AIBU to think banning social media for under-16s is a good idea?

ICT with Mr P has been good on this thsi morning; it’s about a culture shift.

It won’t fully stop immediately.

It will take a few years to become the norm and undo the last 15 years of damage.

Although the aim is laudable, I’m on balance against the ban because it feels rushed and not properly thought through by a government desperate to do something popular. I think it would be much better to wait until there is more evidence and analysis from Australia of what the impact has been there. And also I feel it risks letting tech companies off the hook for all the disinformation, propaganda and worse that they are hosting (Grok still generating sexualised deepfakes etc). It’s not just teenagers who are harmed by this stuff.

What the government actually says:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-media-to-be-banned-for-under-16s-in-landmark-government-move-to-givekids-their-childhood-back

That's exactly why we don't need a ban that's unenforceable. You've managed to parent properly and that's the issue. We need parents to actually be parents.

Just an expansion of the big state for me, discouraging parents to actually think about what is good and bad for their child and implementing restrictions on it.

Banning stuff I am never really in favour of, even if it is nothing to do with me, because sooner or later the government will probably ban something I like.

Justifications in terms of stuff like "it saves lives", well banning alcohol, cars and dogs would save lives. Not sure there is a great case for banning those either.

Suspect Starmer is just rushing this one through before Burham gets on the scene, he has to be seen to be doing something and this is something that makes a lot of noise and doesn't cost the government any money.

Yes the proposal puts the onus entirely on the platforms to do age verification. We don’t know how they’ll do it yet. I don’t disagree you will need to verify your age to use social media- that is, after all, the whole point.

the internet didn’t shut down at midnight in Australia when they introduced this law 6 months ago.

I know but I do think in general it could be a good thing. To be honest idk how they would actually enact it. The mum is a nice enough woman from the conversation me and DH have had with her which is why I was a bits suprised when DD came home and asked if she could have Snapchat.

Long overdue and for those saying it’s not enforceable - it has the power to change a whole culture.
our kids don’t have SM and never have and are now 16 and 14 and it was the BEST thing we ever did. Even when not easy at times .They still know all the memes etc from friends but not having them posting stuff about themselves for ‘likes’ has made all the difference.
SM has had a devastating effect our some of our kids teens.

Agree entirely. Would they try to ban VPNs?

Or could they rather

Then I don’t see it working at all.

Because adults don’t want to keep handing over their information like that anyway.

We as a country don’t even want ID cards yet they expect all adults to want to scan their faces and credit cards to watch TikTok or post on instagram 😂😂

New apps and forums will just be set up to keep skipping around the rules. VPNs will be running on every phone and pc.

I’m not sure that anyone who thinks that giving a 6 year old Snapchat is the type of parent who will listen to a ban.

I think the plan is to do that? Get adults to use facial recognition and digital ID.

Hopefully even Labour won’t be keen, especially without Starmer if / when he’s gone.

I like the theory but I don’t see it working.

Things like YouTube you don’t even need to log in to watch so unless YouTube will make you log in that’s already unenforceable.

Tiktok you can watch on YouTube.

There are already underage children on Instagram and Facebook by their own parents creating the accounts so those parents will even help them get around the restrictions.

VPNs to get around being in the uk. Used pretty standardly already.

Unless you’re going to make actual adults prove via their faces or credit cards that they are adults to use social media and ban VPNs you won’t stop it. I also can’t see adults wanting such restrictions on them for going on Instagram or whatever.

Discord isn’t on the ban list which is hilarious.
WhatsApp not banned 😂

Banning twitch won’t work either.

You’re trying to ban tech kids using tech that they know how to use better than a lot of tech departments. The very kids that parents call down to help fix their stuff in many cases.

I’ll watch and wait to see how it plays out because if it’s like most other government plans it will be a shambles.

I'm against it. I suppose I'll have to be the one who rolls out the old chestnut of, "Look how well Prohibition worked."

When something is banned, it goes underground and more dangerous or morphs into something equally bad.

Yes, less people smoke these days but then somebody came up with the vape and people who had never smoked or had given up, turned to the new, more socially acceptable sucky pipe in droves and indeed, setting up or frequenting that novel and delightful high street institution, the Vape Shop.

