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?

My 15 year old DS just sat his GCSEs (July birthday). He had a rubbish maths teach who was off a lot so loads of subs. Fortunately there are loads of of great educators on youtube with videos explaining all aspects of the curriculum and he relied heavily on them to get through his exam. If the law had been in place half the class would be able to access these videos and summer-borne children (who already do less well in exams) would be denied access to resources their peers could use. How is that fair or helpful for their education?

Has a definitive list actually been published yet? The Gov.uk page just states:
The government plans to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia. This would capture user-to-user platforms, whose purpose is to enable social interaction and which allow users to post material, alongside algorithms. The ban will therefore include platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X

Those platforms, the largest really will be included, but it doesn’t say which others will or won’t be. User to User platforms scans to be like it might be far wider than just those sites/apps.

That needs to be accessible. And science education generally.

Surely you help them to access this sort of content, under your supervision and control, as the parent?

It is disingenuous to object to the ban on the grounds that it won’t be accessible. Of course it’s still accessible. Parents just need to actually parent.

Not sure that negates the point. Whilst social media exists I will use it because that is how people converse these days. But I wish it was banned so that nobody could use it

Surely as parents you can enable access to educational videos if your DC want them. And monitor that they don’t go rogue and look at something else.

I do think content as well social media bans needs to be looked at. Far too much unsavoury stuff out there not just for under 16s

Surely you help them to access this sort of content, under your supervision and control, as the parent?
Surely you don't have children older than 15? Parents do not handhold their dc through GCSE study.

You are free to remove yourself, you’re an adult with a fully formed brain, you don’t need to wait for someone to tell you to get off social media.

Australian here. We have the ban already. All it did was log kids out. My DS13 can still access YouTube, just not sign in. DD 10 cannot. Only YouTube kids. But, this is likely attached to our parenting controls rather than the ban.

Gaming sites age group kids, but, we don't allow online chat anyway & DS & friends play closed games, no strangers allowed (or he loses it). DS games only with known friends & chats via message apps/calls.

It's not made a lot of difference to anyone who doesn't want to comply. Most of DD's friend's are signed in via their parents. It's been fabulous for parents who don't want their DC on social media - we still get whinges, though. I'm deliriously happy they won't have TikTok few more years.

The loudest cries were from kidfluencers who are no longer allowed to post content for profit. One 14 year old made a huge public hoo-ha about her family moving.... to the UK 😂 so she could continue to make money.

It's definitely a good thing, but it's very easy to circumvent. Some kids found (and shared) how to pull faces to beat facial scanning age assessment.

I never said you hand to handhold them. You facilitate access to the stuff they need for studying. And if they use your account you can surely see the stuff they have been accessing.

I felt the announcement was a load of word salad with no substance. I was expecting the nitty gritty; what’s banned, what’s not, how it’s going to implemented, timeframes etc but we will have to wait for this to be announced in due course.

My children are still little but no, I don’t really agree the ban is the best way forward here. Yes, social media can be incredibly harmful but it can also be a supportive space. I think it would be more beneficial to go after the platforms and the content that is getting pushed out, along with better education on safe use. I do also worry if my child has no access to that world until 16, then suddenly has full unrestricted access, that could be worse than allowing sensible use from a younger age.

No, we won’t be completely following it for things like YouTube. It will continue to be used through my account on the tv with myself monitoring what is being watched, we do a lot of educational videos on here and I’m not going to stop that. They don’t have access without myself in the room to see what they are watching. My eldest has a private realm on Minecraft with a few friends, no strangers, and it is a very positive way for them to connect. We don’t allow Fortnite or Roblox as I don’t want them playing with strangers on a server. I feel this should continue to be on the parent and what they feel comfortable with their child having access to tbh.

I feel a lot won’t follow it anyway, it hasn’t been very successful in Australia with kids finding a way around it.

Agree with so much of this.

It's hot air.

I will be amused when we get to the parliamentary debate stage on this because we will have a bunch of MPs actively embarrassing themselves by showing up how badly they understand the internet and social media in general.

Yes, this. This isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. For many teens and tweens it's already too late, but I hope it causes a general, slow acceptance in the mindset of parents who currently have 6/7/8 year olds. By the time they're 10/11/12 it will be less 'inevitable' that they get a phone and social media.

Absolutely agree. Dreadful effects on very young children.

I dont agree. Parents will have the defence for little children to say its illegal

imagine if children read this forum lol

I think it's an excellent idea, but i don't know how far it's going to reach.
I have potentially more concerns about in-game chat than I do with social media in terms of risk to children

So you are saying parents could just circumvent the ban by logging on for their children?

Of course the whole point of the ban is to stop it being accessible!

It’s odd that parents can still make loads of money from their kids. Not just in Aus but here too.

Interesting to hear the impact.

The tweens. You mean the kids still young enough for their parents to actually parent? Why are we blaming parental fuckwittery on social media?

A phone doesnt know your age

Imagine.

Parenting.

The shock and horror of this.

Listening to some of the parents on the BBC who had lost their teen children after being on SM. They certainly werent feckless, dont care, clueless etc. In fact they are probably like most of us. That is the scary thing.

We all state we know exactly what our young people are doing. I suspect they would have said the same...

I’m ecstatic! DSD10 was given a phone by her Mum aged 8 and her behaviour, attitude, love of learning and physical activity levels have declined since. We don’t allow it at our house and while she sometimes moans she also says she enjoys the fact that she has a “break” from her phone for half of the week. School issues follow her home, she struggles to focus on things she previously loved liked art projects, she was highly active and is now bordering on overweight. Introducing the internet has not led to one single good thing and since she’s had the phone we’ve had to work a lot harder to mitigate the impact in our home. I hope this ban sets children free from all the nonsense and allows them to reclaim childhood.

This misses the point.

I am capable of not doing many things that are banned (gun running, heroin injecting, people smuggling...) but I'm glad they're banned, because some people aren't as capable of resisting the lure and that lure is damaging.

Social media is a scourge. Sadly quite a lot of people's lives are enmeshed in it, and even if I wanted to give it up i couldn't because DCs' schools and clubs post random shit on Facebook constantly that needs dealing with, and everything is linked to this or that platform. It could be wound back, given enough notice and effort. And I wish it was.