Canada’s Bill C-63 (Online Harms Act) effectively ignores the "collective action trap" mentioned here. The legislation focuses on "age-appropriate design" rather than a hard age floor, which leaves parents negotiating with their kids about consent. A clean 16+ standard would give the incoming Digital Safety Commission a single, enforceable metric rather than asking them to police vague "risk mitigation" strategies.
If we can decide a 15-year old shouldn’t drive or drink alcohol, we certainly can collectively decide they shouldn’t use social media. I don’t see a slippery slope here - this is one of the very few rules people are talking about legislating.
Very good point about laws for driving or buying alcohol. The key imo is responsible adults because kids still seem to find a way to get their hands on alcohol under the drinking age. Account creation seems to be a good place to start as it prevents an account versus access. I do worry that companies will then make their apps able to be used without an account to still get eyeballs. The age verification challenge will show up here for sure!
1. I don't like the state making such decisions for parents.
2. It should give one pause that governments attacking Free Speech, as in Australia and the UK, are going this route. I do not trust this direction at all.
I liked your work on The Coddling of the American Mind. This 16+ internet work seems very...coddling. Could you not swap out internet access for "when Timmy's immune system can handle play in the dirty dirty sandbox"?
I'll admit I have not followed every one of your articles on this so I could be missing something. Did you and your team control for parenting approach or culture? I'm still not convinced the explaination is internet access. We have seen parental responsibility and power erode (at least in the US) since the 80s. We have seen general adult behavior and responsibility decline with more entitlement and cult like groupthink over the same time period.
I'm sure the internet, like all technology, has amplified this but I don't think its the root cause. I also don't think we should rush to give authoritarian gov'ts another avenue to mettle in our lives.
I agree with this whole heartedly. As a younger millennial or older gen z (born 1995) there was no guard rails when phones and social medias came out. Some parents guided the process but I don’t think anyone really understood the affect it had on brain development.
I appreciate now that we’re pulling back a bit and are thinking about the repercussions.
A trans person with significant disabilities told me that these policies will disproportionately disadvantage people like them. I couldn't disagree more and hope that the well-intentioned activists don't win this one
Your points all make a lot of sense to me. I found this substack post from an Australian parent and teacher to be very illuminating as to what it actually feels like to enforce Australia's ban!
It seems that humans might need some lessons on puberty and what is happening in the maturing process? This seems to spill over into a bunch of areas. It also seems that people forget that these young people are children. If I remember correctly, if was difficult enough to go through puberty without all of this added stimuli...
Puberty should be the transition from childlike conscience to a mature and healthy conscience needed for adult sexual, religious, family, academic, recreational, and economic choices. An age restriction on social media (perhaps 16 or 17) is arbitrary but would be reasonable if alternative academic qualifications would allow earlier access with a test or course completion and parental permission. I suspect that something like Catholic Conformation would be a sufficient sign of maturity. Completion of two years of High School might also suffice. It is too late to undue artificial intelligence that will be a supplement to a well-informed conscience in all areas of life. Young children need access to AI to learn and improve lessons that form the mature conscience necessary to recognize the harm and benefits of social media. Perhaps most important in good policy should be to incentivize responsible use of the internet. A Drivers Education course often enables teens to obtain a license a year before those who don't pass the safety course. The same idea can be used for expanded internet access.
This is so eminently sensible.
Once seen, a disturbing memory can never be erased x
Canada’s Bill C-63 (Online Harms Act) effectively ignores the "collective action trap" mentioned here. The legislation focuses on "age-appropriate design" rather than a hard age floor, which leaves parents negotiating with their kids about consent. A clean 16+ standard would give the incoming Digital Safety Commission a single, enforceable metric rather than asking them to police vague "risk mitigation" strategies.
Amen. Canada's approach provides way too much wiggle room via purely subjective standards.
If we can decide a 15-year old shouldn’t drive or drink alcohol, we certainly can collectively decide they shouldn’t use social media. I don’t see a slippery slope here - this is one of the very few rules people are talking about legislating.
Very good point about laws for driving or buying alcohol. The key imo is responsible adults because kids still seem to find a way to get their hands on alcohol under the drinking age. Account creation seems to be a good place to start as it prevents an account versus access. I do worry that companies will then make their apps able to be used without an account to still get eyeballs. The age verification challenge will show up here for sure!
1. I don't like the state making such decisions for parents.
2. It should give one pause that governments attacking Free Speech, as in Australia and the UK, are going this route. I do not trust this direction at all.
I'm worried its another safety first effort that can only be implemented with more centralized power and regulation.
I liked your work on The Coddling of the American Mind. This 16+ internet work seems very...coddling. Could you not swap out internet access for "when Timmy's immune system can handle play in the dirty dirty sandbox"?
I'll admit I have not followed every one of your articles on this so I could be missing something. Did you and your team control for parenting approach or culture? I'm still not convinced the explaination is internet access. We have seen parental responsibility and power erode (at least in the US) since the 80s. We have seen general adult behavior and responsibility decline with more entitlement and cult like groupthink over the same time period.
I'm sure the internet, like all technology, has amplified this but I don't think its the root cause. I also don't think we should rush to give authoritarian gov'ts another avenue to mettle in our lives.
I agree with this whole heartedly. As a younger millennial or older gen z (born 1995) there was no guard rails when phones and social medias came out. Some parents guided the process but I don’t think anyone really understood the affect it had on brain development.
I appreciate now that we’re pulling back a bit and are thinking about the repercussions.
Keep the work up to Haidt and crew!
A trans person with significant disabilities told me that these policies will disproportionately disadvantage people like them. I couldn't disagree more and hope that the well-intentioned activists don't win this one
Your points all make a lot of sense to me. I found this substack post from an Australian parent and teacher to be very illuminating as to what it actually feels like to enforce Australia's ban!
https://improvingwellbeing.substack.com/p/the-social-media-ban
It seems that humans might need some lessons on puberty and what is happening in the maturing process? This seems to spill over into a bunch of areas. It also seems that people forget that these young people are children. If I remember correctly, if was difficult enough to go through puberty without all of this added stimuli...
https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/ntu.5.2.4
Simplicity = eloquent solution and change Thanks for your work
Thank you for your diligent work and dedication to protecting children and puberty.
Please consider connecting with others who also want to protect puberty in other ways. https://protectingpuberty.com
Please continue your noble efforts to protect our kids. It is much appreciated.
Follow Australia’s lead!
Puberty should be the transition from childlike conscience to a mature and healthy conscience needed for adult sexual, religious, family, academic, recreational, and economic choices. An age restriction on social media (perhaps 16 or 17) is arbitrary but would be reasonable if alternative academic qualifications would allow earlier access with a test or course completion and parental permission. I suspect that something like Catholic Conformation would be a sufficient sign of maturity. Completion of two years of High School might also suffice. It is too late to undue artificial intelligence that will be a supplement to a well-informed conscience in all areas of life. Young children need access to AI to learn and improve lessons that form the mature conscience necessary to recognize the harm and benefits of social media. Perhaps most important in good policy should be to incentivize responsible use of the internet. A Drivers Education course often enables teens to obtain a license a year before those who don't pass the safety course. The same idea can be used for expanded internet access.