ROCHESTER, N.Y. – This Consumer Alert is for anyone who loves a child. On Monday the U.S. surgeon general called on Congress to approve warning labels for social media apps. The labels would resemble those on cigarettes. In an opinion column in Monday’s edition of the New York Times, the surgeon general said social media poses the same potential harm to the mind of your teen as cigarettes do to the body.

The first thing we must do as parents is monitor screen time. The surgeon general says teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression. While pediatricians say your child should have no more than two hours of screen time daily, the surgeon general says the average daily use among teens is almost five hours.

You can limit your child’s screen time on Apple and Android devices. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

But our tech expert, AT&T sales manager Jason Komenski, says we, as parents, need to be engaged with our kids while they’re on that phone.

“The most important thing that I can think of is to be present with them,” said Komenski. “Sit down. Play. Watch. Learn with them. Be engaged with them. You have an idea of what they’re looking into, what they’re interested in. And all the while, you’re building that trust with them. Kind of keep those lines of communication open.”

Your child’s Apple or Android phone already has parental controls. For example, Apple devices give you, the parent, a screen time option allowing you to put privacy restrictions on social media.

You can also turn on browser filters like Google Safe Search. Also, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have family security plans, allowing you to set purchase limits, block content and take the wheel when protecting your child’s mental health.

Also, kids access social media on their phones, and we all need to evaluate if our children are ready for phones. AT&T has a test developed in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics that you can take with your child to determine if he or she is ready for a phone.