Today’s Social Media Ban Announcement: Discussion

[ByeByeTikTok]

I haven’t seen a thread for today’s expected ban on social media for Under 16s so thought I’d start one. If there already is one pls link and I’ll get this deleted.

What will it likely include?
What won’t it include?
How do you and your kids feel about it, especially if they’re already using it?
Will you follow it, and when?
Will people try to get round it?

Both are wrong but they are banning one but not the other.
I wonder why 🤔

We had this announcement in Greece a couple of months ago. It was very well received and in fact the EU promised to assist its implementation. But there is still doubt on whether this can be applied and respected. The PM was asked about those people who will find loopholes; he said that they (the gov) expected it by some, but that a good number would not be able to access social media. We're still waiting for specifics though. It is thought by the opposition that it was an easy promise to make to gain a few brownie points. FWIW, everyone I know is strongly in favour, even teens

One psychological study showed that just one week without using social media, increased wellbeing in the participants. Loads of psychological research shows that increased social media use, increases depressive symptoms, chances of online harassment and decreases wellbeing. Why would parents not want improved mental health for their children?
There has been a huge increase in mental health disorders in adolescents in the last 10 years and we should do everything in our power to stop the rise.
I think it is just easier for parents to protect their children if they are not on social media.

Maybe parent them properly.

My kids, much older, think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a good start and at least they’re not making perfect the enemy of good enough.

The poor summer born child, another thing they will be behind their peers in

I think there is a lot of good in it, but I also have a few strong reservations.

I agree that no-one - especially young people - needs doomscrolling, mindless reels/shorts, endless feeds, addictive customisation, 'AI slop'/brainrot, cyberbullying, exposure to predatory adults or insiduous propaganda of whatever type.

I also won't miss livestreaming and pressure to build and maintain a 'personal brand' for young people - although I note that there are people under 16 who do rely on these things as well as advertising through social media as part of a career even at that young age.

However!

I think including YouTube is very misguided - unless it only means a ban on posting content or on livestreaming yourself and watching is still fully accessible. YouTube is hugely educational and it has also largely replaced 'normal TV' for that age group.

I'm concerned about the creep on increasing use of digital surveillance of the population, starting with this age group - the School/Wellbeing Bill just introduced a single digital ID for children across various services and now the internet is going to become a place where ID verification is required....it doesn't seem too many steps further before we are in quite a different paradigm to now, and as with all such things, the issue isn't necessarily how it will be used today but how it might be used tomorrow.

I am concerned about restrictions on platforms which young people engage with in general, because despite all the incel content and makeup tutorials, Insta, TikTok and YouTube especially are where a lot of tweens get their news, politics and exposure to current affairs - I think this might lead to a crop of very uneducated, disengaged and non-politically aware voters coming through and I'm not sure who that serves - but probably not the general public or the country as a whole.

I also think that it won't actually work very well as the kids who obey it will be the ones who already had strict limits and they will then be outcast from the majority who get around it, but now potentially more unsupervised. There will also be 16yr olds thrown in at the deep end because it is likely to push conversations about safety to older ages too (as with alcohol safety etc) and some will miss the information that we currently lay on quite thick in KS2 before phones appear at age 11.

You Tube may include some really educational and entertaining stuff, but it also includes some pretty awful things too

I don’t think it’s that confusing, the vast majority of parents will communicate with their children solely on WhatsApp and will want it to remain open, I can’t imagine that many people are using Snapchat for genuine telephonic communications to sort out when parents are collecting their kids after football practice.

@BestZebbie YouTube is hugely educational and it has also largely replaced 'normal TV' for that age group.

That is literally the problem though.

Yip me too. My dd is 9 and my DS is 2 so im delighted. All my neices have had issues in some shape or form via SM. I was so worried about my Dd and the impact on her.

I think there will be some kids who will get round it and parents who will allow access a bit like alcohol.

I also think knit will take a few years to fully rake affact. 12/13 years old who have access it will be hard to remove from them.

My kids are nearly 9 and 12- im delighted - I dont want them exposed to the cesspit that is social media, for my daughter to think she needs the latest skincare or think she is fat, or for my son to be exposed to the ludicrous manosphere. Im no fan of the labour government so far, but I think a lot of parents are breathing a sigh of relief this evening.

Those who find their way around the ban will be in a much worse place than they are now as the platforms will be all adult.

Parents breathing a sigh of relief for delegating another parenting function to the state?

I can't see the BBC rushing to put out regular programming about niche hobbies like Warhammer to plug the gap. (Although fortunately DS1 will be 16 just before anything is implemented)

The youth programming beyond CBeebies has all been put online only.

