Controversial opinion:

In the future we are going to look back on seeing children use iPads that directly connect them to the most sophisticated engagement and manipulation algorithms ever as something as horrid as a child smoking a cigarette, or doing any other drug

Now obviously this is an issue, but many of the suggested solutions are lacking.

Remember: the phones in our pocket are turing complete, any software solution can be undone by another software solution

Hardware flaws baked into chipsets will be inevitably exploited by the worst of humanity

What we need is a LEGAL framework to this issue

We need to see that allowing a full 5g 2.5ghZ portal to the unknown is simply absolutely harmful for a child to get there hands on without parental or educational supervision

I suspect it really should work like regulating a drug, allow more and more unsupervised compute and networking as the child ages

That way kids can still have dumb phones for basic safety and comms.

I suspect laws will be applied like alcohol within the home, to allow for family owned game systems and such

But lapses that lead to actual demonstrated harm such as mental illness leading to bodily harm or violence due to radicalization need to be treated as if a parent just fed their child alcohol without care. Or at least enabled them to it if it’s evident that they didn’t even try

Straight up it’s also a cultural shift 13-16 yr olds gaming at home under parental guidance, but not being bought significant personal compute since it would not be sold to them or for the purpose of giving to them

Usage in school where they get education on information technology and the harms and good it can do all fine and good , but seeing babies with iPads at the mall seen as badly as letting them smoke (and the secondhand smoke from all the brainrot leading to brainrotted adult)

Not just social media, they shouldn't have access to smart phones either, not until a minimum age. 13/15/16, something like that.

Make them learn to figure things out on their own.

The biggest reason why not is that it requires the implementation of centralized tracking systems for everyone to confirm ID for accessing these services, which is a privacy nightmare and takes way too much agency away from individuals. If Reddit or something bans me for a stupid reason or because their broad brush modbots malfunctioned, I should be able to evade that ban with enough care and effort, and the government shouldn't help them make sure I can't. I should also have the ability to use social media pseudonymously without being subject to corporate tracking.

The other reason, of course, is that banning children from social media cuts them off from participating in society or having any sort of a public voice. That's fucked up too.

I'd like the age raised fron 16 to 75, I'm 58.

I don't think anyone should use social media with an engagement algorithm, no matter what age

Nobody should use today's social media

Yes it's a cancerous plague on society. It creates a false sense on identity and want. Young peoples minds are constantly bombarded by people telling them how they should think, feel and look

Australia did it somewhat right by banning minors until they are 16. However I feel this may create a stronger desire for some to join much like teens drinking and smoking bud cause it's forbidden. At 16 you'll only create a stronger desire to join. As such I feel like it should be pushed back to 20, you're no longer a teen and as a young adult the temptation to join and let your mind be swayed by bull shit may be less prevalent

In real terms, I have no idea if this is a good move or a bad one. We'll know more in five years once the Aussie nerds can publish on the effects. I can't think of a compelling reason not to try it though.

Social media use is bad for everyone. Tech companies have spent billions of dollars refining and optimizing their platforms to maximize engagement and usage at the expense of all other considerations.

I've been researching the mental health effects of social media for an unrelated project I am working on. From an incomplete read of the research, social media use has a strong correlation with mental health issues. I haven't encountered anything peer reviewed that proposes a specific relationship between the two, but my personal (somewhat well informed) guess is that someone will find a link eventually. That's just where the research I've read seems to be headed.

I'd guess they probably have a symbiotic relationship. (Certain kinds of) Mentally ill folks use social media more than others, why or if that is anything more than a red herring is still to be determined, but I have read coverage of other research that suggests that social media might be destroying attention spans (though I haven't read that research myself yet).

Getting the political system involved in this effort is probably undesirable simply because elected officials seem to have entirely abandoned any pretense of using science to inform policy and are basically puppets for the oligarchy. Voting against the interests of their donors is unlikely.

Penalize companies for marketing to kids. No ad money, no benefit.

Me: there should be an agency like the FDA that brands news and other media with veracity labels according to guidelines we as voters agree on to prevent fake news and misinformation

Them: YOU CAN'T BECAUSE OF FREE SPEECH DIE HEATHEN DIE

Me: ok what about banning kids from social media?

Them: that's fine :)

Hypocrites.