U.S. Surgeon General, Sen. Sullivan address suicide risks by young girls

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The country is facing a crisis that it’s never experienced before: loneliness, isolation and negative messages on social media that could lead to suicide attempts by young people.

“Things are not going well right now, they are struggling, we see record rate of suicide, depression and anxiety,” U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said. “Here in Alaska, we have one of the highest youth suicide rates. Across the country, we see that 1 in 3 adolescent girls seriously considered taking their own life in 2021.”

Murthy joined Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Consortium Library in an event dubbed the Alaska Youth Mental Health Roundtable. The two shared their understanding of the state’s mental health crisis after meeting with Alaska mental health providers and experts. It was Murthy’s first visit to Alaska since 2016 when Sullivan hosted a wellness summit on the epidemic of drug addiction.

According to Murthy, 1 in 2 adults report measurable levels of loneliness and the impacts are even higher among young people.

What’s especially concerning is the high number of young people — especially girls — who attempt suicide, Murthy said.

“If 50% of the young girls in Alaska and America are thinking about suicide, it’s kind of like nothing else should matter,” Sullivan said. “Like that is a fundamental area where we need policy focus.”

Murthy says social media can be especially harmful, with young people viewing hours of content well into the night.

“It truly is a crisis. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again, that youth mental health is the defining public health challenge of our time. It’s affecting our kids’ wellbeing across the board,” Murthy said at a news conference flanked by Sullivan and Dr. Anne Zink, the chief medical officer for the State of Alaska.

According to an advisory, 95% of teenagers, ages 13-17, say they use a social media app, and more than a third say they use it “almost constantly.”

Nearly 1 in 3 adolescents report using screens until midnight or later, Murthy says, and most are using social media during that time.

Murthy says social media has good uses, but it’s unclear how broadly it could negatively impact young people.

In a 19-page advisory Murthy noted that “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

Sullivan says Alaska has particular impacts including hospitals that are only in large hubs as well as not enough access to broadband in rural Alaska.

He says he’ll introduce legislation to put some rules on social media and that he thinks the age limit for usage should be 16, not the current age of 13.

“Right now they’re supposed to be the age of 13 and it’s not really well enforced at all,” Sullivan said. “So we’re looking at enhancing the age and then enhancing the penalties of the use onto the companies who have to take more responsibility to see who is using.”

Sullivan also argues that tech and social media companies should be more transparent with data, including providing studies that demonstrate the harmful impacts.

He would also like to require the companies to provide public service announcements similar to what broadcast companies are required to complete.

A PSA is typically provided to share information and help a community and convince people to make choices that will help keep their family and friends healthy and safe.

The American Psychological Association has also issued its first-ever social media guidance that recommends that parents closely monitor their teens’ usage online and that tech companies reconsider features like endless scrolling and the ‘like’ button.

“Today the average adolescent spends 3.5 hours on social media,” Murthy said. “My concern, there specifically, is about exposure to harmful content, extreme violence, hyper-sexual content, that kids are experiencing online, as well as the impact on their self-esteem as kids are immersed in this cauldron of self-comparison.”

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