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Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

reuters.com

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Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#711

Post by de6u99er »

zmmmmm wrote: post #405

A lot of the criticism is based on the concept that it won't be technically watertight. But the key is that it doesn't have to be watertight to work. Social media is all about network effects. Once most kids are on there, everyone has to be on there. If you knock the percentage down far enough, you break the network effect to the point where those who don't want to don't feel pressured to. If that is all it does, it'…

It's very simple. Parents can configure parental controls on their children's devices.

I personally think, Facebook and Twitter need to be taken down because Zuckerberg and Musk are using the ppatform to interfere with politics.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#712

Post by manindahat »

roenxi wrote: post #459
zmmmmm wrote: post #405

A lot of the criticism is based on the concept that it won't be technically watertight. But the key is that it doesn't have to be watertight to work. Social media is all about network effects. Once most kids are on there, everyone has to be on there. If you knock the percentage down far enough, you break the network effect to the point where those who don't want to don't feel pressured to. If that is all it does, it'…

Well, yes but the other problem is this is putting authoritarians in charge of more stuff. I had a comment comparing this to allowing people to eat too much food and that is literally where the logical outcome of this sort of thinking goes - it happens in practice, that isn't some sort of theoretical risk. The more the government decides what people can and can't want to do the worse the potential gets when they make…

That is an argument and worth monitoring, but IMO it's not a strong enough argument to stop this.

This sort of ban is the same as existing laws banning the sale and consumption of alcohol or driving until kids are of age they will (on average) have sufficient maturity to handle the responsibility. Something we accept.

Kids are not banned from digital communication. My daughter can still send text messages and make phone calls.

Kids are not banned from the consuming content on those platforms. They simply can't have an account to create their own content as it was too often abused. For example, my 12yo daughter was asked by a friend to message bomb and abuse a 12yo her friend had a crush on. That's mild compared to some of the stories I've heard from platforms like Facebook, and between about 10 - 16 many kids are just nasty.

I believe that the line in the sand over which platforms this applies to is the ones that leverage account history to supercharge the already addictive behaviours caused by UI designs optimised to manipulate your attention and direct your purchasing power towards whoever is paying them. Something kids are particularly vulnerable to. The algorithm doesn't care if it is pushing you towards radical content as long as you are watching it for as many hours in a day as possible.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#713

Post by Gigachad »

heathrow83829 wrote: post #79
N_Lens wrote: post #8

Quite a decisive move by the Australian government. I don't know if it's a move in the right direction or not but the research clearly shows that around the time social media became mainstream, teens' and preteens' mental health took a nosedive (Especially girls).

maybe it's a step in the right direction but you can't regulate away ALL parenting. I know kids in the 5th grade getting brand new Iphone 17s! i've even seen one kid at the age of 7, getting their own Ipad. some parents even force their kids to use play on their iphone, just so they don't have to keep an eye on their kid anymore. My jaw really dropped to the floor on that one. at some point, you just have to say that…

We have had 10+ years of asking parents to solve the problem and the situation has only gotten worse. "Just parent better" is good advice at an individual level but it doesn't solve problems at a society level.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#714

Post by WhyNotHugo »

I've not seen any mention of how this affect families.

A lot of my family growing up lived in different cities. We kept in touch via social media. PSTN was expensive and impractical. Postal mail was obviously less practical.

Does this new ban move kids to using email to keep in touch with friends and family? Are they now completely isolated from the rest of the world?

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#715

Post by mrcode007 »

madeofpalk wrote: post #708
rapind wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are government regulations regarding kids. Nothing new here, we’ve been regulating what you can market to kids for decades. I’m not buying a slippery slope argument. As a parent myself, it definitely helps when you can collectively avoid having your kids on these platforms. I can’t express how much easier it is to restrict it and not seem like a kook when authorities are also on board.

The problem is that it's a government regulation regarding everyone, because now everyone must prove that they're not a subject of this new law. Do you think there should there be police on every corner you must submit your ID to to prove you're not an illegal immigrant?

