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Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

abc.net.au

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Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#201

Post by afavour »

nomilk wrote: post #175

Every single Australian 's ID will have to be verified (in order to confirm their age). Depending on the degree of cooperation (/coercion) the Australian government has with social media companies, the Aus Govt will be able to access citizen social media data with relative ease. So no more pseudo anonymous accounts (or, at least, they'll be made more difficult, especially for non-technical folk). Reminds of the 'chil…

> My personal hunch is legacy media is largely driving this

The level of conspiracy theory about the “mainstream media” feels out of control at times. Legacy media’s control over the population is already gone (as you stated), with what leverage would they be forcing this?

Occam’s Razor: voters are genuinely concerned about the effect social media is having on kids. As a parent I hear about these concerns a lot. That is what is driving this, no matter how badly thought out the implementation is.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#202

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

stephen_g wrote: post #62
nileshtrivedi wrote: post #7

What happens if the account belongs to the parent but all the content is by the child?

Careful there, you've potentially just thought about this more deeply than any of the politicians in our Parliament has...

Yes, because kids love when parents are all up in their social media accounts watching their interactions. What about parents who just buy their kids booze?

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#203

Post by teitoklien »

pmarreck wrote: post #194
nomilk wrote: post #175

Every single Australian 's ID will have to be verified (in order to confirm their age). Depending on the degree of cooperation (/coercion) the Australian government has with social media companies, the Aus Govt will be able to access citizen social media data with relative ease. So no more pseudo anonymous accounts (or, at least, they'll be made more difficult, especially for non-technical folk). Reminds of the 'chil…

I would like to see some evidence before I buy this conspiracy theory. If anything, I feel like legacy media is too lazy and entrenched to even consider this

So lazy that they successfully lobbied governments to ruin their relation with big tech companies like facebook, google etc

To give newspapers 100s of millions of free money just for the “privilege” of linking to their article, a “link tax”.

They are lazy about reporting news without a bias, but they are perfectly active when it comes to lobbying.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#204

Post by slibhb »

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote: post #189
slibhb wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some regulations are good. Like the ones regulating drugs and gambling (that have been largely dismantled). But we don't need the government to protect people from Facebook!

Why gambling but not Facebook?

Among other things, there is solid evidence that the move toward gambling in the US has been a disaster. This is a topic that's fairly easy to study in objective terms.

The evidence for social media harming people is highly disputed and, I would say, largely unconvincing. For one thing, it relies on self-reported subjective well-being.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#205

Post by egorfine »

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #193
egorfine wrote: post #170

As a father of 4 ranging from 10 to 30+, I certainly hope the law will not practically work and that kids will find a way to use social media.

Interesting. My kids aren't allowed on social media, and they're happier and less moody than their friends who are addicted to it. They see it, and don't even want social media anymore because their friends spend so much time on their phones rather than being present and having real experiences. I don't think I would wish social media on any child, though I believe it's a problem that can be solved not by more laws,…

> better parenting.

And that's the key point. The crucial one.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#206

Post by afavour »

slibhb wrote: post #178
afavour wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And if we should ban anything it's drugs and gambling, not tiktok You realise children can legally do neither, right? Government should be in the business of improving citizens lives. As another commenter said, left to their own devices companies would still be using leaded paint everywhere if it was 1c cheaper per gallon. I’ve grown very tired of this “any regulation is bad regulation” viewpoint, it doesn’t hold u…

Some regulations are good. Like the ones regulating drugs and gambling (that have been largely dismantled). But we don't need the government to protect people from Facebook!

Why don’t we? Cigarettes are harmful to people, they get regulated. If Facebook is harmful, why not regulate it?

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#208

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

ysavir wrote: post #40
goalieca wrote: post #22

I can’t get behind a ban because we’re fighting an unstoppable force: the connected future. This is the world we live in and kids will have to “evolve” to their new environment. I think parents and schools need to change the role they play.

What changes are you recommending?

Kids are looking for community. Connections with other people who they share experiences with (and can make more experiences together). They're looking for others who see the world the way they do.

The solution is more face to face time with other families on a regular basis. Replace Facebook with actual faces.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#209

Post by grecy »

nomilk wrote: post #175

Every single Australian 's ID will have to be verified (in order to confirm their age). Depending on the degree of cooperation (/coercion) the Australian government has with social media companies, the Aus Govt will be able to access citizen social media data with relative ease. So no more pseudo anonymous accounts (or, at least, they'll be made more difficult, especially for non-technical folk). Reminds of the 'chil…

> My personal hunch is legacy media is largely driving this, due to them seeing the writing on the wall and knowing 'social media' is their biggest threat

For anyone that thinks this is tin foil hat stuff, remember the Australian government passed a law that Facebook and Google MUST pay Rupert Murdoch money everytime someone clicks a link on one of those sites to a Rupert Murdoch owned media company (basically all of them).

Yes, really. It only applies to Google and Facebook, and money must be paid to only Rupert Murdoch.

Utterly lost the plot.

Re: Australia: Kids under 16 to be banned from social media after Senate passes laws

#210

Post by xyzzy123 »

Funes- wrote: post #187
xp84 wrote: post #104

If you’re tempted to think “this isn’t worth it, too hard to enforce without affecting something else”… read “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. There is very real, irreparable harm being done to young people, and it merits trying to make it right, not just surrendering to it. Surely the problem of verifying a property of someone (the Boolean of “is over X age”) without sharing further details, is a surmounta…

Parents should be more responsible. That's it. This measure is, potentially, deeply ingraining the (terrible) idea that the State is responsible instead, so when all these young kids have children, they, just as their parents, will lack the ability to take responsibility and make their children more responsible by proxy, and so on, and so forth. It's a never ending cycle that is perpetuated by not tackling the proble…

The difficulty is co-ordination. My job as a "responsible parent" is much more difficult if I have to fight prevailing social norms and my kids perceive they are being excluded from conversations and arbitrarily cut off from their peers.

The social media ban is similar to the logic behind gaming limits in China. The idea is that while the controls themselves are easily circumvented, it gives everyone an excuse to do the right thing.

Parents don't have infinite "control tokens". I only have time & energy to put my foot down about a limited number of things. It is much easier to establish conventions around responsible behaviour if the whole community is behind it.

I am OK with this ban for the same reason I'm OK with tobacco sellers being not allowed to sell to under 18s.

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