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Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

dallasnews.com

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Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#171

Post by nvahalik »

paroneayea wrote: post #145
JasonFruit wrote: post #126

I agree with the premise of this bill — that social media are harmful to young people — but disagree with the conclusion that therefore there must be a law. There are lots of things that can be harmful to children, like television, busy streets, caffeinated sugary sodas, and weight training, and we trust parents and other adults to guide children through those dangers, teaching them wise self-restraint along the way.…

I also can't believe how many other comments (not yours) in the comments on this post are like "this is a good idea" and "we should consider this" and etc. I'm amazed. Most of the people on here responding as such are, I'm guessing, are people from my generation: "millenials" who grew up natively on the internet, probably even hung out on Slashdot and etc when that was big. Slashdot had a lot of problems (so does thi…

> I thought when my generation grew up and had kids, we'd try to stand up for digital rights as being important for the next generation,

Yeah, but the internet we had has kids is far different than what we have today.

IMO the biggest difference is that it used to cost things to be on the internet: time and/or money. Sites weren't just GUI/WYSIWYG. You had to spend time building them. You had to have initiative. People's goals were different (I feel) than today. Knowledge and transfer of that knowledge was a big deal.

Now it seems like everything is about making a buck. You can't just let kids go wild online. There is some seriously dark stuff and it doesn't take a lot to get there. Hell, you can't even open some apps on a default install of something like macOS without the risk of pornography showing up.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#172

Post by jfengel »

thot_experiment wrote: post #118

Is this a real thing even worth discussing or just some silly performative stunt? Nobody is seriously considering this as a real thing we want to implement in society right? Right??

The issue is real, but the bill is a stunt. It's not actually going to pass or even get any real time in committee. It won't make it out of committee; if somehow it did, it would be voted down.

It gets people talking about the issue, and it puts the guy on the social calendar for talking with other people about the issue. That's how politics works: people talking with each other. The actual votes are only the final stage, and really the least important.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#173

Post by loeg »

tibbydudeza wrote: post #121

Never knew freedom of speech in the US has an age restriction - seem to vaguely recall some Supreme Court case involving a school board that limited the rights of their students in some case - think the SC said it was ok in some cases.

There are huge limits on the rights of minors in the US, unfortunately. Tinker won, but students have lost more recent first amendment battles (e.g., Frederick).

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#174

Post by anigbrowl »

thot_experiment wrote: post #118

Is this a real thing even worth discussing or just some silly performative stunt? Nobody is seriously considering this as a real thing we want to implement in society right? Right??

Lots of things are silly performative stunts until they aren't. The Governor of Texas has also formally declared that the state is subject to an invasion (in the military sense) and that he intends to act independently of the federal government with regard to the Mexican border.

https://www.borderwall.texas.gov

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#175

Post by anigbrowl »

abawany wrote: post #139
outside1234 wrote: post #134

Good news - it is part of my family's religion to use social media

"And on the 49th day, this Lord of thine commands that thee shall have a LinkedIn account with all annoying notifications turned on, and thee shall click on all these notifications and appreciate them for wasting the remaining moments of your life on this 'ere planet."

In all seriousness, a Christian could marshal a legally credible argument that such a restriction impinges upon their freedom to proselytize, which is widely considered to be a core duty of that religion notwithstanding that this is in conflict with the prescriptions of its founder.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#176

Post by anigbrowl »

pmdulaney wrote: post #153
bradjohnson wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide an example of similar bills that "the left" has put forth?

They're often referred to as "nanny state" laws: https://www.cnbc.com/2012/05/31/Americas-Nanny-State-Laws.ht...

Half of those examples seem just as likely to be motivated by conservative as liberal concerns. I struggle to think of left-wingers demanding that cars should be kept free of dirt or attempting to fine people for swearing in public. Then again listicles are more about stimulating clicks and shallow conversations than serious analysis of an issue.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#177

Post by threatofrain »

ALittleLight wrote: post #166
JasonFruit wrote: post #126

I agree with the premise of this bill — that social media are harmful to young people — but disagree with the conclusion that therefore there must be a law. There are lots of things that can be harmful to children, like television, busy streets, caffeinated sugary sodas, and weight training, and we trust parents and other adults to guide children through those dangers, teaching them wise self-restraint along the way.…

These are the same busybody nanny-staters who tell us that it is "illegal" for our kids to drink, drive cars, buy guns, or share pornographic pictures of themselves. But seriously - if you think social media is harmful to children, I don't see why you would oppose making it illegal. It would be illegal, neglect, for example, to let your children wander into a busy street. Why should it be legal to let your children c…

I'm not sure it ought be "neglectful" or "illegal" to let kids wander in a busy street. Every day I see a huge swarm of kids, including 5th and 6th graders in elementary school, walk home without parents from school. That includes crossing intersections and commercial venues. I don't think that as neglectful activity.

