The U.S. Surgeon General this week issued a public advisory warning that social media can pose a “profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.”

In this 25-page advisory, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called on policymakers, tech companies, and parents to take action to mitigate harm, and offered recommendations for how to do that. He also called for more research into the risks.

Children are exposed to harmful content on social media, ranging from violent and sexual content to bullying and harassment. And for too many children, social media use is compromising their sleep and valuable in-person time with family and friends.

“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis — one that we must urgently address.”

According to the advisory, up to 95% of youth ages 13-17 use social media, with one-third of that group saying they use it “almost constantly,” and 40% of children ages 8-12 use it.

“Instead of focusing on limiting access to social media, why not focus on the things that we know are good for children? Like talking to them, like giving them time to play, like being interested in them.

“[Children] really need to use their bodies, that’s number one, and number two, they absolutely desperately need interaction with others for their intellectual development.

“So holding aside all connections between anxiety and, and social media, which may turn out to be as strong as is suggested, we don’t know yet, but we for sure have plenty of evidence that kids need human interaction for their intellectual development.”