How would it be enforced, I know when I was younger I’d just click yes on anything asking if I’m over 18.
MR-DEDPUL on
Probably for the best.
Social media companies have no interest in regulating themselves or being responsible for the content that’s on there beyond the bare minimum.
Kids should not suffer, develop insecurities and unhealthy habits or ideas to line a wanker like Elon Musk’s pockets.
fukatroll on
Idk how they’d effectively enforce it, but it’s a good idea. I haven’t heard any good, either word of mouth or on the news, from 15s and under using it. I’ve heard plenty of bad though.
mr-seamus on
I reckon in another ten years or so you’ll need some sort of ID or licence to access the internet or some online services. Not sure how it will work but I have a feeling it is coming.
The halcyon days of the 90s and early 00s internet are long gone.
ThreeRandomWords3 on
“Nearly two thirds of eight to 11 year-olds and one third of children aged three to seven use social media, despite the age limit of 13.”
So they’ll just change the age to 16 and everyone will continue to ignore it. The Technology Secretary really earned his money today.
I’ve “ranted” about this before, but strongly believe the backing for this is a mix of sheer ignorance, passing on responsibility, and jealousness of youth.
Sure, social media can have a downside, but proper parenting should avoid this. I have friends who had kids relatively young and their kids are now near school leaving age. They grew up with social media but were given appropriate warnings and are fine.
My main issue is the sheer amount of shit you can learn via social media which would have massively helped me when I was a kid. Instagram and TikTok for me now are basically recipes, gym stuff, video/photography stuff, DJing, and music production. All stuff I originally had to learn via trial and error or asking on forums “back in the day”.
People also seem ignorant to the fact it would require these companies (and look who owns TikTok) having some kind of government ID database.
If the headlines were “British law will require Chinese government owned company to have access to your personal ID” I’m sure there’d be uproar, but that’s essentially what this is.
This will be kicked down the road like the “porn ID” thing has been, probably for multiple governments now.
Only-Mastodon1873 on
This will not solve anything, if Smartphones were to be banned for U16’s then I would understand. Get them away from devices altogether and let them develop their brain and opinions without social media cancer destroying them
After-Dentist-2480 on
If you ask a group of adults about anything that under-16s do, which they didn’t as kids, they’ll want it banned.
imminentmailing463 on
Hardly surprising. If there’s one thing consistent about the British public, it’s that we love the idea of banning things.
Overstaying_579 on
I just wanted to say about this article, it is quite misleading.
When the Telegraph said that 2/3 of the public backed the ban on social media for under 16 it meant they only surveyed 2000 people. The current population of Australia is estimated to be 27 and 1/2 million people. Nowhere near accurate.
“There are three types of lies. There’s lies, damn lies, and then there’s statistics.”
Phoenix5869 on
Completely agree with this. It’s not safe for young teenagers to expose themselves to the entire internet. Once they’re 16, they (hopefully) know how to avoid dodgy stuff etc
Ok-Ship812 on
Can we ban it for over 60’s as well please?
My parents will believe any old shite that Facebook spits at them, the crap they come up with to support their YES to Brexit vote or their UKIP/Reform votes is pathetic and they get it spoon fed to them on social media.
We’d be better off teaching kids critical thinking from a young age but obivously we cant do that as who the hell would vote for our shower of shit parties if we did.
Quillspiracy18 on
If there’s such overwhelming support among the public, then we don’t need a law for it at all, do we?
The excuse I always see for parents not doing their fucking job and looking after their kids is “But if they don’t have a phone, they’ll be bullied because all the other kids have phones! They’ll be socially isolated from all their friends with phones!”
Well now we know that there are plenty of other people who don’t want their kids to have phones/social media either. So grow some balls and regulate your kids’ access like you already should have been and stop pushing for another unworkable waste of time law that will cost us all too much money and end up unenforced anyway once kids find a workaround ten minutes after it comes into practice.
gallagher9992 on
What public is backing this, I am someone who hates this whole kids on tablets and social media and stuff, but everyone around me seems to be the ones doing it. Can people just not manage there children them self
rye_domaine on
Social media is a convenient boogeyman for us to blame on the all the youth’s issues. Third spaces have practically disappeared. Teenagers are not welcome in public if they’re in a group of more than what, three? Banning social media would be an excellent way to worsen the loneliness epidemic.
Bannerdress on
Love this in theory. In reality I think it’d be like the early days of social media where they had an 18 or 16 minimum age limit but also extremely easy for a 15 year old to get away with lying and then saying on their profile “I’m 15, LOL” with no consequences
DMBear89 on
With VPNs, how will this be enforced? Kids will find a way to access social media.
