Florida is on the verge of passing one of the nation’s most restrictive bans on minors’ use of social media after the state Senate passed a bill Thursday that would keep children under the age of 16 off popular platforms regardless of parental approval.
The measure now goes back to the state House, where the speaker has made the issue his top priority during the legislative session that ends March 8. Still, critics have pointed to similar efforts in other states that have been blocked by courts.
The bill targets any social media site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload material and interact with others, and uses addictive features designed to cause excessive or compulsive use. Supporters point to rising suicide rates among children, cyberbullying and predators using social media to prey on kids.
My immediate reaction was… hmm, fuck it, protect the kids, I can get onboard… And then I remembered the lonely parts of my childhood being better because of irc, BBSs, icq, aol warez groups, etc. “but it’s a different world now”… Is it though? Now we have browser history and more forensics. Old Internet was really fucked up. For God’s sake, we could get Faces of Death in the video store before we were 12, and kids had playboy on the bus. The bullying thing is worse for sure. Online was a place for the kids who got bullied to get away. Now it’s a bullhorn. Actually conflicted on this.
The old Internet was somewhat anonymous. The pervasive tracking and enragement algorithms made it so that nearly every platform is someone’s real identity. I’d argue that’s what’s a mistake for children…having them on Internet platforms attaching their real name and identity to online bullshit.
100%! That’s been my solution to date. In order: Keep kid offline Keep logged out If required, anon af username etc, never repeated across apps or games
The government shouldn’t regulate what information someone is allowed to consume. If a parent doesn’t want their kid on social media, that is their choice. The answer is simple to me, stop taking away people’s freedom of choice.
Okay. I get that argument. But it’s not a response to my comment. I’m talking about making sense of nuance and you’re responding broadly about all people. Okay… so… anyway… about my actual conundrum…
Fwiw you can make that argument about csam and snuf. Whether illegal to post, you would opt out of a world where that stuff is blocked?