In Japan there's a popular TV show where kids (max age 6-7) wander around their town to do shopping chores. Despite the fact that this is a TV show and thus there are going to be employees secretly posted around with cameras, it still displays a cultural sensibility on when children should begin to be trained to be independent.

Now, should kindergarteners cross a very busy street alone? Probably not. But in the city I'm talking about each family makes their own choices and the sum of all this is one of the safest places in the world. Police cars do not regularly patrol around and the community is very, very prosperous and optimistic.

Meanwhile we have a recent story of a mom who got charged for child endangerment and convicted and sentenced because she let her kids walk alone.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#178

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

orwin wrote: post #107
__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's about correctness, just about whether they're allowed to coordinate as a bloc. Last year there was a week where the students at the nearby school stole all of the faucet knobs, towel dispensers, and even a mirror from the bathrooms. The following week they went about doing random acts of absurd "public service" (a TV was installed in the bathroom, poorly). Why? Some meme, no greater explanation. If…

That kind of things is exactly the reason why kids should be allowed social media. And by the way, in the 2000s, before facebook arrived in my country, we created websites and chatroom spawning entire grades, entire school even. The rumor mill was worse than facebook. I've heard of one of those project (a real website, not just an IRC like in my highschool) was used by students of multiple schools, until it was "hack…

I enabled a lot of filesharing between students who would otherwise never have met. Got suspended for it but whatever, that bit of community building way more important than the curriculum anyway.

The only good thing I can see coming out of a social media ban is that hacking will be cool again (much like it was when you had to be somewhat savvy to customize your myspace page).

Learning that it's not you vs your peers, but you and your peers vs the status quo, is an important part of teenagerhood. Attempting to keep kids from being kids is probably a pretty reliable way to remove any ambiguity about who their enemy is.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#179

Post by dang »

noasaservice wrote: post #122
alexb_ wrote: post #116

As great as it would be to never have to see the opinion of a 14 year old again >Under HB 896, social media sites would also be forced to verify a user’s age with a photo ID Throw the bill in the garbage.

Quoted post unavailable.

Please don't take HN threads into regional flamewar. It leads hellward, and is easily avoidable.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: you've been breaking the site guidelines repeatedly lately:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33821967

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33766363

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33682063

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33671032

... and we've already asked you more than once to stop:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32808611 (Sept 2022)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31520523 (May 2022)

Would you mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and fixing this? I don't want to ban you, but if you can't or won't stop posting abusively, we'll end up having to.

Re: Bill to ban social media for Texans under 18

#180

Post by JasonFruit »

ALittleLight wrote: post #166
JasonFruit wrote: post #126

I agree with the premise of this bill — that social media are harmful to young people — but disagree with the conclusion that therefore there must be a law. There are lots of things that can be harmful to children, like television, busy streets, caffeinated sugary sodas, and weight training, and we trust parents and other adults to guide children through those dangers, teaching them wise self-restraint along the way.…

These are the same busybody nanny-staters who tell us that it is "illegal" for our kids to drink, drive cars, buy guns, or share pornographic pictures of themselves. But seriously - if you think social media is harmful to children, I don't see why you would oppose making it illegal. It would be illegal, neglect, for example, to let your children wander into a busy street. Why should it be legal to let your children c…

You're missing an important distinction that I may not have made clear: a lot of activities that can be harmful to children can also be valuable. There's a lot of harmless fun on television, walking alone to the park or a neighbor's house fosters a healthy sense of independence, weight training done safely can help build strength and confidence and sugary caffeinated sodas in moderation are… tasty? (Not sure about the benefit on that last one.)

Like these activities, social media can have their benefits even for young people: contact with friends and family far away, connection with others with similar interests, and a broader view of the world, among others. With guidance, kids can experience those benefits without too much of the harm.

In most of the cases you point out — drinking, driving, buying firearms, and sharing pornographic pictures of themselves — any good there may be is vastly outweighed by the dangers. I don't believe the harm so disproportionate with social media, but I suppose others might disagree.

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