18 Comments
How would it be enforced, I know when I was younger I’d just click yes on anything asking if I’m over 18.
Probably for the best.
Social media companies have no interest in regulating themselves or being responsible for the content that’s on there beyond the bare minimum.
Kids should not suffer, develop insecurities and unhealthy habits or ideas to line a wanker like Elon Musk’s pockets.
Idk how they’d effectively enforce it, but it’s a good idea. I haven’t heard any good, either word of mouth or on the news, from 15s and under using it. I’ve heard plenty of bad though.
I reckon in another ten years or so you’ll need some sort of ID or licence to access the internet or some online services. Not sure how it will work but I have a feeling it is coming.
The halcyon days of the 90s and early 00s internet are long gone.
“Nearly two thirds of eight to 11 year-olds and one third of children aged three to seven use social media, despite the age limit of 13.”
So they’ll just change the age to 16 and everyone will continue to ignore it. The Technology Secretary really earned his money today.
A poll? Well we know how they can be worded to get the outcome you want don’t we? I give you Yes Minister https://youtu.be/ahgjEjJkZks?si=Rlq04shkn7Sp_wqd
I’ve “ranted” about this before, but strongly believe the backing for this is a mix of sheer ignorance, passing on responsibility, and jealousness of youth.
Sure, social media can have a downside, but proper parenting should avoid this. I have friends who had kids relatively young and their kids are now near school leaving age. They grew up with social media but were given appropriate warnings and are fine.
My main issue is the sheer amount of shit you can learn via social media which would have massively helped me when I was a kid. Instagram and TikTok for me now are basically recipes, gym stuff, video/photography stuff, DJing, and music production. All stuff I originally had to learn via trial and error or asking on forums “back in the day”.
People also seem ignorant to the fact it would require these companies (and look who owns TikTok) having some kind of government ID database.
If the headlines were “British law will require Chinese government owned company to have access to your personal ID” I’m sure there’d be uproar, but that’s essentially what this is.
This will be kicked down the road like the “porn ID” thing has been, probably for multiple governments now.
This will not solve anything, if Smartphones were to be banned for U16’s then I would understand. Get them away from devices altogether and let them develop their brain and opinions without social media cancer destroying them
If you ask a group of adults about anything that under-16s do, which they didn’t as kids, they’ll want it banned.
Hardly surprising. If there’s one thing consistent about the British public, it’s that we love the idea of banning things.
I just wanted to say about this article, it is quite misleading.
When the Telegraph said that 2/3 of the public backed the ban on social media for under 16 it meant they only surveyed 2000 people. The current population of Australia is estimated to be 27 and 1/2 million people. Nowhere near accurate.
“There are three types of lies. There’s lies, damn lies, and then there’s statistics.”
Completely agree with this. It’s not safe for young teenagers to expose themselves to the entire internet. Once they’re 16, they (hopefully) know how to avoid dodgy stuff etc
Can we ban it for over 60’s as well please?
My parents will believe any old shite that Facebook spits at them, the crap they come up with to support their YES to Brexit vote or their UKIP/Reform votes is pathetic and they get it spoon fed to them on social media.
We’d be better off teaching kids critical thinking from a young age but obivously we cant do that as who the hell would vote for our shower of shit parties if we did.
If there’s such overwhelming support among the public, then we don’t need a law for it at all, do we?
The excuse I always see for parents not doing their fucking job and looking after their kids is “But if they don’t have a phone, they’ll be bullied because all the other kids have phones! They’ll be socially isolated from all their friends with phones!”
Well now we know that there are plenty of other people who don’t want their kids to have phones/social media either. So grow some balls and regulate your kids’ access like you already should have been and stop pushing for another unworkable waste of time law that will cost us all too much money and end up unenforced anyway once kids find a workaround ten minutes after it comes into practice.
What public is backing this, I am someone who hates this whole kids on tablets and social media and stuff, but everyone around me seems to be the ones doing it. Can people just not manage there children them self
Social media is a convenient boogeyman for us to blame on the all the youth’s issues. Third spaces have practically disappeared. Teenagers are not welcome in public if they’re in a group of more than what, three? Banning social media would be an excellent way to worsen the loneliness epidemic.
Love this in theory. In reality I think it’d be like the early days of social media where they had an 18 or 16 minimum age limit but also extremely easy for a 15 year old to get away with lying and then saying on their profile “I’m 15, LOL” with no consequences
With VPNs, how will this be enforced? Kids will find a way to access social media.