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Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

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Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#521
post #389
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (F) interactive gaming, virtual gaming, or an online service, that allows the creation and uploading of content for the purpose of interactive gaming, edutainment, or associated entertainment, Doesn't this loophole even defeat their own hidden agenda? Almost every online game today features a chat function.

I think Discord even passes that.

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Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#522
post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gay guy here. I have always said that these sort of laws designed to protect children will do precisely the opposite. An LGBTQ child is effectively forcibly outed by this law, potentially before they've come to terms with their sexuality / gender themselves. Whilst I don't doubt social media causes a lot of harm on children growing up, giving parents full access to your messages is not the solution. In my opinion, ba…

Social media is not the same as it was 10 years ago. The level of which kids compare themselves to other kids took an exponential leap to a near hive mind level. Constantly comparing themselves to the instagram people with fake lives, rich kids, or extremely beautiful people is mentally damaging them. My daughter asked me for plastic surgery, and I was dumbfounded. So I went check her internet logs, and she's been wa…

The mental health of teens and pre-teens has gotten really bad. This isn't just another "think of the children scare." Since the early 2010s the rate of self harm among girls 10-14 has ~tripled, and the rate of suicide among 10-14 year olds has doubled [1].

And there is now lots of evidence that this is because of social media and smartphones. The social lives of kids have changed drastically, in a way that does not meet their basic psychological needs [2].

I think that people's perceptions of social media are lagging behind the reality on the ground. There have always been moral panics and silly scares about whether the kids are alright, most of which were unfounded. So I think we are now reacting too slowly to the genuine health crisis caused by technology.

[1] https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/the-teen-mental-illness...

[2] https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-ill...

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#523
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call their bluff - don’t make your service available in Utah.

I live in Utah. If that's what happens, that would be awesome! "Sorry kids, no fb/tiktok/insta and there's nothing I can do about it. None of them work where we live" Would be a huge win for all parents. No social media, and we don't have to be the bad guys taking it away.

So kids are just going to replace all of that with more porn? Utah is already the biggest consumer of it

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#524

I think that people aren't giving enough credence to the reason Utah gives for the restrictions: The teen mental health crisis. Social media has radically changed the social lives of adolescents, and as a result anxiety, depression, self harm, and suicide have all skyrocketed. The data on this is not ambiguous [1]. And there's now a lot of evidence that social media and smartphones are the cause of the crisis: they s…

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Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#525
post #365

I feel like this is a response to the exponential popularity of sites like r/exmormon among younger generations. For example, look at these exceptions. It seems like organic, unapproved discussion between users is what the bill is trying to stifle: > (D) news, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated, ... (Q) to permit comments on a digital news website, if th…

Gay guy here. I have always said that these sort of laws designed to protect children will do precisely the opposite. An LGBTQ child is effectively forcibly outed by this law, potentially before they've come to terms with their sexuality / gender themselves. Whilst I don't doubt social media causes a lot of harm on children growing up, giving parents full access to your messages is not the solution. In my opinion, ba…

Think of the gay children.

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#526
post #245

The idea that nobody is entitled to privacy until they turn 18 is crazy. I shudder for all the LGBT kids whose parents all now have a (state enforced!) right to snoop on them. (Honestly headline should be: “Utah bill gives parents full access to their children's online accounts, including posts and private messages”)

Children are not entitled to autonomy - they do not have freedom of movement in general, freedom of employment etc... Privacy, like any other form of autonomy, is in control of the parent and should be given out as part of the educational process. 18 perhaps is too old for the state to grant independence, but that's a problem in general and not restricted to privacy.

I recently saw a short video by Syria's Assad in which he argues that parents should be able to dictate their religious beliefs to their children, rather than allowing children to decide their religious beliefs on their own initiative.

It's somewhat less extreme than the old medieval feudal that the feudal lord should be able to dictate their religious beliefs to their serf population, but not really by much.

Freedom of choice with respect to religious beliefs, and legal bans on religious discrimination, are a fundamental necessity in any democratic system of government. Additionally, children do have the right to privacy, just as adults do.

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#527
post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (D) news, sports, entertainment, or other content that is preselected by the provider and not user generated, ... (Q) to permit comments on a digital news website, if the news content is posted only by the provider of the digital news website Sounds more like they are protecting against children consuming toxic or mind numbing content.

> Sounds more like they are protecting against children consuming toxic or mind numbing content. If that was the case it would not exclude comments on digital news websites. Those are usually a cesspool.

I doubt anyone thinks reading those comments are good. They just made the carve out to avoid including news sites in the ban.

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#528
post #524

I think that people aren't giving enough credence to the reason Utah gives for the restrictions: The teen mental health crisis. Social media has radically changed the social lives of adolescents, and as a result anxiety, depression, self harm, and suicide have all skyrocketed. The data on this is not ambiguous [1]. And there's now a lot of evidence that social media and smartphones are the cause of the crisis: they s…

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> How about not having a theistic culture? How about not stigmatizing kids who don't fit into the blonde white monoculture that Utah pushes everywhere?

The teen mental health crisis is happening everywhere in the US, and in Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. It started about the same time everywhere. Utah's particular culture doesn't have anything to do with it. They're just the state that has reacted first [1].

The suicide rate among 10-14 year olds has doubled since 2010, nationwide. If you can present data that shows the suicide rate increase is caused by any of those things, I'd love to see it.

There's now lots of evidence that smartphones and social media changes childhood in a way that does not meet fundamental psychological needs [2]. Those changes are causing enormous psychological and physcial harm. Regulating technology is the only way to deal with that.

[1] https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/the-teen-mental-illness...

[2] https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/social-media-mental-ill...

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#529
post #524

I think that people aren't giving enough credence to the reason Utah gives for the restrictions: The teen mental health crisis. Social media has radically changed the social lives of adolescents, and as a result anxiety, depression, self harm, and suicide have all skyrocketed. The data on this is not ambiguous [1]. And there's now a lot of evidence that social media and smartphones are the cause of the crisis: they s…

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How do those things help the vast majority? What you deride as “theism” and “monoculture” have been declining in sync with broad indicators of mental health showing more problems. Your problem is minoritarian thinking, where you’re focused on how those social structures might harm small groups of people, while overlooking the benefits they provide for the broader majority. For example, scientific studies consistently show that religion is correlated with better mental health, greater longevity, and greater happiness: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolefisher/2019/03/29/science..., https://news.stanford.edu/2020/11/13/deep-faith-beneficial-h..., https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23146600/

Re: Utah is first US state to limit teen social media access

#530
post #524

I think that people aren't giving enough credence to the reason Utah gives for the restrictions: The teen mental health crisis. Social media has radically changed the social lives of adolescents, and as a result anxiety, depression, self harm, and suicide have all skyrocketed. The data on this is not ambiguous [1]. And there's now a lot of evidence that social media and smartphones are the cause of the crisis: they s…

[flagged]

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