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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

#301
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Should we put age limit on voting? 70 doesn’t have the brain functionality of an 18 year old. Why they are very susceptible to fraud because of cognitive decline.

I think we should limit voting to those who block ads!

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

#302

The recent World Happiness Report[0] concluded: > In many but not all regions, the young are happier than the old. But in North America happiness has fallen so sharply for the young that they are now less happy than the old. By contrast, in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the young are much happier than the old. In Western Europe as a whole happiness is similar at all ages, while elsewhere it…

I have a 14 year old and the content of social media seems to be what bums her out. She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? I have not read any kind of large scale studies examining the "tone" of social me…

"I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one..."

Guess you haven't mentioned that Santa isn't real, either.

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

#303
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are totally right housing prices have skyrocketed relative to wages, but you cant just tell kids they are doomed. There have always been good times and hard times and there are always people who succeed or fail regardless.

> but you cant just tell kids they are doomed Lying to them when they can see the evidence to the contrary is better?

I approach life thinking that I should do the best for myself and my family regardless of what broad societal problems are. I want to raise my kids to be the same way. There is no way I am going to raise them thinking they should just quit.

It isn't a lie, I don't know what the future will be but I know there will be people who thrive and people who wither.

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

#304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are totally right housing prices have skyrocketed relative to wages, but you cant just tell kids they are doomed. There have always been good times and hard times and there are always people who succeed or fail regardless.

> but you cant just tell kids they are doomed But you can expose them to broader view points; Why is owning a house a goal, or dilemma that would lead to depression? This is perhaps the "American" part; how many countries is home and automobile ownership a top coming of age marker? Environmental disasters are going to happen (especially in top article of Florida) how can a kid take part through volunteering or voting…

Owning a home is a goal because the alternative is lifetime wage slavery to fund a landlord’s lavish lifestyle.

People don’t want to be exploited and see home ownership as a way to get out of that cycle of exploitation and building enough wealth to someday retire.

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

#305
post #222

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…

This has become such a common trope that I think people fail to apply even a modicum of scrutiny: the internet is not the town square and whatever your idea of the town square is likely wrong if you think its as wild-west-y as the internet is. Firstly, try to approach children in the town square while wearing a mask for anonymity; or try to hold up images of porn in your town square. You will not be there long, you'd…

"Secondly, why do people think there is some sort of town square?"

Cities and towns in the US were once often built around town squares. Many cities have open public areas like this in Europe and South America where people can congregate. Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires comes to mind. Cities in the US haven't been designed around a central town square in a long time, but the term has stuck colloquially.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_de_Mayo

Below is a link to William Penn's original plan for Philadelphia, where the city would have a five town squares, with one in the center of each of four quadrants, and the largest in the city center. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gary-Libecap/publicatio...

https://lauriephillips.com/philadelphias-five-original-squar...

Boston long had a number of town squares, many of which no longer exist, such as Haymarket Square. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Square_(Boston)

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

#306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't just start being able to deal with things that require self control at a specific age. It has to be taught. Even sex ed recognizes that, where it's far more effective to teach kids how to be safe during it rather than to teach them that they can do what they want after 18. If you push off the learning to when the person can legally just do whatever they want, all you're doing is abdicating parental respo…

Yes people should be taught skills to deal with making good choices and learning self control. But we don’t give kids heroin as part of the lesson in learning self control. The biological imperative for sex is overwhelming and there’s not much we can do to stop it. There is a way to stop companies from enticing kids with social media addiction though.

Wait you can buy heroin in Florida if you’re over 16?

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

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a 14 year old and the content of social media seems to be what bums her out. She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? I have not read any kind of large scale studies examining the "tone" of social me…

Not sure we should be trying to fix away awareness of the climate crisis, which seems to be a blind spot for most older people preventing the democratic process from taking the needed drastic actions. (Same could be said for the increasing economic inequality despite record GDP, though it's more survivable near term)

I think these two things are in conflict. Drastic action on the climate will almost certainly make most people's lives harder (at least in the short term) and will probably be tougher on the poor than the rich - for examples food price increases due to higher energy costs. Once you get down to the nuts and bolts of the changes needed, it's a tough sell to those already struggling.

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

#308
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=conventional+97+mortgage&ia...

Is it easy to find one that doesn't require private mortgage insurance? I remember that being a sticking point when I looked into this in the past few years. The problem I see with requiring such insurance is that I'd already be paying whatever interest rate on a higher loan amount for the same 15- or 30-year period and it's rather insulting when a high credit score isn't a signal that the loan is low risk. How many…

I didn't know I was supposed to be insulted by PMI, so I just paid it.

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

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? Perhaps America is a bigger target than other countries for foreign influence operations that seek to cause division and depression using social media.

This and this again. Tiktok is a foreign influence machine on its own and it is wrecking havoc across the West. Compare Western Tiktok to Chinese Tiktok and see the difference for yourself.

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

#310
post #286
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting young populations bordering all too real conflicts and war and existentially threatening neighbors are happier than people who have, by comparison, so much less to be unhappy about. Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. I’m a millennial and can’t say I’ve had that experience. I would bet old Europeans own less securities and are less wealthy possibly. This decreases the olde…

> Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. That is quite a generalization. The rich old people are indeed very rich. Also, a lot of old people are quite poor and poverty is increasing in that age bracket. https://www.ncoa.org/article/latest-census-bureau-data-shows...

We spend far, far more on a single invalid dementia patient in a nursing home than on a poor family with young kids.

And not nearly enough on preventing young single people from becoming poor single mothers.

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