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

[LizardLore]

Just being announced now - social media banned for under-16s.

My instinct is it’s great, but I am interested in other views. My kids are very small so not an issue here yet.

YABU - the ban is bad
YANBU - the ban is good

I agree it’s the right thing. But I’m really unsure how they will enforce it?

Yes, having seen my nephew age 4 addicted to youtube already, I am in favour of banning it.

I think it’s a brilliant idea as a mother of an 13, 11 and 8 year old. I hope they have a better way to police it than Australia.

They have the tech to see who is using their app, age recognition etc.

Context. Now formally announced.

With the shit show that is the labour party no this is not a good thing

Great news - yes it’ll be hard to legislate/enforce but that’s no reason not to do it.

I think it’s excellent.

I’d,,also, like it that using children under 16 in social media was banned too. Too many influencers and content creators exploit their kids every day while they’re far too young to understand the consequences or give consent.

The problem is they could implement vpn blockers but that would then block adults in countries who have no democray, so it's a difficult, I'm completely for the ban however I'm concerned this will push children to seek out entertainment on chat rooms and social forums on the darkweb putting them further at risk.

Sound great in theory. No idea how it will work in practice.

Also to add I’d like to see phones banned in all schools by the time my kids are tweens.

Just reading another thread where a poster says their greatest concern about phones is they’re turning out hordes of adults who can’t think - phone zombies, they called them.

This is my great worry too, especially when compounded by AI. I feel more able to protect my kids from e.g. chatting to weirdos online than I do from the complete intellectual erosion our reliance on tech is causing. It’s replaced so many developmentally significant childhood activities.

Yes I can limit their time once they get to that age. But if they’re surrounded by phone zombies they’re going to want to follow suit. And it’s not just about my kids anyway - every child deserves a rich, varied and imaginatively stimulating childhood and too many are not getting that right now.

It won't technically be enforceable, but I think having it be illegal for kids to be on social media will still make a big difference. It'll make it much easier for parents to say no and react strongly if they find their own kids are on, and it should break the "but everyone else is" which is what makes it hard to resist. I'm interested in the details though - e.g. is reddit included? What happens if people set up large groups on e.g. whatsapp, telegram, signal, gathering kids? To my mind if kids are communicating online with people they know IRL that's one thing, the big problem is communicating with people who might be anyone or not even people. That isn't in itself a distinction that will be easy to make, though.

Yes I agree with this! The whole idea of “family” youtubers etc is so wrong.

They’ve banned access to adult content sites without age verification, I guess something similar.

Why?

Blocks are enforceable by country, what we do in the UK won’t have implications on what other countries do.

There’s been a block on adult content sites in the UK for a while now without age verification, yes I’m sure there’s ways round it but it’s still been done.

Ignore. "I hate labour so anything they do or say is bad". Pathetic.

I think it is awful. It should be up to the parents to decide. The lazy parents are the ones who are happy for the government to take charge rather than make decisions themselves.

I think it’s something that needs to evolve, the issue is these sites have been built with very little restrictions to begin with but I agree it’s a good idea and the tech companies need to realise they’re not above the laws of individual countries.

I think it's a great idea, it alleviates the peer pressure. I have a 13 and 14 year olds they weren't happy when I said no to Snapchat but that's because their friends have it.

Yes. Great idea.

All really interesting points. Agree kids will get around it - but they also do with drinking, vapes, smoking and we still ban those things to create a social norm (actually Starmer made a point like this in his speech that I’m somewhat paraphrasing).

I see whatsapp as not too dissimilar to things like MSN Messenger which I used as a teen to chat to friends. As you say, so long as it’s people they actually know and they’re not posting out to the world it’s not such a concern - but where does one draw that line?

Reddit is a bit of a grey area as it’s technically anonymous but many people do still post photos of themselves on it and share personal information. And of course it’s an outrageous time suck (just like Mumsnet!).

I disagree, the lazy parents are the ones who aren’t taking control of what their kids access, it’s no different than having age restrictions on films or a 9pm watershed on tv programmes.

Vpn blockers would mean we are heading for a control like China. Never give away more rights to the government.

Can we think about the bigger picture though? Labour are likely to be out in a few short years, let’s be real. I believe Tories support a ban like this, but not sure if Reform do

It’s unlikely whoever comes in next is going to roll it back, so let’s play the ball not the man…