Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15 • Hacker News Board

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#291

Post by glaucon » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:26 AM UTC

rsolva wrote: post #275

Banning personalised ads would solve a lot of the underlying incentives that drives the attention grabbing economy today. Increasing the age a few years for when young people are allow to make accounts on social media is not going to make a large difference in the big picture of things, and do not address the core problem that is the collection and abuse of massive amounts of personal data. Upping the age limit a few…

> Banning personalised ads

I'm in favour of anything that tries to address the appaling effects of social media, but as long as there is advertising that will, surely, be some sort of personalisation. In the past you bought a magazine about, say, gardening, and all the ads were about gardening. The advertisers were betting that most people reading a gardening magazine were interested in gardening products, the ads were, to some degree, personalised.

If online 'personalised' ads were banned how would personalised be defined ?

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#292

Post by phatfish » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:28 AM UTC

throwaway-blaze wrote: post #276

liamdgray wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some students even wish for a ban to reduce the pressure to keep up with social media. That reminded me of Warren Buffet asking for his kind and to be taxed more.

By "his kind" you mean human beings?

Just the fuck you rich, I'm buying a football team for a laugh human beings. Not that Warren would necessarily buy a football team for laugh, but that "kind".

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#293

Post by sfpotter » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:38 AM UTC

AOsborn wrote: post #223

arcfour wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are massively overstating how important it is to the kids that they have a social media account. How can it hold that kids would be ignored in real life because they don't interact virtually?

With respect, you’re very out of touch. Connecting online is the primary social space for many kids nowadays, not in person. Some parents (or those without kids) have a bit of a naive view and think ‘social media’ and just imagine Facebook, instagram etc - things they understand and that don’t provide much connection. The kids connect using private accounts, completely different apps, or even just inside the chat of…

I agree with what you're saying (including saying that arcfour is out of touch and doesn't really know what they're talking about), but... I do agree with them to an extent. And I have a kid (with another along the way). Kids adapt. They want to be on social media, or games, or Discord, or whatever because their friends are. If they have enough friends in real life doing something fun, that becomes where their specific group hangs out. The number of people you need in that group before it crosses that threshold is really low... 4, 5 people? That's all you need to have a tight knit friend group.

I've seen things like after school D&D club at the elementary school down the street where my son now goes to preschool. I'm optimistic that by the time he's older, there will be even more groups like this and more opportunities for him to have friends where they're doing activities that aren't mediated by screens.

To be clear, I'm not weighing on in on whether or not I think a ban is a good idea. I tend to think it is. But I do think the idea that there's nothing parents can do from the ground up without the help of government (which I'm not opposed to!) is also a bit misguided.

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#294

Post by phatfish » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:40 AM UTC

colechristensen wrote: post #285

cycomanic wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This has to be done carefully because prohibition breeds desire and adults will absolutely try to force the attitude of 35 year olds onto 15 year olds forgetting a lot of life lessons have to be learned through experience and not just told. The interesting tidbit in the case of social media and smart phones is that they are at least partially pushed by the parents (I've seen plenty of examples of parents demand tha…

"but this time it's different" has also been a universal historical argument >The bans are being motivated largely by health professionals ringing all sort of alarm bells because mental health indicators paint a pretty dire picture. Honestly you could just cut and paste the same arguments about jazz music in the 1920s or rock music in the later 20th century and they'd be indistinguishable. Just replace the mentions o…

But all the middle aged people are wasting their lives on the junk information addiction train as well. It's not some generational divide.

It's like a parent telling their kid not smoke, while they are still addicted and smoking in the garden themselves.

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#295

Post by phatfish » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:46 AM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #260

owisd wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can take a teen’s phone off them and they can just walk into a store and buy an inexpensive second hand handset and use the WiFi from a local cafe.

And if they do it with their own money, it's their phone. Children prior to 18 are not subhuman. If you're old enough to buy your own phone, you're old enough to decide whether and how to use it.

Are you a parent?

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#296

Post by jeffchuber » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:49 AM UTC

i support this

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#297

Post by Aeolun » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:51 AM UTC

isaacremuant wrote: post #290

trey-jones wrote: post #53

As a parent who gave my oldest child a (very used) smartphone just before she turned 14, I would be in favor of making smartphones illegal under age 15 (or some other number, higher or lower I don't care). I'm pretty sure they're worse than cigarettes for the future of humanity.

How about you parent your kid instead of trying to get the government to parent everyone else's? What the hell is you and everyone else's problem who want to get into other families' business. Disgusting intrusiveness and authoritianism.

It’s just easier to do some things if they’re prohibited by law. If you don’t want children to smoke, not selling them ciggarettes is a great first step.

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#298

Post by jmye » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:52 AM UTC

balamatom wrote: post #177

jmye wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you want to be the one kid in school who’s not online? I mean, who cares what the kid wants? It's your job as a parent to be a parent. Sometimes that means telling your kid no, even if that means they're not your best friend for a day or two. > Would you want that for your kids? Unequivocally, yes. Social media is cancer. I'd prefer my daughter not be pathologically depressed and my son not turn into a little…

[flagged]

What a disgusting response.

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#299

Post by rnimmer » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:53 AM UTC

casesarplus1 wrote: post #3

How will they achieve that without introducing a requirement to identify yourself on every online platform, which some would say is probably the whole reason for introducing something promoted as being "for the children"™.

It would be a lot simpler to only sell standard devices to adults. Kids should be using devices with curated access to specific tools and platforms meant for children.

Re: Denmark's government aims to ban access to social media for children under 15

#300

Post by EarthMephit » Sat, Nov 08, 2025, 12:54 AM UTC

porsager wrote: post #213

trey-jones wrote: post #53

As a parent who gave my oldest child a (very used) smartphone just before she turned 14, I would be in favor of making smartphones illegal under age 15 (or some other number, higher or lower I don't care). I'm pretty sure they're worse than cigarettes for the future of humanity.

If you're a parent then act like one. You're perfectly able to enact that ban yourself - why do you need the governments help?

You could make that exact same argument for alcohol, cigarettes, prescription medication - The reasons are the same.