Biden's surgeon general warns that 13-year-olds shouldn't use social media because they are still 'developing their identity'

Biden’s Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has warned that 13-year-olds are too young to join social media because they are still "developing their identity," causing some on social media to call out his support for child sex changes.

Murthy, who supports adolescents having access to experimental sex changes, told CNN’s Newsroom that while children aged 13 and over are technically allowed to use social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, he is concerned that this is too early given that adolescence is a time when kids are still developing "their sense of self."

"It’s a time, you know, early adolescence, where kids are developing their identity, their sense of self. It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children," the surgeon general argued.

However, last March, Murthy spoke out against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directing state officials to open child abuse investigations into children who received sex changes and other related treatments, arguing that youth who are still in that same crucial stage of identity development should have access to an irreversible treatment pathway that often results in sterility and body-part amputation, reports Fox News. 

"LGBTQ+ youth were already at increased risk of suicide and other mental health struggles. We should be seeking to provide them with support and medical care," the surgeon general tweeted at the time. 

Prominent child safeguarding advocate Chris Elston, aka Billboard Chris, took to Twitter to question Murthy’s logic. 

"US @Surgeon_General Vivek Murthy says he believes 13 is too young for children to be on social media platforms, because although sites allow children of that age to join, kids are still ‘developing their identity.’ What about puberty blockers, Vivek?!" he tweeted.

Many experts have raised concerns that the huge surge in children and adolescents identifying as transgender and seeking experimental sex change procedures such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and bilateral mastectomies may be caused by social contagion spread via social media. 

Dr. Lisa Littman was the first to document this phenomenon in her 2018 study in which she coined the term "rapid onset gender dysphoria" to describe the predominantly adolescent female cohort of patients who experience a sudden onset of gender dysphoria at puberty, often after spending an extraordinary amount of time online. 

Dr. Erica Anderson, a trans-identified clinical psychologist who has treated hundreds of children and adolescents for gender dysphoria, has also spoken out about the role social media plays in young people adopting a transgender identity.

"Some influencers are literally encouraging the idea that one’s psychological distress may be because a young person is trans and is suffering from gender dysphoria," wrote Anderson in the San Francisco Examiner. "The remedy, they say, is to come out as trans or non-binary, which the influencers advise will alleviate their suffering. Welcomed into the company of other trans and gender creative persons, such young people may have found acceptance — though virtual acceptance, since much of this rapport is online."