Imagine having to show your ID demonstrating you’re not subject to the law punishing you for driving a car without a driving license.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#716

Post by heavyset_go »

rapind wrote: post #651
roenxi wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, yes but the other problem is this is putting authoritarians in charge of more stuff. I had a comment comparing this to allowing people to eat too much food and that is literally where the logical outcome of this sort of thinking goes - it happens in practice, that isn't some sort of theoretical risk. The more the government decides what people can and can't want to do the worse the potential gets when they make…

These are government regulations regarding kids. Nothing new here, we’ve been regulating what you can market to kids for decades. I’m not buying a slippery slope argument. As a parent myself, it definitely helps when you can collectively avoid having your kids on these platforms. I can’t express how much easier it is to restrict it and not seem like a kook when authorities are also on board.

We're literally at the point where we have KYC laws just to post on the internet.

The slippery slope is long behind us, we're already at the bottom.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#717

Post by gorgoiler »

It’s worth calling this by its other name: the taking away of anonymity and pseudonymity.

To date, proving you are old enough is almost always (over-)implemented by having to reveal your legal identity and the exact date you were born.

If the whole world goes down the route of AV / age-bans then I hope we at least get some kind of escrow service where you visit an official office, prove your age to a disinterested public official, and then pick a random proof-of-age token out of a big bucket. The bucket’s randomness is itself generated when it was filled up with tokens at the Department of Tokens, and maintained by a chain of custody.

You could do it on polling day: ballot boxes get sent out to polling stations filled with tokens and get sent back filled with ballot papers, with the whole process watched by election monitors. Now everyone has (a) voted (b) picked up a proof of age/citizenship token. It would improve turnout, though I believe that’s already mandatory in Australia.

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#718

Post by brailsafe »

WhyNotHugo wrote: post #714

I've not seen any mention of how this affect families. A lot of my family growing up lived in different cities. We kept in touch via social media. PSTN was expensive and impractical. Postal mail was obviously less practical. Does this new ban move kids to using email to keep in touch with friends and family? Are they now completely isolated from the rest of the world?

> Does this new ban move kids to using email to keep in touch with friends and family?

You had social media but no ability to send DMs?

In an attempt to not deliberately misinterpret you, next to zero of my current ability to keep in touch with anyone in my life via the internet, distant or otherwise, depends on social media, so forgive me if this seems like a strange take. Kids need access to YouTube in order to talk to their family?

> Are they now completely isolated from the rest of the world?

It's only in extremely recent history that anyone, especially kids, had access to the rest of the world in any meaningful way, or at the resolution available now. I don't think it's remotely healthy for adults to concern themselves with the hourly regional issues wherever they're occuring in the world; it costs society a great deal more than it earns imo (but it's very profitable for the companies on this list)

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#719

Post by mullingitover »

chistev wrote: post #109
mullingitover wrote: post #71

Florida passed a similar law, and a bunch of other states are attempting to but are blocked by federal courts. Will be interesting to see if the tech industry allows it, or decides to break up the federal government before it becomes too powerful.

Break up the federal government?

> In an effort to curtail the organization’s outsized influence, Facebook announced Monday that it would be implementing new steps to ensure the breakup of the U.S. government before it becomes too powerful. [1]

I'm old enough to remember when The Onion didn't just report the news.

[1] https://theonion.com/facebook-announces-plan-to-break-up-u-s...

Re: Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban

#720

Post by TacticalCoder »

de6u99er wrote: post #711
zmmmmm wrote: post #405

A lot of the criticism is based on the concept that it won't be technically watertight. But the key is that it doesn't have to be watertight to work. Social media is all about network effects. Once most kids are on there, everyone has to be on there. If you knock the percentage down far enough, you break the network effect to the point where those who don't want to don't feel pressured to. If that is all it does, it'…

It's very simple. Parents can configure parental controls on their children's devices. I personally think, Facebook and Twitter need to be taken down because Zuckerberg and Musk are using the ppatform to interfere with politics.

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