I live in Australia. The social media ban for under 16's was not successful at all. (this is anecdotal) Majority of social media platforms did not get effectively eradicated (including ticktock, instragram etc...) for under 16s. And at least snapchat (and maybe others) did get properly banned but then a few months later under 16s could log straight back on again with no issues.

Opinion time: even if the social media ban was regulated properly it still likely wouldn't be effective, sure children that abide by the law and aren't completely addicted will stop using social media. But the children that are properly addicted and need help are going to find ways around the ban, like using vpn's and get driven underground being less likely to seek help since there is now an extra reason for it to be considered shameful. Just like banning drugs, banning social media doesn't solve the issue.

I think an intelligent Marxist (not me) needs to do a proper class analysis on this I have found individual articles that have shown links between the social media ban and the gambling industry. And the gambling industry doesn't give a crap about weather or not the ban is successful they just want a public distraction from laws that prevent the gambling industry taking advantage of the working class.

I see that your Australian too, I am interested what information shows the social media ban to be successful, I could be wrong but I think it's safe to assume in most situations an apparent win for workers is disguised as a win for capital.

No I do not want to give government ability to control what I can watch and how much. If they want to reduce screen usage then they need to force companies to change their algorithm. Improve social awareness of how these companies are f*cking us over.

Also not all screen usage is bad. I learned 5 programming languages online. And developed lot of my skills in Linux by playing Overthewire and HTB. This actually led to me getting a good job. All the things I use at my job is things I learned online.

We live in a world where screens have taken over. Our children's are showing early sign of anxiety, depression, eye issues , wearing glasses at young age because of being exposed to screens for long time.

I have a problem with this paragraph. You present this as fact and I don't think it is. Anxiety and depression are not caused by screens. More known cases can also be attributed to people caring about this more than ever. More kids with glasses may be more due to improvements in medical care. We've been getting more short sighted as a species ever since looking out for the sabertooth tiger wasn't a survival issue any more. If you want to get people onboard the arguments need to work and these don't do it for me. 80s kids didn't get squared eyes from watching too much TV, 90s kids didn't all turn into homicidal maniacs due to video games - this strikes me as arguments along the same oversimplified lines.

I'm not opposed to regulating screen time for children. What I don't think works is a government mandated restriction. How would you even enforce that within a family home? An unintended side effect will be the need to ID every user, taking away the opportunity to use the web anonymously, and risking the leak of personalized information from giant data bases. The risks outweigh the usefulness for me.

Why do people focus on the screens and not what's on the screens? That's what needs to be regulated

There is no time limit that will render propaganda ineffective

The screen isn't the problem, it's the antagonists on the other side

Eventually the government will do it, more screen time equals less working time. So less taxes and less production of goods.

For me, the problem is not all screen time, but big tech proprietary software companies. I don't support regulating screen time, but I do think governments should regulate big tech companies harder, while investing in free software - that genuinely serves user interests and has no incentive to be addicting or harmful - as an alternative.

Big tech explicitly tries to keep people addicted, whatever the consequences. They don't support user agency. Even if you want to make Facebook/Instagram/TikTok etc. less addicting, you are limited to a "show less like this" button that probably does nothing. On iOS and Android, companies abuse the notification categories, and yet there's no way to filter out keywords or work around this, despite the widespread abuse of user attention.

If everyone had full control over their own (or their child's) devices and algorithms, I doubt there would be such a backlash against technology as a whole. But, despite all the bad the techbros are doing, technology can be so empowering when it serves the users. To regulate screen time seems to me to treat the amazing parts of technology the same as the worst parts.

As much as my wife hates me for it, yes, I regulate screen time. My 16yo hates me too, but they'll get over it lol