At least in Florida
Social media is toxic for kids; however, it’s the parent’s responsibility to regulate that. Similar to the motion picture content rating system, a similar rating system needs to exist and the parents should choose based off that. Are there gaps with this format, of course, but it’s better than nothing.
Ultimately, it’s the parents’ responsibility. Same with alcohol and tobacco products which, as you know, are also prohibited by law to minors.
Did you have a point to this?
Govt trying to parent is nothing new. Typically they frame it as some sort of parental rights or choice but really it is more letting a small group of parents choose for everyone.
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Not the government’s place. I like the parent consent piece but that’s all it should take for any age.
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Get real. Government has been “parenting” for over twenty years. Seatbelt laws, helmet laws, age laws, zero tolerance laws are all examples of government “parenting”.
Seat belts are required at any age. Not sure if bicycle helmets are required for anyone in Texas but know other states do it.
Anyway, this is too far. I get physical safety and there is clear common sense data there. That’s not what we have here.
To be clear, I’m not letting my kids on social media by 14 but I don’t want the government telling me that’s the right answer. I’m concerned at how broadly this could be applied eventually too.
Social media isn’t inherently bad and has use cases if monitored appropriately.
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So I disagree on this point, we know at this point that social media definitely has a more negative effect on children. The data we have supports this.
I do agree that bans are not the way to go, usually but when companies refuse to regulate themselves in a reasonable way they are asking for it.
I do have issues with this bill and Texas’s age restriction bill as being incredibly over broad and dangerous. Especially Texas where your age verification system is going to be stored in a central database for easy exploitation. Which isn’t that a core argument against gun registration?
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Social media in general, yes. Every single thing that social media can and ever will do? Not so much.
It never makes sense to not wear a seat belt or not put a helmet on your kid riding a bike. There isn’t a use case for that. Usage of social media isn’t as black and white. There can be use cases especially with appropriate controls. And again, where do you draw the line?
When a small group starts dictating what parents can and can’t do, this will not end well.
Parents should take that responsibility, but in the end its a parents decision, not the government. If kids want access they will find a way around it and hide it from parents.
Texas has joined other states as well to mandate age verification on adult sites like porn hub. It just feels more like big brother watching.
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My friend’s 14 year old granddaughter was raped by a 42 yr old scumbag she met online recently.
So yeah, the more society can do to protect kids, do it.
Is politics allowed again?
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That could happen elsewhere too. It doesn’t take social media. It can happen in other ways on the internet even.
You don’t have to end everything because of some issues. There are ways to control and mitigate that.
Ending what? Minors aren’t exposed to social media? I’m for that.
I think social media is a danger. However, if kids want access to it, they will find a way. They will find work arounds to age verification, and it just puts them at greater risk. To me it comes back to individual parenting and knowing what and who your kids are engaging with. I have seen it; parents don’t really want to parent today (its hard) they want to be their kid’s friend instead.
So that’s not a social media thing specifically, that’s been an Internet issue for decades now. Like going back to AOL chatrooms and AIM.
I think lots of social media is getting into more of a tobacco, alcohol, drugs territory. We know it’s harmful and addictive, more so for kids brains. But the questions are always the same when it comes to this stuff What’s the line going forward? Who gets to enforce the line? Who watches the watchers?
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Ending anything that can hurt a minor if it’s not properly controlled.
For example, do we ban the internet for minors? The list goes on from there and is long.
We don’t talk about fight club.
Looking further into this, it’s really not very specific to what social media means in this context.
For example, it seems YouTube could be included.
I assume this happened in person and not online