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Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

reuters.com

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Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#201

Post by rchaud »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #112
awkward wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because at 18 people are responsible for their own actions, and restricting them after that is unreasonable and contrary to personal freedom. There's a consistent factoid going around that brains aren't done developing until the age of 25. It's frequently used as an argument to restrict young people. Looking at performance by age in fields like math and music, declining brain plasticity seems more like a reason to im…

Why let someone who isn’t responsible for their own actions drive a car then, or have a checking account.

You are legally required to have auto insurance for exactly this reason. As for banking, there are limits on overdraft fees, also written into law because people are not always responsible with money regardless of age.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#202

Post by jiayo »

oliwarner wrote: post #188
alphabettsy wrote: post #81

The biggest problem I see is that we’re now essentially requiring ID to use substantial parts of the internet. So many business only have a Facebook page, Google maps has social features. I already didn’t want a Facebook account just to see a businesses specials, now I’ll need to present ID too? Certainly interested to see how all this plays out.

H.B.3 only prohibits these minors holding accounts on social media. They can still browse, as can anyone without an account and age verification. You'd be able to view a business's information, watch videos, etc etc etc, just not create your own. It also has conditions for which sites are affected by this law. The site has to have doomscroll and already be popular with kids. Google Maps isn't what they're targeting.…

How many social media sites allow you to do anything without an account? Twitter used to be wide open but X competely locked down. Instagram lets you click 2 things and then the paywall pops up. I'm not sure about Facebook but it isn't much better.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#203

Post by Ajedi32 »

mbrumlow wrote: post #192
Clubber wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’ve gotten by for the last several years without Facebook or Google (I do use a YT account, but not for anything meaningful). It’s annoying, but doable. I think the point is that the internet and particularly social media is now the de-facto town square. States are basically requiring identification to speak or criticize government in the town square. If you take a step back and look at it that way, it's grossly an…

Even if it was the town square many actual town squares require adults to accompany minors. Sure enough if you had a bunch of unattended 12 year olds hanging out the cops would be called and parents asked to be parents. Even worse would happen if you left your 6 year old wonder around the town square unattended while you went to a movie.

The issue here has absolutely nothing to do with how it affects kids, it has to do with how it affects adults. Again: "States are basically requiring identification to speak or criticize government in the town square."

The fact that the legislation is intended to affect kids is irrelevant if the only legally permitted way to comply damages the individual liberties of adults.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#204

Post by rchaud »

CSMastermind wrote: post #69
dotnet00 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might as well raise the age of majority to 25, if the brain isn't finished developing they're obviously incapable of handling personal freedom!

I'd unironically support raising the voting age in the US to 25. I was an idiot when I was 18 and had no business picking a leader of any kind. There's something to be said for waiting until people have actual life experience.

In that case most of Congress should recuse themselves from voting on abortion bills considering they've been shooting blanks and having hot flashes since the 90s.

That you were not fully informed when you voted at 18 is not a reason to restrict the rights of others who are. Or aren't. Who's to say a 25yo is somehow any better prepared to vote? It's not like they were asked to pass a civics test first.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#205

Post by itishappy »

jl6 wrote: post #190
itishappy wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have laws about how our elders with Alzheimer's and dementia vote, but self-sufficient 17 year olds have no say in how their lives will be managed for the next 4 years. There's nuance you're glossing over.

Unless you’re going to allow babies to vote, we have to draw the line somewhere. It’s also not true that a 17 year old is disenfranchised for 4 years - they can engage with the political process as an adult as soon as they turn 18. Presidential elections aren’t the only feature of democracy. They aren’t even the only vote.

Right, and drawing arbitrary lines is guaranteed to step on toes. In some ways, the fairest way is to draw it at the extreme (I'm not suggesting this is best, just that it sidesteps this particular issue). Children are humans, they're affected by political pressures same as the rest (and they'll experience these pressure for longer than most of us). We're also already choosing not to restrict voting based on assumed capacity for reasoning. Individuals with down syndrome, dementia, and Alzheimer's have their voting rights explicitly protected, but 16 year-olds aren't ready.

I guess my point boils down to simply: Why? There's arguments both ways, what's the reasoning?

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#206

Post by rchaud »

II2II wrote: post #64
demondemidi wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Young people? I’d say people in general.

Perhaps that is part of the problem with these laws: we are playing a game of whack-a-mole instead of tackling the issue of mental health. While I personally avoid social media due to privacy concerns, I have encountered other adults my age who have expressed that they avoid social media for reasons related to mental health. While walking through my neighbourhood, it is clear that there are many people with mental he…

The mental health issue was pre-empted by the advertisement-based business model that threw everything into an algorithmic blender to begin with, causing users to scroll more and more.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#207

Post by appplication »

jiayo wrote: post #202
oliwarner wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

H.B.3 only prohibits these minors holding accounts on social media. They can still browse, as can anyone without an account and age verification. You'd be able to view a business's information, watch videos, etc etc etc, just not create your own. It also has conditions for which sites are affected by this law. The site has to have doomscroll and already be popular with kids. Google Maps isn't what they're targeting.…

How many social media sites allow you to do anything without an account? Twitter used to be wide open but X competely locked down. Instagram lets you click 2 things and then the paywall pops up. I'm not sure about Facebook but it isn't much better.

Without speaking to merits, the entire point of this law is to reduce usage by minors. So being able to do less without an account is a feature through this lens.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#209

Post by kjkjadksj »

KaiserPro wrote: post #132
kjkjadksj wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 years ago us kids were watching viral content on the internet that wasn’t even acceptable to go on youtube then or now. Still today, we are now your young doctors and lawyers and young business executives, despite all the quite disturbing viral content that characterized the early 2000s internet. I think we did fine and I think the kids will be alright too.

I did too, but I would gently point out that you had to actively look for it. something rotten was a known site for that kinda stuff. You only went there if you were doing "illicit browsing" shall we say. It was pretty difficult to stumble over a video of something visceral. Moreover, the internet wasn't real when we grew up. The internet is real and omnipresent, filled with the mountains of clickbated bullshit, and…

We had chatroullette too for our more sporadic visceral disturbances, also live leak existed then.

Re: Florida's DeSantis signs law restricting social media for people under 16

#210

Post by zafka »

I feel that more than anything this is a subsidy for all of Desantis's lawyer friends - paid for by residents of Florida. While Florida was an odd state when I moved here 40 years ago, it has become more surreal at an accelerating pace. I wonder if the simulation has a local glitch.
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