I think the UK government’s ban on social media for under-16s is a good thing.
In writing.
However, there’s more to this as I think more about it.
I had a back and forth on Mastodon on my alt account which made me have a bit more of a think.
I still think it’s a good thing — I made the comment of it needing to be treated like any other “class a drug”. Possibly an over the top comparison, but I truly do believe that algorythmic social media is largely a terrible thing that is harmful to people — especially children.
On balance, more harm than good.
But when it comes to enforcing the age-restricted ban, ofcourse the way it’ll happen is by having to prove age — and identity — online.
Submitting ID to use online services is fucking dreadful too, so I just don’t know what to think.
Ofcourse kids will get around this with VPNs –free, insecure ones, of course.
Which in turn could then lead to a ban / ID restrictions on VPNs. This too is nightmare fuel.
In the ideal world, and a method I will be using with my own, is to just parent children to the best of my ability; to be active in their lives; to not dismiss any little worries they have as “not that important in the grand scheme of things”; and to be as aware as I can be of what they are going through.
My kids have never been given a phone or tablet to play with to “keep them quiet” — and I don’t intend to ever do that.
I dunno, this is a bit of a “thinking out loud” exercise for me and I’ll probably edit it later on.
But my point stands.