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Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

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Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#61
post #56
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not a cam girl site targeted at kids. There are thousands of streamers on the platform playing different games. I do agree that the pool / beach section should be closed but honestly its a minority (look at the viewer stats - kids can get porn a lot easier then twitch). Also, that section is not targeted at kids, its targeted at adults in nations with anti porn laws, which gets apparent when you look at who is do…

A shop showing pornography openly or use of various sex fetish toys while selling also bread is still inaccessible to any kid, so thats a pretty weak argument. Worst defines the overall situation. Given how fucked up the recent generation in thousand little ways and addictions is, and I personally believe predatory 'social media' and overall resulting physical alienation are the largest culprit, these steps are good…

> A shop showing pornography openly or use of various sex fetish toys while selling also bread is still inaccessible to any kid, so thats a pretty weak argument. Worst defines the overall situation.

A more appropriate analogy would be a shop with a clearly marked and separate "Adults Only section"

> these steps are good or at least well-intended.

I might agree that they're well-intended - but the road to hell is paved with those.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#62
post #2

On the one hand I’m glad HN doesn’t do embedded images, on the other I’d really like to see this thread just be popcorn eating GIFs. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how this plays out - I feel like Twitch reaches such a large and diverse demographic that the response will be palpable. I haven’t looked, but I’m assuming this ban already applies to YouTube, right?

> I haven’t looked, but I’m assuming this ban already applies to YouTube, right? Apparently someone from the government looks at the site and assesses how 'core' the online social interaction is to the site. Banned: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch Not banned (yet): Pintrest, YouTube Kids, Google Classroom, WhatsApp, Discord, online games like Roblox, AI chat. https:…

I'm surprised that Discord isn't part of that ban since it seems so much more social media like. One could argue that it has much smaller private and semi-private groups but there are large servers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of users that are basically the same as Reddit content and user wise.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#63

This doesn’t strike me as “bad”. Seeing the content on Twitch and how parasocial it is, it doesn’t seem healthy for kids under 18 tbh. Like Facebook was the craze when I was exiting highschool, and then it was instagram/snapchat/twitter through college. “Quitting” social media was one of the healthiest adult choices I ever made—comparison is the thief of joy, blah blah blah.

Some 'performers' need comparison to not be whiny little bitches.

Some parents make sure their kids get amphetamines before puberty, or testosterone shots. Just so that they come out on top in comparison. If it's not enough, some go as far as to sabotage other families and to poison other kids.

This whole social media thing is all that on a global scale. Just a bit more subtle in the early days. But it's still poisoning teens.

It's no more than that; sleazy, overwrought, raunchy.

It reduced overall competence which means it kept even the top far below potential. But to them it's enough, and the rest only cares for fun, anyway.

We will never see what could have been. It's not even future generations' luck that it's so obvious. Nothing can be learned from this that would stop the toxicity. Just fall in line and be boringly, hyper-relatablablaby awesome.

It's a showgirl's kind of world. /wu˞…/

(still hitting that depressed tone instead of that cynic, 'noir' kind. Ffs, it's creeping all over me.)

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#65
post #56
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not a cam girl site targeted at kids. There are thousands of streamers on the platform playing different games. I do agree that the pool / beach section should be closed but honestly its a minority (look at the viewer stats - kids can get porn a lot easier then twitch). Also, that section is not targeted at kids, its targeted at adults in nations with anti porn laws, which gets apparent when you look at who is do…

A shop showing pornography openly or use of various sex fetish toys while selling also bread is still inaccessible to any kid, so thats a pretty weak argument. Worst defines the overall situation. Given how fucked up the recent generation in thousand little ways and addictions is, and I personally believe predatory 'social media' and overall resulting physical alienation are the largest culprit, these steps are good…

[dead]

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#66
post #14

What does this ban actually mean? As I understand it, it bans kids from creating an account. They can still doom scroll or waste their life watching reels without a login, don't they? This may push social media back to making their content accessible without an account :)

And social media companies are compelled to deactivate any existing <16 years old accounts. Not just creating.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#67
post #61
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A shop showing pornography openly or use of various sex fetish toys while selling also bread is still inaccessible to any kid, so thats a pretty weak argument. Worst defines the overall situation. Given how fucked up the recent generation in thousand little ways and addictions is, and I personally believe predatory 'social media' and overall resulting physical alienation are the largest culprit, these steps are good…

> A shop showing pornography openly or use of various sex fetish toys while selling also bread is still inaccessible to any kid, so thats a pretty weak argument. Worst defines the overall situation. A more appropriate analogy would be a shop with a clearly marked and separate "Adults Only section" > these steps are good or at least well-intended. I might agree that they're well-intended - but the road to hell is pave…

>shop with a clearly marked and separate "Adults Only section"

But it's not. Most of them don't even have the useless "are you +18" yes/no button. They are literally featured and recommended on the homepage.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#68

This doesn’t strike me as “bad”. Seeing the content on Twitch and how parasocial it is, it doesn’t seem healthy for kids under 18 tbh. Like Facebook was the craze when I was exiting highschool, and then it was instagram/snapchat/twitter through college. “Quitting” social media was one of the healthiest adult choices I ever made—comparison is the thief of joy, blah blah blah.

I see what you're saying, but it's a little bit ironic that you write this on a social media platform. Granted, a more niche and focused one with not all of the misgivings of the big platforms, but still.

I don’t think it is ironic. When people quit social media, they usually do not mean quitting to other people via electronic media. Allegorically you could say that same way when people quit drinking, they rarely mean water.

What they mean is quit predatory electronic platforms that only exist to make you addicted so they can use your life and data as a money cow. HN is a dinosaur from the age when forums were just bunch of nerds and geeks talking about computers and stuff.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#69

Banned for the wrong reason. It's a cam girl site targeted at kids.

Twitch is not a "cam girl site targeted at kids". It's primarily people playing games, and streaming said games.

It has not been primarily gaming for at least +5 years. Just take a look at the homepage and categories.

Re: Streaming platform Twitch added to Australia's teen social media ban

#70
I don't think many adults remember what it was like being 13-16 years old. Twitch is part of the culture. Would I have liked to been "banned" from using IRC, chatrooms or keeping an online diary in the 90s, as were common in geekier teen culture? Not every kid is geared towards playing team sports, chess club, or hiking all weekend. I socialized in person quite a lot as a teenager, but my online life was still very important to me in a way that's only more significant with modern teens (and I know because I'm raising my own now).

The term "online social interaction" keeps getting thrown around as if that's inherently a bad thing. For some teens, that's one of their biggest social outlets outside of school, and that is not necessarily bad even if sometimes bad things happen online. What is bad is when parents don't take an interest in their kids and what they're up to, but you can't legislate for that.

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