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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

#371
post #9

I'm still on the fence about government doing a parent's job here, especially for kids under 13, but I can't stand that no one pushing these bills has come up with an actually reasonable age verification method.

> I'm still on the fence about government doing a parent's job here

The issue is, as a parent who is not very technical, how do they _safely_ audit their child's social media use?

I am reasonably confident that I could control my kid's social media habit, but only up to a point. there isn't anything really stopping them getting their own cheap phone/signing in on another person's machine.

The problem is, to safely stop kids getting access requires either strong authentication methods to the ISP. ie, to get an IP you need 2fa to sign in. But thats also how censorship/de-anonymisation happens.

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

#372

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.

Just to be clear, because parenting is hard you want to legislate how other parents are able to raise their children so that it's easier for you to get the behavior you want? I think all parents should take this approach.

  * Having trouble getting your children to go to church because their friends don't? Let's just legislate mandatory church attendance so that will remove the rationale for kids whose friends don't attend! 

  * Having trouble getting your kids to eat healthy because all their friends get to eat and drink whatever they want? Let's outlaw sodas so kids won't have to feel peer pressure!

  * You think your kid is playing too many video games? Why not just pass legislation that restricts all video game usage so your kid doesn't feel left out! 
Telling your kids no is part of being a parent. Explaining to your children why they aren't allowed to do some things that other kids do is part of being a parent. It seems we have an abundance of parents who don't want to actually be a parent and would rather legislation was passed so they don't have to say no to their kids.

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

#373
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the only way to do this is to require ID checks, effectively regulating and destroying the anonymous nature of the internet (and probably unconstitutional under the First Amendment, to boot.) It's the same problem with requiring age verification for porn. It's not that anyone wants kids to have easy access to this stuff, but that any of these laws will either be (a) unenforceable and useless, or (b) draconian and…

Lately I'm repeatedly reminded of how in Ecuador citizens, when interviewed during a protest, see it as a normal thing to tell their name as well as their personal ID number into the camera when also speaking about their position in regards of the protest. They stand to what they are saying without hiding. Since about half a year I've noticed the German Twitter section getting sunk in hate posts, people disrespecting…

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

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> There is no age limit to that restriction Wrong I’m afraid. Minors don’t have full rights, that’s why their bag/locker/car can be searched randomly, why they can have speech abridged, why they can’t see NC-17 movies(edit: scratch that one). The supreme court has weighed against minors many times.

>why they can’t see NC-17 movies

This is not a law, this is a voluntary regulation undertaken by the motion picture industry.

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

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can pretty confidently say that the half a million deaths a year attributable to smoking is a little more deleterious than getting bullied online and the suicides which follow. Many orders of magnitude more.

Just because one thing is worse than the other doesn't mean the less-bad thing is suddenly good.

The original statement was:

> "Do you also think that children should be allowed to buy cigarettes? I'll be honest, I am not certain that social media is any less deleterious than tobacco."

To which I pointed out that cigarettes kill far more people than social media. And your response was somehow that I'm implying that a less-bad thing is good? Are you sure you're following the conversation? It's really not clear that you're addressing anything I said, and it's unclear what your point is.

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

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> opposition to what? This is coming from the state that is trying to ban books based on some backwards concern of a white kid feeling bad. (for the record I am white). I don't care what side of politics you are on... you know what opposition I am talking about. Whether you are for or against it. > not people concerned with it have an agenda to expose kids to "viewpoints" that their parents would disapprove of. Yes!…

I don't mean to turn this into a religious discussion, but adding onto what you are saying here with a personal anecdote: having access to the internet allowed me to see viewpoints besides the religious right-wing perspective I had been conditioned with (for lack of a better term), but the internet did not start the process of leaving religion. I made the decision to seek other perspectives and did so through many av…

If you don't mind me asking what was the thing that prompted it? Tbh I was in a similar boat growing up and for me it was the internet that really first exposed me to things because I grew up in a very conservative area. I mean part of it for me is also being gay and at that time being pushed out in a way so I was also seeking that.

I consider myself very fortunate that I had gone to talk to the school guidance counselor and she was able to get me a book to help as well.

But Florida in particular is going multiple routes which is why I said what I said. Some kids will still seek it out, but some may just not be exposed to other viewpoints if they are more sheltered or live in a certain type of community.

And I know that this really isn't going to work, especially in today's age. But there is also something unique about seeing someone else's life that is different than yours (admittedly though the filtered lens of social media) vs just seeing on tv/movies or even the news.

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

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no age limit to that restriction Wrong I’m afraid. Minors don’t have full rights, that’s why their bag/locker/car can be searched randomly, why they can have speech abridged, why they can’t see NC-17 movies(edit: scratch that one). The supreme court has weighed against minors many times.

> why they can’t see NC-17 movies The first amendment is a restriction on Congress, and does not apply to the private Motion Picture Association that maintains the film rating system. > why they can have speech abridged I don't think that's true of federal law. There are cases, such as in school, where more restrictions are permitted to the school. But those restrictions are not based on age.

> There are cases, such as in school, where more restrictions are permitted to the school. But those restrictions are not based on age.

After 18 you can choose whether to be in school or not. Those restrictions are voluntary for adults but compulsory for minors (who do not get to choose whether they go to public school, private school, homeschool, or just pass the GED)

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

#378
I truly don't understand how the party of small government and parental rights of determination can justify passing this.

Perhaps more relevant to HN, it seems to me that any solution here would be a dramatic loss of agency, privacy, and anonymity.

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

#379
post #210
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…

But the only way to do this is to require ID checks, effectively regulating and destroying the anonymous nature of the internet (and probably unconstitutional under the First Amendment, to boot.) It's the same problem with requiring age verification for porn. It's not that anyone wants kids to have easy access to this stuff, but that any of these laws will either be (a) unenforceable and useless, or (b) draconian and…

How many social media users who create accounts and "sign in" are "anonymous". How would targeted advertising work if the website did not "know" their ages and other demographic information about them. Are the social media companies lying to advertisers by telling them they can target persons in a certain age bracket.

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

#380
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…

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