GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — People in West Michigan’s mental health community are reacting to a new advisory from the U.S. surgeon general about the impact of social media on young people.

In the published advisory released last week, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy talked about what he calls a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents when it comes to social media.

He also suggested that the government should set tougher standards for adolescent access to social media sites.

This comes as the surgeon general also recently released a report about what he calls an epidemic of loneliness in our country.

Brina Tiemeyer, a clinical manager with Wedgwood Christian Services, said that human beings are meant to be social and that there are both good and bad sides to social media.

“There’s no doubt that there’s a fair amount of good, so that includes raising awareness, it includes helping to normalize mental health challenges and such things as the loneliness epidemic and allowing open access to a way to find a community, or how to build a community. Those are goods of social media, but the impact of social media on all of us in regard to this loneliness epidemic is that it’s like an unfiltered resource that unequipped kids, teens, adolescents have free access to,” she said.

Tiemeyer said it’s important for parents to provide guidance and oversight to social media use. Parents are also advised to approach conversations with an open mind, in an efforts to help kids need to feel believed, capable, and safe.