The healthcare profession has done an admirable job controlling infectious epidemics and pandemics, such as AIDS and COVID-19 (special shout-out to Operation Warp Speed for the creation of COVID vaccines in record time). Now, we need to move on to social media epidemics. [MedPage Today]

I believe the epidemic of social media has the potential to be as dangerous as infectious epidemics. Mental health should be treated with the same urgency as physical health. The time has arrived for physicians to take an active role in recognizing the dangers of social media, especially for youth, and to have discussions with young patients and their parents about the impact of social media on the growth and development of children.

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