An Angus Reid survey says three-quarters of more than 4,000 respondents are in favour of a ban like the one in Australia, where youth under 16 are prevented from setting up accounts on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Threads.

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[–] unbanshee@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 6 days ago (6 children)

We'll try literally anything but regulating big tech.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 days ago

the only country that can do that is the US, everyone else has to muddle through..

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Isn't a ban for kids under 16 also regulating big tech?

[–] unbanshee@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 days ago

To me, it's more regulating the behaviour of people than regulating the developers of intentionally addictive and intentionally poorly-moderated systems.

The big hegemonic tech platforms, as they currently exist, are not just harmful to adolescents, they're harmful to society as a whole.

I also don't enjoy the prospect of how a ban like this might be implemented in terms of age and identity verification, since I expect it's going look like "hand the data brokers even more of your personal data, they pinky-swear they'll only use it to comply with the law".

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Not directly.

Instead of reigning in big tech with legislation that would make social medias less harmful **for everyone **, politicians make a bullshit law that will infringe on people privacy even more and will be bypassed by any teenager with at least half a functioning brain cell.

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The problem here is not parenting, it's not even the idea of social media, but rather the algorithms that amplify the worst behavior and encourage it. These need to be banned for all ages. This is why we have these negative feedback loops causing grown men to draw political opinions on the side of their trucks.

[–] nik282000@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The problem is parents facilitating access to social media. If you kid only has internet access through a filtered device there is no issue.

No different from parents in the early 1900s having to teach their kids about the dangers of electricity, parents of the 2000s need to teach their kids about the dangers of digital living.

[–] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

People love to cry it’s the parents like parents aren’t generally being worked to the bone just to keep a roof over their kids heads and food on the table they also need to be ever present hawks of everything their kid does but also not be a helicopter parent who sheltered their kids too much etc. it’s an unwinnable game and parents are in the same capitalist meat grinder as the rest of us

[–] nik282000@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 days ago

It's no different than making sure your aging parents don't get scammed or lose the ability to stay connected with the world. The 25-45 age bracket in Canada is the best equiped to keep their young and old family members from getting their lives trashed by the money machine.

Make tools to make that job easier, don't make thin edge of the wedge laws that help corporate interests restrict and monetize us.

[–] rothaine@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

Adults are also victims of algorithm-induced radicalization. We wouldn't have Trump if Facebook wasn't allowed to push right-wing madness on anyone they deemed that it would "increase engagement"

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 4 points 5 days ago

Something I see coming up a lot in this comment section is this question of how this would be enforced without the invasive age verification we're seeing in the US and UK.

My answer to that is that it should be enforced at the level of people posting content, along with some amount of self-policing. If you create events for kids under 16 as a Facebook event and ask them to RSVP through Facebook, then that's breaking the law. If you're a school sharing content for your students on these platforms, that would also be breaking the law. If the kids are aware enough of the problems with social media, then simply having a law in place is enough to steer some away from those platforms and convince others to join them. This also gives people an extra tool to point to when it comes to asking businesses to post their information somewhere other than Instagram.

If it can't be done that way, then it shouldn't be implemented.

I don't expect this to eliminate social media use altogether for kids in that age bracket. I do expect it to be an improvement, not just for the kids, but also for us adults who don't want to be forced to use these platforms.

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