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Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

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Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#121
I support this. Normally, I think government intervention is bad and parents should be in control. But, as a parent myself, it was hard not to allow my child to have a phone when she kept saying, "Everyone has one. I'll be the only one without a phone". No one wants their child left out or left behind. This will remove that rationale.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m normally anti-regulation as well, but as a parent I’m fully on board with this. The amount of peer pressure to be on social media is insane.

Are you asserting that parents should not have the rights to determine this for their own children?

Yes, parents should not have unlimited rights to determine what is good/bad for their children.

Social media is a powerful, addictive and dangerous. Pretty much anywhere on this earth, parents will end up in jail or lose custody of their kids, if they give them harmful substances like drugs. Social media should be regulated like how drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes are regulated.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#123
post #49
post #36

I might be the only one here in favor of this, and wanting to see a federal rollout. It is not reasonable to expect parents to spontaneously agree on a strategy for keeping kids off social media- and that kind of coordination is what it would take, because the kids + social media companies have more than enough time to coordinate workarounds. Have the law put the social media companies on the parents side, or these k…

I'm in favor of kids not using social media, but not of the government forcing this on people nor spinning up whatever absurd regulatory regime is required. And the chance of actually enforcing it is zero anyway. It's no more realistic to expect this to work than to expect all parents to do it as you say. It's just wasted money plus personal intrusion that won't achieve anything.

We don't even have to speculate, isn't it already the case for <13yo? Or is just Europe? Anyway - yeah, of course they're still on it. Expect less compliance and harder enforcement the older they are, not more/easier.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#124

i don't know why people are cheering for this? the government shouldn't take the place of the parents. I think the real reason is they don't like how tiktok is creating activists out of the next generation of voters. we should demand better from big tech but banning does nothing to improve platforms. so many adults here were on forums, 4chan, mmos, ventrilo growing up, even Facebook which was useful keeping in touch…

All those things were horrible for us. I can't imagine the nightmare of combining that with the use of my real name. Like yeah, I want a free for all, but how bad does something have to be before we say no way?

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m normally anti-regulation as well, but as a parent I’m fully on board with this. The amount of peer pressure to be on social media is insane.

Because regulation worked so well in eliminating peer pressure for drinking, smoking, and drugs.

Drinking, smoking and drugs don't depend on a central point of control. Social media companies of any significance can be counted on two hands, and are accountable to corporate boards.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#126
post #49
post #36

I might be the only one here in favor of this, and wanting to see a federal rollout. It is not reasonable to expect parents to spontaneously agree on a strategy for keeping kids off social media- and that kind of coordination is what it would take, because the kids + social media companies have more than enough time to coordinate workarounds. Have the law put the social media companies on the parents side, or these k…

I'm in favor of kids not using social media, but not of the government forcing this on people nor spinning up whatever absurd regulatory regime is required. And the chance of actually enforcing it is zero anyway. It's no more realistic to expect this to work than to expect all parents to do it as you say. It's just wasted money plus personal intrusion that won't achieve anything.

So, maybe it a law - but requiring parents-guardians to enforce it, and not the state - sounds like a reasonable inbetween?

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#127
post #18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would it be different than age restricting voting, driving, or alcohol and tobacco sales? It seems there's precedent for treating minors differently than adults in many ways.

> age restricting voting, driving, or alcohol and tobacco sales I think those things are a bit more black and white. How do you define social media? Is HN social media? You engage with others through comments, posts are ranked and it has voting elements as well as your profile has a gamified score for upvotes. Is a Disqus comment on any website social media if that's how we broadly define social media? Where do we dr…

I would define it as a platform where the primary focus is for users post visual content of themselves.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#128

This is good. Seriously, the damage it does is massive, kids should not be on Instagram, Snapchat, or Tiktok.

I have a hunch that you're right, but there are a few other things that coincided with the rise of social media, so it's hard to tell what has driven the change in kids' psyches. Among them is the explosion of pharmaceuticals that are routinely prescribed to kids.

I think these things are linked. Either way, kids are having serious issues, so let's roll back the clock and see what innovation causes it. Kids were fine before social media, arguably better.

Re: Florida House of Representatives approves bill to ban social media for kids < 16

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m normally anti-regulation as well, but as a parent I’m fully on board with this. The amount of peer pressure to be on social media is insane.

Because regulation worked so well in eliminating peer pressure for drinking, smoking, and drugs.

Regulation worked remarkably well on smoking.
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