Banning social media for kids.
Posted by Zealousideal-City-16@reddit | Libertarian | View on Reddit | 30 comments
https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-plans-social-media-ban-children-2024-09-09/
So I'm not really opposed to this after years of being online both gaming and random social media I feel like having kids on social media is like letting them go play in a mental firing range. Now personally I don't let my kids have social media accounts and they know if they secretly had one they'd lose internet and phone privileges for a year. However so many people don't know the internet like people like me do. Thoughts?
daghen420@reddit
You do a good job of parenting. It shouldnt be up to the country to ban social media for kids, its ALWAYS up to the parents
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Or the private company.
I wish these social media companies would actually step up and do what’s best for kids.
(Not a chance…lol)
RedBlue5665@reddit
What policies or rules would you consider to be best for kids that won't infringe on adults freedom of expression and association?
HTownLaserShow@reddit
First off, this isn’t a “free speech” issue if the company imposes the rules.
Second, just set an age limit and make sure it’s verified.
Fucking DL. Easy fix. 18 or older.
Thencewasit@reddit
Would you create a criminal offense for the failure of social media?
Would you also prosecute kids who get around the age verification?
Plus, you would be denying those who don’t have a way of verifying their identity. When you do that with voting, it’s called racism. So not sure if that would fly for social media.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Wait. Denying people something because they fail to identify themselves….is racist?
Thats the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.
Also, these are private companies. So that doesn’t apply and isn’t even worth a discussion. Good God.
Also, no. There wouldn’t be any criminal offenses. That’s preposterous. Just some simply checks and balances is all I’m saying. I’m not a tech person, so I wouldn’t know how that would look or work. But this is absolutely devastating our young people on a number of levels and something has to be done.
Thencewasit@reddit
You do understand that there are laws that criminalize discrimination against people on the basis of race and disparate impact against people because of their race. Those laws apply to businesses.
Many localities also have rules that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race.
So, if there is no law they are following then they would open themselves up to discrimination lawsuits, civil and criminal.
skooba87@reddit
Yes let's just have everyone dox themselves. I'm not submitting that information to either be compromised in a data breach or the company giving it to the government if I post something either party doesn't like.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Dude…if you’re on social media, you’ve already doxxed yourself.
Good lord.
AVeryCredibleHulk@reddit
There's only so much a social media company can do, really. If a kid makes an account, and fibbs on the "how old are you" question, how's a social media platform supposed to know? OTOH, the parents are the ones providing the devices and the home Internet that the kid is using in the first place, so the parent should be in a better place to monitor what's going on.
AVeryCredibleHulk@reddit
The only kids you can be a parent to are your own. Yes, other parents aren't going to be as savvy as you are at some things... And, no insult intended, there may be a few things they're good at which you don't know about.
We can help each other out, though, without imposing on each other's families. Educate each other. Host workshops, community awareness campaigns. Do some outreach through local civic organizations. Stuff like that.
begoodyall@reddit
Drug trafficking profits have skyrocketed since the war on drugs. Bootlegger profits increased during prohibition. There’s no reason the believe a social media ban would do anything other than put money into the hands of ppl willing to break the law and creat workarounds. On the flip side, social media was way better before it was full of adults.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
You obviously haven’t done any research on the subject.
Kids are far worse. And terrible to each other.
begoodyall@reddit
You obviously weren’t on MySpace or Facebook before it got overrun with adults. Coddling children and sheltering them from bullies doesn’t help them develop into productive humans, it just makes their parents feel better.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Read Jonathan Haidts study on it. It’s maddening. Really. The data is irrefutable. What it’s doing to our girls is absolutely alarming.
Also, tough guy, it goes beyond just simple bulling.
It’s obvious you don’t have kids. And yes, anyone who makes comments like that, hasn’t raised children. I have 4. And I was like you when I was stupid and lacked the actual experience of bringing a child into the world. There are things you do to protect your kids, and despite your best efforts, it simply isn’t enough because the reach is so vast. That’s not a failure of parenting.
