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Trial finds age assurance can be done, as social media ban deadline looms (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 2 days ago by Zagorath@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
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[-] Tenderizer@aussie.zone 7 points 1 day ago

I think the harms are real. They're not exclusive to children.

There are three categories of harm:

  • Radicalization, as the algorithm deliberately feeds you bad takes from your political opponents and good takes from your political allies, to keep you engaged.
  • Overstimulation, the YouTube Kids channel Cocomelon is way too addictive for kids. This isn't exclusive to social media, and YouTube Kids apparently has an exemption.
  • Addiction, social media eats into hours upon hours in kid's days. Time they could spend with their family/friends or processing their emotions, instead they're being numbed out on their phone.

I think we should ban algorithmic recommendations (or strictly limit them), ban the practices of Cocomelon, and ... I'm not sure what we can do about the addiction thing (humans are super prone to addiction). I'd also ban smart-phones in schools, kids should only be allowed flip-phones/brick-phones.

[-] naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Produce studies and I swear to god if it's that one where they say kids are scroiling Instagram for 9 hours a day when they report using it as a messenging application I will reach through the screen and strangle you.

Legislation should not be based on vibes ffs. I think Mark Zuckerburg should be hung in a public square and skinned alive for the evil he has wrought with shit like aiding genocide but there is not sufficient evidence that social media, which covers everything from usenet to lemmy to Instagram to youtube, causes harms warranting age based bans. This is a world where we allow coca cola and factory farming, "it's probably bad for some people some of the time" is clearly not the bar for criminalisation.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
37 points (95.1% liked)

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