Why do people want teens on social media??

Sometimes it's good to listen to the voices you disagree with, to see if they have a point...

I am not (normally) a gov conspiracy nut. We are all too cushy in our free lives in this country that we don't think of these things in general. But look at other countries... We need to be watching Australia closely.

I used to have a perfectly nice life before the internet came along - but now, MN is a normal part of my life.

People used to manage just fine with horses and carts, and with throwing their crap out of the window. To bring it more up to date, people used to have nice lives paying for everything with cash; but now the vast majority have embraced the convenience of digital payments for much of their spending.

Things move on and change. Phones and the internet aren't a fad that's going to pass.

Can’t he use WhatsApp?

my ten year old is only allowed WhatsApp which she uses to chat to friends (heavily regulated by me)

This is different. This is effectively removing a significant portion of adult voices (older ones who can't faff around with ID online) from SM making forums such as this even more like echo chambers. (I'm not saying MN is, as it clearly isn't! loool).

It is also exposing our personal data to over-powerful tech companies as well as potential hackers. ie MEN lots of them probably incels at that....

No it isn’t. There is absolutely no indication, other than in the fever dreams of overly-online conspiracy theory nuts, that the government intends to use this to bring in compulsory digital ID.

And I say that as a supporter of ID cards in general.

Why is it a conspiracy? The government have included YouTube in their list of supposed social media and they have already given a list of sites that will be banned. I've not seen any reports stating that it includes the big names. Would it not be very remiss of them to announce a new policy and not even make it clear what they're banning? Or how about they go 'China Plus' instead and ban the whole internet except for a handful of approved sites?

They're usually very, very specific when they bring in most other laws - such as new taxes (that they did or didn't promise not to introduce). Even if they do include BlueSky, Mastodon and every other platform, they can't include new sites that are established the week after the law comes in... and all of the subsequent new ones once the first new lot are banned.

We all managed to have a social life (and a very good one) without phones and most certainly without social media.

The online gaming sector has had to prove age for over a year now. Third party providers are able to demonstrate age, without ID.

I don’t agree with the ban, simply from a control perspective. I should be able to parent my child and make decisions, same applies for taking them on holiday during term time.

I’ve been very strict with my children and social media. Eldest DD behaved shockingly on Snapchat, both participating in horrible group chats and sending pictures of herself in bikinis. It was banned, her phone had parental controls, and she wasn’t allowed it again until she was 16 (she was 13 when I banned it). Her phone was also regularly checked so I could be confident she had learned from past mistakes.

Youngest DD has always been different. Never no issue in friendship groups, wouldn’t dream of anyone outside our family seeing her in a bikini let alone sending a picture, and doesn’t particularly spend hours and hours on her phone. When she turned 13, the inevitable Snapchat conversation came up and it was a no. But after a while I realised she was being left out of party invites, social events and was generally starting to be a little excluded. So for her, I relaxed things. Always checked her phone, never been any issues.

Youngest will have just turned 15 when the ban will come into force and I do think it’ll have a negative effect socially for her. If she spent hours in her room on her phone perhaps I’d feel differently, but due to organising things she’s often out and about. Yes, they will be able to do the organising via WhatsApp but it’ll be an adjustment for them.

So whilst I see the pros and cons, I do think it should be down to us parents to decide how we raise and safeguard our children.

Honestly what is it about this Bluesky conspiracy theory that seems to tickle posters to much?
So, so much parroting of a comment on X. It’s embarrassing to see so many people unable to engage their brain.

And the reported list of banned sites appears pretty arbitrary. X but not BlueSky,

It’s not a reported list, it’s a headline. The press release makes it clear they haven’t released a list of the banned apps so to constantly post that a particular app is not being banned is disingenuous at best and purposely spreading misinformation at worst.
The user base of Bluesky is absolutely minimal compared to the number of users on other platforms which is why it’s not being listed in the same category as TikTok and Instagram in terms of a headline description.

And yet given its tiny user base a certain type of posted on mumsnet seem utterly obsessed with it.

It does if they ask everyone to prove they’re over 16 by inserting their passport/driving licence.

I agree with the ban in principle, but I am sad the ruling means my 10 year old son will likely lose facebook messenger. He doesn't have a phone number so other messaging solutions I found are out. I set him up on there with a shell of a 13 year olds account (no facebook installed on his tablet so the account is just a placeholder) and I control the log in and added people. It is only his close family members. But i is a nice way for him to talk to his grandparents.

Youtube I am also a bit worried about going. I have him set up with a safe kids version that links through to channels I have approved/ added only. We have a really good list of positive content creators my son can watch on science, history, engineering, insightful commentary. I want to find a way to maintain this for him as I feel like its a positive resource (all shorts are banned through this platform) and it would be sad for it to go also.

I do think facebook and youtube are not good places for kids to be without controls. I am glad he'll possibly never use tiktok. I guess I was just content with what we had in place for him currently but who knows what we would have been able to control as he gets older.

I have no interest in making anyone, do anything. I don’t want my life affected to make up for other people’s lacking.

But so far many of them aren’t. So how do you make them?

Haha, please do tell me, how does a social media ban on teens bring in digital ID?

It really isn't a minute number, but I suspect you already know this. How brave of you to make these kind of flippant remarks whilst posting anonymously behind a screen name, on social media.

Weak-willed parents who can't say No have forced this on all of us.

What you need to understand - it is NOT a ban on social media for kids (which sounds great doesn't it? someone else can do my job of parenting for me!) - it is actually digital ID enforced on the whole population.

Weak-willed parents who can't say No have forced this on all of us.

What you need to understand - it is NOT a ban on social media for kids (which sounds great doesn't it? someone else can do my job of parenting for me!) - it is actually digital ID enforced on the whole population.

Oh yes, I agree. But that was the point really. There are people on here saying ‘parents just need to parent properly’, but they clearly aren’t.