And this will apply to everyone once you have to prove you are over 16.
UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
181–190 of 302 posts
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
> A lot of people say this is dumb because teenagers will figure out a way to bypass it. Good! That’s what teenagers are supposed to do. So the teenagers bypass it and use other sites while us adults are handing our IDs over just to use basic websites? How is this good?
I’m becoming something of an accelerationist on this issue. I think we’re at a dead end with like 5 companies controlling most of the internet. If this pisses people off and encourages them to get active politically or create new modes of communication. Great! Freedom has to be more than “you can choose any walled garden you want!” We need more spaces that aren’t mediated. I feel like we’ve accepted this terrible def…
The typical medium for the internet today, even among many people who would have been computer nerds in days of yore, is the smartphone, i.e. primarily a consumption device. I can't see people becoming so pissed out that they would overcome the limitations of the phone and actually create bold new modes of communication. Just using an alternative prepackaged app like Signal is way out there for most people.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#183I teach children. You have no idea how much social media has affected their attention, memory, critical reasoning and social skills: the social repercussions will be felt for decades. And this isn't mentioning exposing easily malleable minds to propaganda paid for by states that see the UK as an enemy, all before their critical reasoning skills, and awareness of their emotions, and how their emotions can be used agai…
Tbh I've never understood why a strict non-negotiable ban on phones in schools hasn't been in place. This is an easy win with no negative consequences for adults.
It already exists in the schools near where I live in the UK, but only came into place in some of them in the last year. I was surprised that they had been so slow about it.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#184I teach children. You have no idea how much social media has affected their attention, memory, critical reasoning and social skills: the social repercussions will be felt for decades. And this isn't mentioning exposing easily malleable minds to propaganda paid for by states that see the UK as an enemy, all before their critical reasoning skills, and awareness of their emotions, and how their emotions can be used agai…
Do you agree that parents should be the one protecting their children from this 'propaganda' and internet slop? Whilst I agree that social media can be overwhelmingly negative especially for young people, dont you recon that the risk to privacy and free-nature / increased surveillance of the internet is a greater problem?
Not OP but parental controls have existed for over a decade in these platforms with little to no uptake.
Now that the UK has had 3 major riots in the past 24 months exacerbated by foreign social media bots, it is all the more critical to prevent children from falling into the trap.
The time for the carrot is over. It's time for the stick.
On a separate note, I find it funny that plenty of so called internet freedom supporters are using HN given that it's terms and conditions give YC full ownership of comments in perpetuity.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tbh I've never understood why a strict non-negotiable ban on phones in schools hasn't been in place. This is an easy win with no negative consequences for adults.
I too don't like all this "age-verification" approach, but how does banning phones in school prevent kids / teens from using social media?
The goal is to prevent phones and social media from being a distraction during school time.
The schools in my district did it. Several kids ran huge campaigns with flyers and news media involvement trying to protest it, but after that died down the response has been very positive.
It’s not going to satisfy the people who think that all children everywhere must be banned from social media at all times whether their parents agree or disagree. It does have a very positive impact at schools.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#186I know many people dislike this movement but really, I think it's a good idea. Yes, it removes the "free" internet as it was 20 years ago, but that's gone already anyway. Yes, it opens up the way to a police state without anonymous internet access, but arguing against any law to be against that just seems like straight up anarchism to me. I see both children and adults being manipulated by corporations with "algorith…
I'm generally in agreement on social media bans for children, but the proposed solution is age verification on all platforms which has a huge amount of problems.
Why can't we just ban the use of smartphones without parental locks for under 16-year-olds instead? That's not perfect but would already be a huge improvement and adults wouldn't be affected by it.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you agree that parents should be the one protecting their children from this 'propaganda' and internet slop? Whilst I agree that social media can be overwhelmingly negative especially for young people, dont you recon that the risk to privacy and free-nature / increased surveillance of the internet is a greater problem?
Shouldn't parents be the ones to protect their children from the dangers of heroin, rather than an over-reaching state?
Do you really believe parents can realistically protect their wards from getting hooked to any harmful, addictive drugs? How will they ever know if their kids are experimenting with these drugs? The problem is that the drugs are addictive - all it it needs is for someone to try it a few times to get completely hooked to it. And you don't realise it until it is too late.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
The solution is parental controls on devices.
This The government shouldn't be parenting other parents kids
I mean, the government bans lots of things for under 18s. Gambling, alcohol, opening bank accounts, getting married are all restricted by governments. I’m not saying governments shouldn’t provide laws on what children can and can’t do, I’m saying that this law is a poor way of doing it.
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry to break it out to you, but the internet was already destroyed by people like you in silicon valley, not the government
Why do you think I'm like the people destroying the Internet? Because I said a bad word? Are you actually retarded? I'd love to return to the Internet we had in the 90s and 2000s, we're not going to get there if defeatist bitches like you cave and let the governments of the world control who is allowed to serve http responses to people that don't put their government ID in the header and route it through a 3rd party.
No, because the people who ruined the Internet were people like you who grew up on it, and then continued on to monetize it. The government was always too slow to be an actual threat.
Also chill with the anger
Re: UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tbh I've never understood why a strict non-negotiable ban on phones in schools hasn't been in place. This is an easy win with no negative consequences for adults.
It already exists in the schools near where I live in the UK, but only came into place in some of them in the last year. I was surprised that they had been so slow about it.
It’s happening in my area, too (US, not UK).
I was also surprised it hadn’t been the case. Apparently there were some policies against phone use during class but the enforcement was so toothless and sporadic that teachers and kids alike were ignoring the rule.
Now the rules are firm, universally applied, and have actual consequences. That last part seems to be the key. You can try to say phones are banned but until there are actual consequences it’s not really going to make a difference.