AIBU to think the social media ban will be impossible to enforce?

[Viviennemary]

I'm not totally against this ban on social media for under 16's. but I don't see how it can be enforced. It's on BBC news now. One boy spent 14 hours a day. Another girl 9 hours. Crazy.

But my kids literally watch football and cat videos and use it for studying and music practise. The idea what i am a terrible parent as I monitor my children’s use is ridiculous. I’m happy to skirt the ban as I know what my kids are watching. I don’t need the government to step in.

Also it not being banned or heavily restricted/ regulated at a government level sends the message that it’s not actually that bad for children and therefore more people are open to allowing their young children on these platforms.
If it’s restricted I imagine over the number of parents allowing their very young children to access social media will inevitably decrease.

And if the online platforms like YouTube categorise their content appropriately they’ll still be able to watch those things.

The issue is right now with a couple of clicks they can jump from cute cat videos to videos of cats being set on fire.

Unless you’re watching over their shoulder the entire time that’s possible, the online platforms need to do better to make sure it’s not.

Right so you are advocating for the same thing as me? I’m all for controls on content not bans.

The online platforms absolutely have the ability to restrict content - the issue is they don't. And if you look at X for example, now owned by the trillionaire c**t, he is actually using that platform for evil. The news today, about the Ukrainian "rent boys" targeting Keir Starmer, is terrifying really. They weren't rent boys - they were recruited by Russian "agents" to do things for money (badly with limited info it seems) - but the narrative was that Starmer had brought this upon himself - and that story was shared everywhere. It's not just the under 16s - actual adults have trouble with social media. The laws need to focus on content and stopping the spread of misinformation.

How can you restrict content for uses to an age appropriate level without knowing the age of the users though? And proving the age of the user seems to be what some people are taking great issue with.

I know the turkeys never vote for Christmas, but I would love for the SM companies to actually stop infinite scrolls/harmful context etc. But they haven’t and won’t. There are some kids out there who feel connected via SM - I feel for some of them.

i think it will be very hard to enforce but I hope parents will think twice about facilitating kids’ access if they’re being asked to fraudulently (?) input inaccurate details with facial id checks etc.

It needs to be curtailed - it’s just become so addictive.

Many are also suggesting a ban for the 65 plus age.

Does anybody know why Bluesky - largely left-leaning Twitter stablemate - hasn't been included in this ban? If I were interested in investing in shares, that's one company that I'd be taking a great interest in over the next few months. Unless the Labour party maybe already has... connections... with the platform?

The parent group who have lost children as a result of social media seem to support it and be behind it. I presume they have considered all the elements of it thoroughly.

Yes, if the social media platforms invest in controlling their content I don’t think there needs to be all out bans, whether or not they’ll engage with the concept and deal with it remains to be seen.

These controls should’ve been built as these platforms were developed but instead they’ve gone the other way with algorithms pushing more out to audiences rather than anyone really being in control of what’s pushed aside from whether it’s popular.

Probably because it’s not targeted at a young demographic and hadn’t really taken off that much?

Please tell me what you would do about it? Mine is like a pecking hen and will absolutely not let up to get on sm. I’ve said no 100 times but all her friends are on it and I just want peace! She 12.5

A lot of social media as it is right now is poison to almost everyone.

But there are circumstances where being connected worldwide as a teenager who perhaps doesn’t feel like they fit in where they currently are, or who has interests that are a bit more specific, or who uses YouTube tutors or just generally finds some great clever, impressive funny content.

Hopefully more positive social media rises to be what it was originally envisioned.

I understand the ban, and understand why now, but there is no denying that for many it will make their teenage harder.

It isn’t not been included, a list of the banned platforms hasn’t been released, despite all the baseless comments claiming it’s exempt.

What would going further look like? In comparison to the Australian version

100% agree. I worry that stupid online behaviour will now happen at 16 instead of 12 which is potentially more harmful. 16 year olds are still incredibly immature and suddenly have a free rein? Not sure how that'll pan out.

Probably, the best way to stop kids going on social media is on a parental level, by parents putting limits on their phones or literally not giving them a smart phone. But people don’t seem to want to do that.
Most will just vpn around it, or get older friends and the like to get them an account.

The flaw seems to be that you can have social media with fake names and there is no authentication. I can open multiple TikTok account with whatever name I want. What’s stopping older people setting up accounts and giving them to kids.

I think it will be great if parents get on board but we live in a time when just a few years ago parents were throwing turkey twizzlers over the fence to their poor offspring forced to eat a healthy school dinner... Note.. I know it wasn't twizzlers BYKWIM. I will be enforcing it, I already do but now I can say it is the LAW. Delighted to see this being taken seriously at last. Government should lead on this sort of thing.

One of the purposes of any legislation is to create or reinforce a social norm. The proposed ban will have zero impact on the current cohort of teenagers. But for younger children and future generations they will grow up knowing that accessing this content online is illegal. And yes some may well be allowed or find a way to access it just as young kids access alcohol and cigarettes now. But legislating for a ban creates a society in which a particular activity crosses the line from inadvisable to illegal which is a powerful tool of change.

I think for older kids it is going to be hard but my son is almost 8 so hasn't yet been exposed. We were talking about it tonight and what it meant. I told him YouTube shorts were included (as I hate them and google told me how to block them off his account). His response was, what about the kids in his class with a phone? A phone?! They are in year 3 for gods sake. Why do they need a phone, and at school?!

My son will get an old Nokia style one when he's in year 6 and nothing more. I just hope and pray things change before he gets to an age where he's going to want to use social media.

And there are those who propose to give 16 year olds the vote!!!

VPNs make all local laws and bans ignorant posturing. It is impossible to enforce this as seen by the porn age verification stunt which had no effect whatsoever. It's just dumb to pretend this is an achievable thing.

Say no. Don’t give them a smart phone or iPad. You are the parent.

more damage can be done by access and bullying via these platforms rather than bullying or being left out by not having it. Lots of friends in this group spend their time sat together but glued to phones, that’s no childhood in my opinion.