DS1 is the type of child that got bored of the Smithsonian Channel repeating itself in his tweens. Youtube has been an absolute gold mine of interesting general and niche knowledge. His knowledge of history is far broader and more detailed than what I accessed from school, books and TV documentary in the 90s. There is a lot of good out there and it's been great for him growing up in an era where so much information from enthusiasts is easily shared. He's also very analytical and better at spotting AI traits than me.

Fortunately my line of only (small groups) on whatsapp and youtube hasn't resulted in any drama so far in raising a 13 and 15yo. Working with young people, my lines have been clear and safeguarding was on my radar early on, long before my DCs were anywhere near that age range. I'm also fortunate that they haven't been heavily influenced by peer pressure. I've always been clear about my concerns about TikTok and Snap Chat and why I won't authorise them on parental controls. Fb and instagram have never really come up for debate.

The ban feels like the sugar tax; something well-intentioned but highly likely to have illogical and unforseen consequences. Like the effect of going into KFC to buy a bucket of chicken and fries, but you can't have a sugary drink as they only sell diet drinks that trigger migraines coz sugar is bad

My concern with bans is that when young people work around them, that shuts down discussion when things go wrong and will make it harder to intervene and limit damage. I would prefer an outcome of tech companies having more responsibility for the content they host.

The ban on phones being accessible in school is more likely to have a positive effect on habits (but that should not intrude on safe travel to school). My DCs' school are going down the pouches route. My only concern is unlocking delays making DCs miss the earlier bus. It's telling that in my school, SLT have decided against as too many of our parents can't or won't replace lost pouches and support the scheme, and it's hard enough keeping students equipped with basic stationery and uniform.

I also won't miss livestreaming and pressure to build and maintain a 'personal brand' for young people - although I note that there are people under 16 who do rely on these things as well as advertising through social media as part of a career even at that young age.

My DC is a classical musician and dancer and a lot of work is now on platforms. She doesn't have any SM being too young but will now be denied to develop any professional presence. It's OK for classical musicians for various reasons, but dancers will be hit particularly hard as they start working earlier and have very short career.

Parents communicate with their children solely on Whatsapp??! 🤯 They have a real problem then.

No one cares about what parents want in any case.

Utter nonsense. Can’t police it. 14-16 year olds should have access. YouTube being included is also stupid. What a waste of time instead of focusing on shit parenting.

I think there are probably different views at different ages. Primary schools kids just shouldn’t have smart phones and social media. Their brains just aren’t equipped for it. I think there needs to be really tough restrictions on the under 12s to protect them from harm. I have a 10 year old and feel more confident that the tide is changing on this. Her secondary has phone pouches and phones are locked away

I’m then really unsure about how you manage the 12-16 year olds. There is clearly some really vile content available and this age group is older than the primary kids but possibly more vulnerable to peer pressure, bullying etc. however, vile content is everywhere online and not just on social media. I remember in the good old days of MSN being sent random dick pics over messenger as a teen.

The challenge here is that I think the direction of travel is right but implementation needs really careful consideration but given all the leadership challenge nonsense, the current government doesn’t necessarily have time to do things properly.

People really don't like freedom, do they? Very happy to delegate their responsibilities to Leviathan at the earliest convenience.

Sad.

Also there will be lessons from tobacco control. The lobbyists will be chucking everything there is to try and make the legislation fail- not because they care about the UK particularly but because they won’t want legislation being adopted in more countries. And social media lobbyists have the power of being able to use social media….

It is also clear that a lot of companies could have tightened things up earlier and didn’t really give a shit until government acted. Suddenly there will be all sorts of parental controls, new devices etc that weren’t there 6 months ago.

People with younger kids are SO naive about what this is going to look like for their teens. It isn't the smug 'no social media for my kids!' situation you imagine.

Its a start
There are many things wrong in society today and social media is a big part of it

Yeah, the parents with just younger or neurotypical kids are sounding very smug.

One of my children is neurodiverse, she doesn't talk, she finds hard to express feelings without going into shutdowns, so whatsapp and text messages are valuable - when there are issues she sends us messages she finds it easier to write - and gifs and so on. makes communication easier with

she doesn't use shapchat or tiktok or those things but i will log on to youtube for her as i won't have her not being able to watch her music videos and art tutorials

Are there any actual plans on how to police this? I do agree that social media can be harmful for kids, but I don’t think it’s going to work for most kids age 11/12+. They’ll find a way around it and it’ll shut down open discussion about it.