Digital Devices for Their Children

The guest opinion piece below is by Dr. James Winston, a Miami Beach-based psychologist with 30 years of experience in the field of addiction. He has funded significant research into the effects of digital devices and social media on adolescent brains. I wrote in Forbes three years ago about his family foundation campaign organized against Facebook and other social media platforms. I wrote last year about Dr. Winston’s theory that digital addiction might cause a nutritional deficiency in developing brains.

Trisha Posner

and I serve as directors with Dr. Winston on The Winston Family Initiative in Technology & Adolescent Brain Development.

A growing body of research points to the deleterious mental health effects for children and adolescents who spend too much time on social media. The Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act (KOSA) is designed to address some of these concerns and, if passed, is a good start. But it does not address a more critical variable responsible for today’s adolescent mental heal…