This sensible-sounding idea fails parents by putting them back into a collective action trap. Platforms often propose it because they know it won’t work.
Yes. Keep kids off social media. However - as Mary Harrington recently highlighted, this goal could be used by government to expand the surveillance state - what mechanism could be instituted to keep kids off SM without eliminating anonymity on all platforms. People have already been jailed for Facebook posts in Britain - chilling.
I've completely lost faith in government control of anything. I think it's nearly inevitable that governments continue to amass 'authority' act in their on self interest.
We saw some very ugly things happen under government 'authority' during COVID. It didn't start during COVID, it metastasized during COVID.
I think our public schools are a far more dangerous influence right now, than are social media. And I didn't come here to praise social media.
> In 2023, ninety per cent of all crimes went unsolved, yet over the same five-year period more than 62,000 people were arrested for 'offensive' comments and messages online.
This is a very easy thing to find online. Questioning like this implies that you think the arrests or at least some of were justified. Am I reading you wrong?
There should be precisely zero arrests in Britain for "hate speech". The only things that need investigation are genuine threats to people or property. Not those complaining about foreign flags flying over our country.
I suggested no such thing, but I wanted some context for that remark. Not all speech ought to be protected (e.g. encouraging blowing up a mosque, targeting home and business addresses during a riot.)
This is a substantial contribution towards reclaiming childhood, child development, and the future of our nation whose leaders will be broken adults, incapable of Contributing with generativity, since the evils stemming from social media exposure during these vulnerable years, prevent kids and teens from becoming the best version of themselves, turning their brains into survival mode, due to a destructive social learning impact of all that has been discussed in this article. Thank you Dr, Heidt and your team 🙏🏻
So what are you advocating for? Something like the UK's Online Safety Act, which requires adults to identify themselves to the authorities by uploading ID, in order to use social media? If that's what you propose -- you need to say so explicitly, and acknowledge that it gives authoritarian governments powers the Stazi would have dreamed of.
Yes. Keep kids off social media. However - as Mary Harrington recently highlighted, this goal could be used by government to expand the surveillance state - what mechanism could be instituted to keep kids off SM without eliminating anonymity on all platforms. People have already been jailed for Facebook posts in Britain - chilling.
I've completely lost faith in government control of anything. I think it's nearly inevitable that governments continue to amass 'authority' act in their on self interest.
We saw some very ugly things happen under government 'authority' during COVID. It didn't start during COVID, it metastasized during COVID.
I think our public schools are a far more dangerous influence right now, than are social media. And I didn't come here to praise social media.
Which posts were people jailed for?
According to the Free Speech Union:
> In 2023, ninety per cent of all crimes went unsolved, yet over the same five-year period more than 62,000 people were arrested for 'offensive' comments and messages online.
see https://freespeechunion.org/news/more-than-62-000-people-have-been-arrested-for-speech-offences-over
This is a very easy thing to find online. Questioning like this implies that you think the arrests or at least some of were justified. Am I reading you wrong?
There should be precisely zero arrests in Britain for "hate speech". The only things that need investigation are genuine threats to people or property. Not those complaining about foreign flags flying over our country.
Are you suggesting that political censorship is OK, as long as no one goes to jail?
I suggested no such thing, but I wanted some context for that remark. Not all speech ought to be protected (e.g. encouraging blowing up a mosque, targeting home and business addresses during a riot.)
We've gotten lost in the weeds.
This started with Katie's true statement that people in England have been arrested for FB posts. They are not all about violent overthrow.
Whilst I agree with the sentiment but are you really ok with the government deciding what websites you can visit?
The solution, in my mind, is teaching children and parents the real dangers of social media.
This is a substantial contribution towards reclaiming childhood, child development, and the future of our nation whose leaders will be broken adults, incapable of Contributing with generativity, since the evils stemming from social media exposure during these vulnerable years, prevent kids and teens from becoming the best version of themselves, turning their brains into survival mode, due to a destructive social learning impact of all that has been discussed in this article. Thank you Dr, Heidt and your team 🙏🏻
Regarding Tiktok, the simple solution is to ban it, as China does, as it provides no worthwhile function. https://pontifex.substack.com/p/tiktok-is-banned-in-china
So what are you advocating for? Something like the UK's Online Safety Act, which requires adults to identify themselves to the authorities by uploading ID, in order to use social media? If that's what you propose -- you need to say so explicitly, and acknowledge that it gives authoritarian governments powers the Stazi would have dreamed of.