Florida is on the verge of passing one of the nation’s most restrictive bans on minors’ use of social media after the state Senate passed a bill Thursday that would keep children under the age of 16 off popular platforms regardless of parental approval.
The measure now goes back to the state House, where the speaker has made the issue his top priority during the legislative session that ends March 8. Still, critics have pointed to similar efforts in other states that have been blocked by courts.
The bill targets any social media site that tracks user activity, allows children to upload material and interact with others, and uses addictive features designed to cause excessive or compulsive use. Supporters point to rising suicide rates among children, cyberbullying and predators using social media to prey on kids.
I fundamentally agree that this would best be served by parents enforcing limits.
However, my experience is that this kind of parenting is much much harder than people seem to understand.
If you’re one of a small number of parents who choose to limit social media, in a sea of parents who don’t limit at all, your children end up socially excluded. They get made fun of and ostracized from the rest of the kids. Your parenting decision makes their daily life much, much harder than it should be.
In practice, it means that as a parent there is no winning option. Or even really acceptable option.
For maybe the first time in my life, I feel myself siding with the government restrictions option.
Do you have any idea how easy it is to bypass a law like this?
Anytime the government says they are doing something to help the children, it is most likely an extreme infringement on the rights of non children.
Yeah, it’s not really teaching kids not to use it, but it will be a great teacher for how to bypass internet blocks. Young people already lie about their age on platforms, I mean I did that when I was younger.
It’s only a few steps further to change DNS or VPN to an area that allows underage and doesn’t require strict age verification.
Most laws are fairly easy to bypass. You can jaywalk all day, purchase illegal fireworks, drive your car at ridiculous speeds, etc.
Should we just stop trying because some people choose to break the law?
If even half of parents complied it would make it so very much easier to say no to social media for your own children. It would also provide a very tangible excuse for why you’re saying no.
Is it illegal?
Yep, at least everywhere that I have lived.
Carhell
You can’t regulate your own children, so you think it makes sense to try and regulate all children.
Whatever dude. Stop trying to pass laws “for the children”. It’s b.s
I’m not sure if you’re intentionally being obtuse or you just didn’t actually read my original post above. Either way, I’ll invite you to take a second read.
Sometimes it is difficult to see a whole thread on Lemmy for me. If I have taken anything out of context that stinks but happy Saturday