There is a time to teach them lessons, and there is a time to demand some safeguards.
Do you support Minors being able to buy cigarettes?
Besides, there is literally zero benefit to minors being on social media (it’s literally killing them). I’ll wait for your data/reasons that shows/proves the benefits.
begoodyall@reddit
I agree with you it is a problem. That doesn’t change the fact that bans and prohibitions have proven time and again ineffective at accomplishing their goals and often make matters worse. Any proposal to fix the issue at hand should be made with that basic understanding.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
It’s banning minors.
Or maybe just throw in something that limits what they see.
Again, do you support minors smoking and drinking alcohol?
Seems like banning and probation in that demo has worked.
begoodyall@reddit
Are you under the impression minors don’t smoke and drink? That’s possibly the best example you could have used to prove my point, thank you
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Are you under the impression they are doing it at the clip they were before the rules?
begoodyall@reddit
https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(03)00393-3/fulltext “the change in the prevalence was not significantly different between any of the age groups”
Zealousideal-City-16@reddit (OP)
Basically, this stems from a friend of mines kid being convinced by a waste of air to do adult things for him on cam (she was 11). People can only do so much to police their own kids, some kinda age barrier should be in place, and we do it for other things. No driving till 16, no strip clubs till 18, smoking till 20. My opinion would be once you get a diploma or GED your free to do all the adult stuff with exception for smart kids and dropouts. They would need to wait until their original graduation date. I live in a small town, 3k people so my view of how this works is probably skewed.
hblok@reddit
Technical, but relevant if you'd rather do your own blocking, and parenting:
https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts/
zugi@reddit
Parents are welcome to ban social media for their kids.
Social media companies are welcome to adopt no-kids policies. Or offer special restricted accounts for kids.
Government has no business censoring the internet or banning anything.
RedBlue5665@reddit
For the children is a Trojan horse for more censorship.
nozoningbestzoning@reddit
Yeah, if you're concerned about social media you should get an internet filter, lots of filters can inspect and remove posts from the feed. The government shouldn't be involved in this
ThisIsMyCoffee@reddit
This is a Trojan horse to eliminate anonymity on social media for everyone. These verifications ensure my name, address, etc are available if I speak out against PM Albanese on any social media platform. Would my posted dissent be misconstrued as hate/violence/extremism?
Zealousideal-City-16@reddit (OP)
That's probably the best counterargument here. The rest seem to be anarchists not understanding limited government doesn't mean no government. I'd say we should just move to a cabin in the woods, but I practically already did that.
HTownLaserShow@reddit
Minors being the keyword here for me…I have no problem with minors having to wait until they are old enough. I guess the question is who enforces it?
Sometimes, it’s ok to make kids wait before they are exposed to certain things. And if you have been following what social media is doing to our youth, it’s not the worst idea in the world. There is literally zero argument for minors having access to it. ZERO.
While I appreciate people running to the “let parents parent”….a lot of the same people have no problem weaponizing school boards trumping parents who don’t want their kids exposed to drag queens in schools.….So which is it?
Parents either need to be in charge of what their kids are exposed to, or not.
I admit I’m torn on the issue. We don’t allow phones or social media in our house. And to be honest? The parents that do in our kids age ranges(6th grade)? Are shit parents and their kids are generally brats (yes, you are)…
Spare_Respond_2470@reddit
I think it's better for the kid's health to stay off of social media,
But again, whose decision is that to make? The parents/guardians or the government
how do people feel about the government banning porn for kids?
If it's about parental autonomy, then parents should be in full control of what their children consume with no government interference.
golsol@reddit
Parents should be allowed to parent. Using government to force something is wrong. The amount of posts lately asking about some sort of tyrannical legislation is making me wonder about the validity of this sub. It seems like an echo chamber for left/right statist shenanigans.