this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2026
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I'm asking for public policy ideas here. A lot of countries are enacting age verification now. But of course this is a privacy nightmare and is ripe for abuse. At the same time though, I also understand why people are concerned with how kids are using social media. These products are designed to be addictive and are known to cause body image issues and so forth. So what's the middle ground? How can we protect kids from the harms of social media in a way that respects everyone's privacy?

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[–] dsilverz@calckey.world 3 points 7 hours ago

@ageedizzle@piefed.ca @asklemmy@lemmy.world
Back when I was 8yo, I got my first PC. I was always a nerdy kid who used to disassembly my own toys in order to see how it works. As expected, this happened upon my first contact with a PC, except I realized I could disassembly it using the keyboard: suddenly, I was tinkering with DHTML and ActiveX (XP+IE6), I was coding. I was just 8yo.

This was largely self-taught (I was always lone wolf who prefered studying rather than socializing, fearing the bullying), but I also got into discussion boards and Orkut comms, with my first searches having been "theory": then I found places about Game Theory, Chaos Theory, and even shady things such as Conspiracy Theory. The latter, a very significant part of my life, teached me dialetics and how to debate abstract, systemic ideas.

If it wasn't for me getting into social media during my early teens, I wouldn't have most of the knowledge I got today. Maybe "ignorance is a bliss" (Cypher), maybe I'd be more socializable, maybe I'd be a socially-normal man living a socially-normal life. I'd hardly become the non-conformist I am today. I'd hardly have left christianity.

As for "adult content", my first contact wasn't using that PC: it was actually broadcasted TV, Brazilian TV programmes such as "Pânico na TV" (a humoristic program, featuring "Paniquetes", dancers in suggestive outfits, and Sabrina Sato, a presenter also in suggestive outfits), "Banheira do Gugu" (TV segment from "Domingo Legal", featured by Gugu Liberato, where there was this pool with naked ppl swimming live), "Pegadinhas do Sílvio Santos" (TV segment featuring pranks, often suggestive situations such as upskirting). All of these were openly broadcasted, regardless the audience age.

Then there was school, colleagues bullying me, and sometimes bullying involved... situations, unpleasant at the moment, but later led me to... nvm. School never got to stop the bullyings, I was even bullied by teachers!

There was family as well, cousins who may had been SA'd me, I don't know, I'm even unable to remember!

Now, 30yo, I see the hypocritical conundrum from society: all of sudden "we need to protect kids". Really!? What's being done for EXTERMINATING school bullying? What's being done for EXTERMINATING SA from the face of Earth?!

Social media can be bad, I can agree, but just banning kids from social media won't protect them from the situations beyond this RGB veil. Hell, there was not a single punishment involving the biggest CSA scandal ever, but "sOcIAL mEdIA bAaD"!

Not to say how it will lead to cognitive dissonance in a world where almost all societal aspects became digital, especially after COVID. I mean, I can't toss my devices and go Luddite: gov compels me to have ID app, jobs compel me to have acc in a bank that'll require me their banking app. This world became irreversibly digital, this is an inflection point in human history. Banning kids from digital may end up doing more harm than good.