UK set to announce social media ban for under-16s

ck2

it's illegal for kids to vape too right? how's that working out? (answer: https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-... )

xhkkffbf

I agree that there are issues, but won't kids find other places to congregate? Maybe in educational sites?

nly

Alternative title: ID verification to be required for all UK citizens to use social media

gslepak

Another headline about the Digital ID prison system they're building to identify and restrict all access to the Internet for people of all ages. Then perhaps comes the mark which is about restricting and controlling what you're allowed to buy and sell.

spacedoutman

Didn't work in Australia, won't work in the UK. Parents will just scan the kids in.

Fervicus

Arguing about whether this is good or effective for kids or not is irrelevant. This isn't about kids at all. It's about surveillance.

paytonjjones

The evidence of social media causing depression and anxiety in youth is mixed and almost all of the affirmative findings are correlational, so I expect to see a variety of takes in this comment thread. Personally, the strongest positive evidence I've seen comes from the natural experiments tracking when high speed internet & phones were introduced geographically. Rates of teen depression do seem to topple in very close sync with this, as discussed here: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/phone-based-childhood-cause-epi...

functionmouse

have a short cartoon about the U.K. banning everything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUep-4v_M9k

atollk

I know many people dislike this movement but really, I think it's a good idea. Yes, it removes the "free" internet as it was 20 years ago, but that's gone already anyway. Yes, it opens up the way to a police state without anonymous internet access, but arguing against any law to be against that just seems like straight up anarchism to me. I see both children and adults being manipulated by corporations with "algorithms". Honestly, treating social media, porn, and other things as drugs would probably even be the right step.

Fervicus

Somehow all the countries are suddenly proposing the same thing. You'd think at least one of these countries might try something different if they actually cared about the kids, like banning algorithmic feeds. Not suspicious at all.

shrubble

Password to bypass the Magna Carta and hundreds of years of reserving power to the British people: “Its4TheKids”

raincole

In other words, governments around the world finally found the cheat code to demolish online anonymity.

notarobot123

I happened to talk to a teenage relative about this possibility the other day and she said that she'd be fine with a ban. It seems that it's not as big a deal if everyone's in the same boat. Parents genuinely have a hard time navigating this because drawing a line for their own children has the effect of socially excluding them. It's not ideal in many senses (what age checks are we talking about here) but its worth thinking about some of the positive effects this might have on the young people growing up in the mess we've made of new media.

cs02rm0

I'm absolutely fine with a social media ban for under 16s. And completely against it actually meaning strong identification of over 16s.

tsunamifury

It’s pretty amazing how all major nations are using various reasons to force global ID and verification all at once isn’t it?

dom96

A lot of reporting seems to state that it's only for "high risk social media". Is that the case? Are they really picking and choosing which social media they will ban for under 16s?

eunice

the party of lord mandelson do not care about kids

markus_zhang

I like it. We don’t need social media. It is just a convenient way for the elites to collect data and push agendas, and people can communicate in other online ways without limiting themselves to short attention span, doom scrolling and others. TBH I’d be happy that it doesn’t exist. Quebec has it, too. IMO it should be banned for under-18s instead of under-16s. The only problem is how to enforce it.

peab

Interesting that Canada is trying to do the same thing. Seems suspiciously similar. The idea that this is about surveillance is also interesting. I think it's important we ask: could we invoke this ban without surveillance? - identity scan is one solution But surely there are other solutions? Can't you just make laws that get kids in trouble if they get caught on social media? Kids get in trouble for missing school.. there are other incentives than identify checks, surely?