Denmark Aims To Ban Social Media For Children Under 15, PM Says (politico.eu)
- Reference: 0179695596
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/07/1728206/denmark-aims-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-15-pm-says
- Source link: https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-mette-frederiksen-partially-ban-social-media-children-under-15/
> "Mobile phones and social media are stealing our children's childhood," she said in her opening speech to the Danish parliament, the Folketing. "We have unleashed a monster," Frederiksen said, noting that almost all Danish seventh graders, where pupils are typically 13 or 14 years old, own a cellphone.
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> "I hope that you here in the chamber will help tighten the law so that we take better care of our children here in Denmark," she added. However, Frederiksen did not give further details on what such a ban would entail, nor does a bill on an age limit appear in the government's legislative program for the upcoming parliamentary year.
[1] https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-mette-frederiksen-partially-ban-social-media-children-under-15/
Good luck! (Score:2)
Even parents who *want* to keep their kids off social media, struggle to do so. Many parents actively *do* want their kids to have access.
It's going to be kind of like enforcing laws that require you to come to a full stop at a stop sign. Pretty much everybody fails to properly stop, despite the law.
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> Even parents who *want* to keep their kids off social media, struggle to do so.
Of course, because the parents who really oppose social media to that point are very few and they find it impossible to fight against the majority. If you reverse the default, which is no kid has access by default, now it's the few parents who are extreme supporters of social media who will have to find solutions.
Enforcing will be by age verification tied either to the mobile OS or the social media platform. The rebel minds will be able to bypass, they could be a significant fraction but not an overwhelming
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Why wouldn't they be an overwhelming majority? Everyone in my class knew how to access banned sites within a day of me beating the latest filter, which was usually within 20 minutes of me finding /. was blocked again . And that was on school owned computers. Personal devices? Forget it.
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And yet the stop signs still keep traffic orderly.
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You have been fined for running that red light by a camera operated by "not a government" tech company on behalf of said government, with only money flowing to the city and very low oversight. Because it is AI.
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Now explain to me what your post has to do with my own.
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Stops Signs are red. Stop Lights are red. Cameras generate revenue. Unfortunately the hidden cost of red light cameras are that there are MORE problems and aren't "orderly".
I did a very shitty job in my post. And for that I'm sorry.
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So it has nothing to do with what I was saying outside of the random mental associations you made while reading it?
Sucks for nerds (Score:3)
I don't know how it is in Denmark but in America being a nerd sucks. We still actively encourage bullying claiming it builds character. The adults have mostly stopped because of all the mass shootings but they still turn a blind eye to the kids.
A lot of the younger nerds I know got out of their shell and learned to socialize and find friends using Facebook and the like. It's not all just Doom scrolling and thinly disguised Russian propaganda targeted at Americans. You can use it to find other hobbyists to hang out with. That's especially important in modern cities and suburbs where the transportation system tends to isolate people.
I'm not saying the parents should not monitor their kids social media use. There's a lot of pedophiles out there. On the other hand about 2/3 of them seem to be pastors so there is that..
But I am saying that there's a difference between doom scrolling and actual social media. As in systems and websites designed to hook you up with groups of like-minded people who are accepting and willing to socialize with you when other people are not.
As usual though society at large doesn't particularly care for actual nerds. Like that goofy old nerd PSA you can still find on YouTube.
And of course nobody can have nuance. Which I hate to say it but I can sympathize with because human beings are terrible at nuance and iterative solutions.
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"Society" doesn't care about anyone in particular, only in perhaps ... maybe .. possibly .. in the most generic sense there is. But that is debatable because we'll just run the playbook of ________(Insert Sob Story Here).
Society isn't care about anyone, and anyone trying to pretend it does, or even should, is selling you something worthless. It is literally impossible for everyone to care about everyone else equally. That is why we have families, tribes, communities and the like. Lets tear those apart and s
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I disagree. Society cares deeply about rich people and pretty people.
When I talk about society at large caring about people I'm not talking about individuals I'm talking about public policy and the systems we interact with.
Notice how you immediately think about individuals. That is learned behavior on your part. You have been trained not to think in terms of society as a system that produces outcomes but instead of a collection of individuals doing random things.
That is to prevent you from organ
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In his book, "The Inmates are Running the Asylum", Alan Cooper describes how nerds in high school don't learn the social graces that others do. Others do things in high school and are "taught" the error of their ways - maybe they duke it out behind the school, they dis someone and here in Oakland they're shot, whatever - the point being that nerds didn't get that social learning that helped others learn how to not be dicks to everyone else. Then the nerds grew up and (in Cooper's book) build UIs that SUCK b
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I'm not sure I buy that. The people who are doing this to us, Bill gates, Elon musk, Jeff bezos and a handful of others aren't random nerds they were already fabulously wealthy or at least extremely well off. They were never Cool tech nerds they were well connected and well to do assholes. Jeff bezos is probably the lowest of them and he got 350k from his parents. I got bad cooking and drunken lectures from mine.
It's like the old joke why don't you start a business in your garage, answer I don't have a
How dare they... (Score:1)
...Dane meddle.
no socials under 15. (Score:2)
SO at 15 your not smart enough to handle social medial but at 16 you can buy and drink beer? The problem with these bans is how to you ID check everyone. Your going to force all citizens to provide ID to allow them to access these social media sites. This is not going to go over well with people. HEADLINES: VPN use increases in Denmark... The article calls out "several social media platform" which ones, what about the thousands of other ones, Define social media? Pretty much any site with a chat func
How to define "Social Media"? (Score:3)
Facebook is Social Media..
Instagram is Social Media.
TikTok is Social Media.
What about YouTube?
Reddit?
Slashdot?
Forums running on PhpBB?
Where do you draw the line?
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I have this same problem on the ESTA visa waiver form when visiting US and they ask about social media accounts.
Not that I plan to return until at least 3,5 years have passed.
People Under Death (Score:3)
IMO, frequently social media is incredibly toxic. I quit Facebook years ago and haven't missed it. Yes, I do know that /. is social media, but it doesn't ping you every time you receive a new message and doesn't game you into replying to controversial threads.
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Interesting. I find myself 'torn' in my opinion about this. I remember back in the day when people said TV was bad, then video games, and now social media. I had a rare experience where I met to people whose parents did not let them watch tv, or play video games, and they seemed very naive, but in a good way. Innocents has its charm. I think that social media could be good for kids, but I think it is toxic now. Off the top of my head I think a heavily moderated forum for kids localized in their s
Taking bets (Score:2)
What are the odds on: "Oh, the UK did the Online Safety Act, we'll just copy that!"
Punish Him (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless you're penalizing the CONSUMER, this has zero chance of having any real effect.
"There ought to be a law" - Every Karen Ever
I was thinking the other day... (Score:2)
If a parent gives their child alcohol, the parent is punished. If a parent buys their child a gun and the child commits crimes, in many jurisdictions, including gun-loving red states, the parents are criminally liable. Why is social media any different? If the parent allows the child to have a social media account, and gives them a mobile device that gives unsupervised access to social media, how is that not the legal responsibility of the parent?
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I was speaking along these lines. Not the Social Media sites themselves.
But it doesn't matter, because "there ought to be a law" rules people these days.