Younger people drink less alcohol because it interferes with their weed and coke habits. Also with the increased treatment rates of mental health issues with prescription medication, they can be used or traded "Recreationally" as well.

Ban boring old Facebook, YouTube and X -wait for the explosion of platforms developed by dubious entities that will be the 21st century equivalent of bathtub gin and bootleg whisky.

When YouTube went through a stage of heavy censorship a few years ago - along came Odysee, Bitchute, Rumble and a few others. They were clunky to use but they were there and full of wild stuff.

Deprived of Reddit, they'll move to 4Chan and 8Chan.

Although I think the real uproar will come from gamers. Apparently Twitch and Kick are included in the ban but interestingly not Discord, for now. Of course, a lot of the gaming community (as it were) are rather good at tech. They'll get round it.

Digital ID by stealth too, as PPs have pointed out.

It just has an touch of 1984 about it with a heavy dose of, Aldous Huxley's, "Brave New World."

It's a good idea, but it's just like with the assisted dying bill, it's a total mess and will make everything worse

I fully support this - my tweens aren't allowed on social media anyway, but this will help me reinforce that against the constant moaning that all their friends are on it. I hope it'll make some of those other parents realise that their kids shouldn't be using SM. It signals that as a society this isn't something we seem acceptable - like we do with age restrictions on other activities. It still needs backing up with proper parenting, just like it isn't the government's job to make sure your 13 year old can't drive your car.

There’s kids in my 6 year olds class with Snapchat… I’m in favour. Honestly I think giving a 6 year old SM is wild but Snapchat in particular??

The libertarian in me says we should all be free to parent as we see fit but the older I get the more I question it, because it’s the state and education system that have to deal with the consequences.

It’s just posters saying there’s some good content on there. Primary age dc here are not allowed YouTube but teen age is scientific and musical and has found some great content.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwykw759v3po?app-referrer=deep-link

This is an interesting article where Molly Russell’s dad says that’s ban is not the answer.

Well I’d rather the big social media companies take more responsibility and implement more restrictions themselves, but can’t see that happening despite all the lawsuits in the US. So this is the next best alternative I guess? I’ve noticed Tv ads from tiktok and Insta recently promoting their new teen accounts and parental controls, claiming they’re making the platforms safer for teens, too little too late imo. Plus I’m assuming the teen accounts for 13-15 year olds will be redundant now in the UK?

Dd is almost 16 so this won’t effect her by the time it comes in, I have to say though it would have been massively helpful to have this ban 3 years ago, so too late for us unfortunately. I would have been grateful to have an actual law in place and been able to say nope you can’t have those apps they’re not available until you’re 16. Covid was the slide into things like Snapchat and Tiktok for most of the 15-16 year olds we know, this has all come a few years too late for some of us.

It does also concern me that the minute they turn 16 kids and are suddenly allowed access to everything, will they be at more risk not knowing how to navigate things safely and sensibly? Like a pp said they’ll be like the kid let loose in the sweet shop! It creates a kind of cliff edge, and at a time when kids are in their GCSE year and could do without the distraction from suddenly being set free on sm. There are definitely some potential issues along the way, but overall I think it’s a good thing and wish it had been made law when dd was a few years younger!

Exactly. You don’t need a government ban to do your job for you.

My SD has been begging for Snapchat, it’s been a hard no. It’s pretty easy to say no.

Exactly. The problem will just be pushed elsewhere.

WhatsApp is equally as problematic in my experience - that’s where all the dodgy videos circulate. And the ones of kids getting bullied and beaten up in the toilets or the park.

i don’t let my daughter watch it because of what I’ve seen on it. Parents think kids YouTube is set up and safe for children given its name. YouTube can’t filter everything out.

it is not even about the harmful images alone. The lack of concentration and the behaviour that follows from watching that sort of stuff is so obvious to see.

I’m surprised so many parents are pro social media.

I think its a great idea but I think it will be impossible to enforce

As a parent who restricted social media for my own child, it did lead to some social isolation because her peers were all using it. Having a ban like this in place would have helped enormously, as the use of social media wouldn't have been so widespread in her age group.

I hope this government or a future one will also look at schools' overreliance on educational technology which is being adopted without scrutiny. I am not aware of actual evidence to suggest it is helpful to educational attainment or conducive to student wellbeing to be staring at screens all day.