I have three kids, 11,14 and 17. They live in an online world. It’s completely different to how it was 15 years ago. My oldest is talking with friends on discord every night while they play games. My middle child scrolls YouTube shorts and chats with friends on messenger. My youngest is on Roblox chatting with friends and strangers using the chat built into various games. As far as I can tell none of them will be affected by the legislation. But I will be if I want to keep using instagram or threads or whatever because I’ll need to prove somehow that I’m over 16 and incidentally lose my anonymity. Have I got that right ?
And add in the fact that misinformation, bullying and lying is only going increase on social media owned by oligarchs sensing a chance to rule the world using Trump as the front.
This was recently published and highlights how the poor quality of research regarding social media. As the article asserts, some games improve cognition and social media doesn't dumb us down.
Bullying and misinformation are genuine concerns. In fact I'd say they are actually huge concerns. Kids are killing themselves because of online bullying and people are more susceptible to conspiracies and lies than I ever thought possible back in the pre-internet days.
My view- (1) treat bullying as a criminal offence from about age 10. Rigorously punish bullies with zero tolerance. Take away their devices, put them in boot camps and jail the parents where necessary. Put the fear of God into them.
While this may blemish my lefty credentials, learn from UK’s ‘strictest’ headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh. I'm sorry but marshmallow-brained wokism is a disaster in schools and even more so in poorer communities with high rates of dysfunction.
(2) make critical thinking a core subject, as essential as maths, from primary school onwards. Teach kids about demagogues, con artists, populists, fads and cults.
(3) Send any kid who worships Andrew Tate straight to boot camp and fine the parents (I'm jesting with this one but only just).
On the alcohol and drug use: the seemingly global decline in use/abuse by young people is interesting, to say the least.
There is one hypothesis that links to social media use, which is that people are not as bored as they used to be. The plethora of on-demand entertainment options and the various attractions/addictions of games and social media etc., all delivered by high quality devices, means that people have a new problem of too many options for how to spend their time, rather than not enough.
Like some other things you’ve noted, this is a shared experience for all age groups. It might not affect some of the ingrained habits of older people (e.g. alcohol consumption), but everyone now faces potentially difficult choices about how best to spend their time.
I tend to think that the U16 social media ban is a good idea, but only if it’s placed in the context of an overall cultural and educational challenge for the whole population.
I have three kids, 11,14 and 17. They live in an online world. It’s completely different to how it was 15 years ago. My oldest is talking with friends on discord every night while they play games. My middle child scrolls YouTube shorts and chats with friends on messenger. My youngest is on Roblox chatting with friends and strangers using the chat built into various games. As far as I can tell none of them will be affected by the legislation. But I will be if I want to keep using instagram or threads or whatever because I’ll need to prove somehow that I’m over 16 and incidentally lose my anonymity. Have I got that right ?
As far as I know, that's correct, except that they can supposedly protect anonymity
I wonder how much this will reduce the Australian user base of the big social media sites.
One imagines there will be the usual data hack scandals, so in practice anonymity won't be guaranteed.
Yes it feels like one more click of the ratchet towards national id cards
And add in the fact that misinformation, bullying and lying is only going increase on social media owned by oligarchs sensing a chance to rule the world using Trump as the front.
This was recently published and highlights how the poor quality of research regarding social media. As the article asserts, some games improve cognition and social media doesn't dumb us down.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jan/29/all-in-the-mind-the-surprising-truth-about-brain-rot
Bullying and misinformation are genuine concerns. In fact I'd say they are actually huge concerns. Kids are killing themselves because of online bullying and people are more susceptible to conspiracies and lies than I ever thought possible back in the pre-internet days.
My view- (1) treat bullying as a criminal offence from about age 10. Rigorously punish bullies with zero tolerance. Take away their devices, put them in boot camps and jail the parents where necessary. Put the fear of God into them.
While this may blemish my lefty credentials, learn from UK’s ‘strictest’ headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh. I'm sorry but marshmallow-brained wokism is a disaster in schools and even more so in poorer communities with high rates of dysfunction.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/10/uks-strictest-headteacher-katharine-birbalsingh-made-social-mobility-chief
(2) make critical thinking a core subject, as essential as maths, from primary school onwards. Teach kids about demagogues, con artists, populists, fads and cults.
(3) Send any kid who worships Andrew Tate straight to boot camp and fine the parents (I'm jesting with this one but only just).
On the alcohol and drug use: the seemingly global decline in use/abuse by young people is interesting, to say the least.
There is one hypothesis that links to social media use, which is that people are not as bored as they used to be. The plethora of on-demand entertainment options and the various attractions/addictions of games and social media etc., all delivered by high quality devices, means that people have a new problem of too many options for how to spend their time, rather than not enough.
Like some other things you’ve noted, this is a shared experience for all age groups. It might not affect some of the ingrained habits of older people (e.g. alcohol consumption), but everyone now faces potentially difficult choices about how best to spend their time.
I tend to think that the U16 social media ban is a good idea, but only if it’s placed in the context of an overall cultural and educational challenge for the whole population.
That is a big positive possible Alaric, hopefully many will jump ship!