Florida bans kids from using social media
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
@Jolly said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Banning never works?
Ok, if a 13 year-old has the money, let him get plastered in a bar and buy his smokes from the vending machine.
That's a lot more easily enforceable than social media. Banning people from using software isn't the same thing at all. It's like the age limits on computer games, which are a bit of a joke.
It's how many that don't vs. how many that do. If the law impacts a significant amount, it's a win.
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It's far easier to ban social media, not harder.
How does the state propose to enforce this ban outside of public venues? Do parents need to register their kids, their devices or both?
I really don’t see how such can be regulated let alone enforced in private residences.
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@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
It's far easier to ban social media, not harder.
How does the state propose to enforce this ban outside of public venues? Do parents need to register their kids, their devices or both?
I really don’t see how such can be regulated let alone enforced in private residences.
Well, there's the technology, and there's the legislation.
The technology already exists. You can make it so that if you're a Florida resident, you're a minor, and you try to use social media, you can't. Those platforms already know (1) who you are (2) where you're logging in from and (3) how old you are. They say it's all "anonymized data" but there is absolutely no truth to that.
On the legislation side, maybe the way it would work is to put the pressure on the apps themselves. Basically, don't let minors have profiles. You can't create dummy profiles anymore, that wouldn't work. In a lot of cases, you have to take a photo of yourself with your ID to prove you're a real person.
That's the how, which is all I was bringing up.
In terms of should, well for what it's worth, I think it's a good idea to legislate the shit out of, if not outright ban the largest platforms for these reasons:
- It's been well documented that social media use in adolescents is associated with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. Whether it causes these is still very much debatable, but social media definitely exacerbates them.
- Despite the community-building promise of these platforms, cyberbullying, addiction-like behaviors, and sleep disruption make them more harmful than helpful to minors.
Basically, the largest social media platforms aren't what people think they are anymore. They use very, very sophisticated algorithms trained on only one purpose: to get you addicted to that screen so that they can show you as many ads as possible. It has nothing to do with sharing with friends, sharing your life or your hobbies. It's about figuring out how to get you addicted so they can trade on your attention.
Adverts targeting minors are already banned. And as Phibes says, we already have age limits in place on video games. Ignoring how easy they are to sidestep, the point is that we already have a bar in terms of the levels of media we think are appropriate for minors. Traditional social media is way worse than the video games we've already banned for that age group, and unlike video games we could be far more effective in restricting access.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Those platforms already know (1) who you are (2) where you're logging in from and (3) how old you are.
(1) and (3) are mere guesses. While statistically those platforms can guess right some x% of the time (x > 50; “most of the time”), they are still guesses. It can well be argued that that level of accuracy is not yet sufficient to (a) deprive a population from their 1st Amendment rights or (b) to deprive the platform operators of treasure through fines when they guess wrong.
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@Axtremus said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Those platforms already know (1) who you are (2) where you're logging in from and (3) how old you are.
(1) and (3) are mere guesses. While statistically those platforms can guess right some x% of the time (x > 50; “most of the time”), they are still guesses. It can well be argued that that level of accuracy is not yet sufficient to (a) deprive a population from their 1st Amendment rights or (b) to deprive the platform operators of treasure through fines when they guess wrong.
You haven't been paying attention to basically anything relating to this in the past five years, then.
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Well, if you know of pertinent statistics on how accurately social media platforms guess about their users’ ages and identities, I would certainly appreciate seeing the citations.
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@Axtremus said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Well, if you know of pertinent statistics on how accurately social media platforms guess about their users’ ages and identities, I would certainly appreciate seeing the citations.
Look 'em up yourself. You don't engage in good faith discussions so I'm not interested.
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But if we cut off social media access, how will kids know how to cut themselves safely?
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Glad that Florida is putting through this law.
I would however oppose it if it were proposed here in this province or country - in the event it may fall under federal jurisdiction. I’d much rather see the enforcement budget it would require put into education or health care or even into addressing efforts to curb illegal cross border firearms trafficking.
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@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
I’d much rather see the enforcement budget it would require put into education or health care or even into addressing efforts to curb illegal cross border firearms trafficking.
There is that.
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@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Glad that Florida is putting through this law.
I would however oppose it if it were proposed here in this province or country - in the event it may fall under federal jurisdiction. I’d much rather see the enforcement budget it would require put into education or health care or even into addressing efforts to curb illegal cross border firearms trafficking.
You realize that more money into education or healthcare doesn’t necessarily improve either, right?
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@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Maybe, maybe be not.
No maybe about it. Money by itself means nothing when tossed into education. There needs to be other measures included.
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New York has the highest expenditure per student in the US at $29K per. They rank 6th in education. DC ranks second with $24K per student. They are ranked 49th. Need I go on?
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Utah has the lowest investment per student at $8K, and they are ranked 7th.
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@LuFins-Dad said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Maybe, maybe be not.
No maybe about it. Money by itself means nothing when tossed into education. There needs to be other measures included.
But I am not referring to the US. As I stated I am glad Florida is proposing this law but I would not want the Alberta G’vt to follow suit here. I do not see it as priority issue in this province or country.
I just see education and health care delivery as more important issues under exclusively provincial level jurisdiction than access to social media for minors. At the federal level, I consider the cross border trafficking of firearms a bigger issue than access to social media for minors.
I have no doubt about what you say about the state of education in the US you is true and should be addressed appropriately.
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@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
@LuFins-Dad said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
@Renauda said in Florida bans kids from using social media:
Maybe, maybe be not.
No maybe about it. Money by itself means nothing when tossed into education. There needs to be other measures included.
But I am not referring to the US. As I stated I am glad Florida is proposing this law but I would not want the Alberta G’vt to follow suit here. I do not see it as priority issue in this province or country.
I just see education and health care delivery as more important issues under exclusively provincial level jurisdiction than access to social media for minors. At the federal level, I consider the cross border trafficking of firearms a bigger issue than access to social media for minors.
I have no doubt about what you say about the state of education in the US you is true and should be addressed appropriately.
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relating it to the country level is kinda irrelevant since this is a Florida law. Less than a province, really…
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you state that in your area you would prefer the money be spent on education. What is the expenditure per student in your area and how much more do you think would make the difference? Should that expenditure be spent on educators, facilities, or materials?
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Glad that Florida is proposing this law. It is obviously a priority issue there. Several here agree with it. Perhaps if I lived in Florida, I too would support it. But I don’t live in Florida. So what I have to say about a proposed law in Florida is of no consequence. I am happy with that being the case.
I just don’t want to see the local g’vt here follow suit with a similar law.