The Case for Banning Children from Social Media

Re:The Case for Banning Children from Social Media by _heimdall on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @08:09AM (#35452726)

If it's clear that social media is terrible for children (and I'd argue it's terrible for everyone), why can't we leave it up to parents to stop their kids from using it?

I'm not sure how realistic it would be to enforce ban on social media under a certain age. The ban would have to be enforced on social media companies but they'd likely only be held to doing a best effort solution. They already set a minimum age at 13 for creating a social media account but that hasn't stopped kids from getting into TikTok, Instagram, etc

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Case for Banning Children from Social Media by blitz_skull on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @08:12AM (#35452760)

I mean that’s the status quo already. Parents who understand the inherent risks, probably already stop their children from using it.

Legislation would benefit children who were born to parents who do not understand the risks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Case for Banning Children from Social Media by _heimdall on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @08:31AM (#35452995)

If parents are okay with their kids using social media, I'm not sure that I should have the right to tell them otherwise.

How would a ban even work though, without ultimately depending on parent intervention? Companies could throw up a "are you over 18?" banner, but those don't work. They could go full KYC and require users to provide government issued IDs, but that feels like a drastic step away from privacy and data security and could still be dodged when a kid grabs a picture of their parent's ID.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Case for Banning Children from Social Media by Joker_vD on Wednesday April 05, 2023 @10:28AM (#35454847)

If some parents are okay with their kids smoking and drinking and peddling drugs, are you still not sure that you (or rather, "the state") should have the right to tell them otherwise?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Case for Banning Children from Social Media by blitz_skull on Thursday April 06, 2023 @09:55AM (#35468345)

I'm not saying there's a clear path forward. And to be honest, I'm not even really advocating for a government ban. The cynic in me says, "Hey if I raise my kid better, it's just an opportunity for them to be better prepared than someone else's kid." (i.e. Less competition)

But the optimist in me says once a kid grows up, there's a ton of "past wrongs" that they can choose to right, given they have the proper self awareness.

There's also a chance I'm just flat-out wrong, but... I'm betting my child's future that I'm not.

[ Parent | on HN ]