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

It’s going to be the toss up for a lot of people.

How much of their data are they willing to sell or trust the government with in the name of stopping under 16 years olds going online.

I’ve already had my mother on the phone ranting that she isn’t proving how old she is as “she’s a 60 odd year old women for goodness sake I stopped having to prove me age decades ago!!” 😅

Agreed, when I last went through an airport my photo was taken digitally and my fingerprints were scanned, and you scan your passport too, it’s all digital already.

It doesn’t link to social media.

Vulnerable children is a good point.

Safety controls etc are needed, sure, but I'm not sure banning 15 year olds from Youtube is the way forward. This ban seems reactive and knee-jerk.

'70% of parents have told the Australia's internet regulator their children were still on these platforms, a recent survey found.'

Whatsapp isn't on the list, as far as I can see.

Do you genuinely know how much of your personal information your social media already holds? I doubt it, but you only need to look at how algorithms work to realise most people have already given a lot more info out than they likely realise.

Labour really want digital ID.

Of course it’s a lot but it isn’t linked to the state.

Parents need help. The ones who under estimate the harm, the ones who haven’t got the time to constantly be checking and monitoring, the ones who get worn down by the whining of kids, the ones who thinks it must be okay if everyone is doing it, the ones who do t understand tech well.
We’re all new to this. We didn’t have SM as kids or teens, we don’t understand that our children have essentially been guinea pigs for SM companies and their algorithms and their marketing so they can make money and more money.

and if you’re the parent who thinks it’s all hysteria - well crack on then and help your kids dodge a ban. There’s always the parent who give their under age kids fake ID to get vapes or booze or provide them with booze but no-one can argue that the ban on cigarettes to the under 18s and the ban on cigarette advertising and hiding cigarettes behind shelving in shops hasn’t been instrumental in the huge drop in numbers of smokers in the UK

I can envisage this forcing the tech companies’ hands through lost revenue.

If they sort themselves out and make it genuinely safe it may be that some social sites could be available in the future

The tories are in support of the ban.

As I said upthread; I’ve a disgruntled 13 yr old who’s been making fab stop motion stuff for YouTube. It’s a creative outlet for some.

Parents need help. The ones who under estimate the harm, the ones who haven't got the time to constantly be checking and monitoring, the ones who get worn down by the whining of kids, the ones who thinks it must be okay if everyone is doing it, the ones who do t understand tech well.

These are the type of parents whose children are the most likely to circumvent a ban. Parents who don’t monitor, give in to a bit of moaning, or don’t understand tech are most likely to have children who’ll ignore a ban and get round it.

WhatsApp is a well known safeguarding issue. Children ended up in hospital due to this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0l4z8n1p9o?app-referrer=deep-link

Youtube had been banned in our house since it started pushing shorts. They are clearly awful for attention spans and designed to be overly addictive.

Do you trust Meta with your personal data more than the government?

The government already hold all your information for tax/HMRC, driving licences, passports, via the electoral roll, address details via local government for council tax etc etc etc?

What data do you think the government doesn’t already hold about you? Unless you’re living ‘off grid’ which I doubt I think the state knows a fair bit about you already.

Yes, and yet whats app isn’t going to be part of the ban. That’s partly why a ban won’t stop harm being done to children. It will give parents a false sense of security. The only way of protecting children is by having an adult monitoring their online activity, teaching them about the dangers from a young age and ensuring their phone settings etc are set up as securely as possible. That article mentions Molly Russell. Interestingly, her dad isn’t in support of a social media ban.

There will be access; KS said as much in his speech.

But it’s the start of a culture change. Current KS1 children should be impacted positively the most.

Tories wanted a ban sooner, Labour wanted to wait for more result from Australia.

However, children are actually actively being harmed by access to this stuff.

Anecdotally kids from private schools locally have had the most access in the past and awful levels of bullying.

I also recently heard of a private school 15 yr old (I know the mum) who developed panic attacks as she couldnt keep up with her Instagram content for her large numbers of followers.

What can be more digital about ID than already happens?

Passports, driving licences, online tax/HMRC details, what’s the difference of a ‘digital ID’ to what they already hold?

I guess if I trusted the govt to be bringing this in because of concern for children I might agree, and that would be a positive outcome.

Unfortunately I think it's possible they're using it as a Trojan horse for digital ID.

I Have only recently switched to thinking a ban is necessary as I know Molly Russel’a dad isn’t supportive and some of his reasoning.

I also don’t think it’s been fully thought through. At the same time I think there needs to be more action than there has been

But Kemi et al are the ones who’ve been pushing it the most.

l want to keep SM use separate from the government. Absolutely not keen for them to have my personal posting data.

And yes I obviously choose what to use based on a transactional basis. I don’t do FB or X for example but do use IG. If I didn’t trust it I’d avoid the latter.

You must be the same, do you use any platforms or avoid them all and only trust mn?

I’ll add I’ll just use a VPN as many others will. If you’re ok with the gov knowing your data just then you can not use one.

It probably depends on the school. Mine are privately educated but have only ever been at schools with very strict mobile phone policies, which means that phones aren’t allowed to be used at all during the day. It means that phone use doesn’t become a habit. In addition, they are using so busy with extra curricular stuff that they don’t have time for social media. We did visit one school where kids were in the corridor using their phones during breaks so we discounted that school immediately. I do think that the phone culture at school has a huge impact on teens.

With the whole digital id to access social media stuff. Yes the government knows when I was born how much I earn my blood type.

But I don’t trust them when it comes to linking my online presence to my government id.

I want to post on Mumsnet or Instagram as I want not with them being able to basically find exactly what I’m posting because it’s linked up. Yes yes very tin foil hat of me but when the thought police are about it’s nice to be an annon as you can be at times.

Concerns about govt taking more and more info are twofold. Firstly, I don't want to share info, and secondly, I don't trust them to have the proper security to ensure its safe.

FWIW I've been a civil servant and seen other civil servants access, misuse, and abuse information held on members of the public.