Like Australia, Denmark Plans to Severely Restrict Social Media Use for Teenagers (apnews.com)
- Reference: 0180386043
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/15/0120247/like-australia-denmark-plans-to-severely-restrict-social-media-use-for-teenagers
- Source link: https://apnews.com/article/denmark-social-media-ban-australia-1e96a3df3276cc2033a6f04effb89f51
> The Danish government [3]announced last month that it had secured an agreement by three governing coalition and two opposition parties in parliament to ban access to social media for anyone under the age of 15. Such a measure would be the most sweeping step yet by a European Union nation to limit use of social media among teens and children.
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> The Danish government's plans could become law as soon as mid-2026. The proposed measure would give some parents the right to let their children access social media from age 13, local media reported, but the ministry has not yet fully shared the plans... [A] new "digital evidence" app, announced by the Digital Affairs Ministry last month and expected to launch next spring, will likely form the backbone of the Danish plans. The app will display an age certificate to ensure users comply with social media age limits, the ministry said.
The article also notes Malaysia "is [4]expected to ban social media accounts for people under the age of 16 starting at the beginning of next year, and Norway is also taking steps to restrict social media access for children and teens.
"China — which manufacturers many of the world's digital devices — has set [5]limits on online gaming time and [6]smartphone time for kids ."
[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/12/09/2112230/millions-of-australian-teens-lose-access-to-social-media-as-ban-takes-effect
[2] https://apnews.com/article/denmark-social-media-ban-australia-1e96a3df3276cc2033a6f04effb89f51
[3] https://apnews.com/article/denmark-social-media-ban-children-7862d2a8cc590b4969c8931a01adc7f4
[4] https://apnews.com/article/malaysia-social-media-ban-under-16-1e9e20321c8c83c470ff7489139f10b8
[5] https://apnews.com/article/gaming-business-children-00db669defcc8e0ca1fc2dc54120a0b8
[6] https://apnews.com/article/china-internet-restrictions-children-smartphone-limits-8435b530b117b70357856ddf6a5968d1
And then there are dog pictures (Score:2)
Like some Australian teens are now successfully (!) using to sign up to social media.
Lets face it, you cannot keep kids out of any mainstream social activity humans do. As soon as they are interested, they will find a way in. Trying to prevent them will only cause harm and have zero benefits.
Re: (Score:2)
You are correct.
Which is why the business model used today by social media should be banned for everyone. Any social media business model that depends on so-called engagement to drive revenue is toxic.
A social media business should only be permitted to operate if (1) it does not fund itself through advertising, but instead charges clients subscription fees. Facebook's worldwide annual revenue per user is about $3.50/month, which is a reasonable subscription fee.
(2) the social media platform must not
Re: (Score:2)
Bans don't tend to solve these types of problems. They don't reduce demand, but they create a black market on top of the original perceived problem. It can also be argued, in the case of teenagers, telling them they can't do something will only increase (or create) a demand that might not have been there to begin with.
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> Trying to prevent them will only cause harm and have zero benefits.
So you reckon don't even try to stop harm? Let them buy cigarettes and booze because you can never stop it completely?
That makes no sense. Can you elaborate?
If nothing else, it sends a message to kids that this stuff is toxic. Some don't care, but plenty of kids will take the warnings.
Of course it helps if the parents stay off that scrolling shit too.
This is how democracy dies (Score:2, Flamebait)
With thunderous applause from parents refusing to raise their children. Papers, citizen! The government needs to ensure your legally allowed to venture away from your parents idiocy. (And towards anything the government disapproves of.)
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Damn it...
s/your/you\'re/g
s/parents idiocy/parent\'s idiocy/g
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Right. Because without kids damaging their mental health on social media, democracy dies. Sure.
Re: (Score:2)
> "Right. Because without kids damaging their mental health on social media, democracy dies. Sure."
They are, indeed, damaging their mental health, for sure. Which is why kids should not have ANY unsupervised access to unrestricted, internet-connected DEVICES. That is where the focus should be, not on ruining the whole internet for everyone.
But "democracy dies" has nothing to do with it, that is just the buzz word of the last few years.
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You trust the public schools to raise your children. Why don't you home school your own kids? Also most parents aren't tech savvy and they always lose the cat and mouse game of internet access control
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> "Also most parents aren't tech savvy and they always lose the cat and mouse game of internet access control"
Agreed. So no device = no game. Easy. There needs to be a new social norm that it is NOT OK to give these devices to kids or give them unsupervised access.
If you can't correctly restrict the devices, then they shouldn't have access to them. But we need to do better at getting effective tools to parents and stop trying to police the internet. There are millions of sites that children should no
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You're probably one of these types who thinks that most of the EU is an authoritarian hellhole, and that the US ranks way at the top in most world freedom indices.
(Narrator: [1]it does not [wikipedia.org].)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_freedom_indices
Re: (Score:1)
> [...] at least they haven't been buying billions in Russian fossil fuels like the E.U.
Whataboutism much? But you're right. Then again, the US is still buying billions worth of enriched uranium, strategic metals and fertilizer from Russia.
And as far as the oil goes: buying refined products from India or Turkey just provides a tiny fig leaf to let the US pretend that it's not buying Siberian crude in the end.
democracy in action, from a consensus government (Score:2, Informative)
While concerns about democratic principles and government intervention are valid and warrant ongoing scrutiny, this policy can be viewed as a measure that reinforces parental responsibility rather than undermining it. Many parents have expressed difficulty in managing their children's exposure to social media's potential harms, including addictive algorithms and inappropriate content.
By establishing a minimum age of 16 (as implemented in Australia, with similar proposals in Denmark), the legislation
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> "this policy can be viewed as a measure that reinforces parental responsibility rather than undermining it."
No, it absolves parents of further responsibility and gives them even MORE excuses to not take the devices away or give them in the first place.
> "Many parents have expressed difficulty in managing their children's exposure to social media's potential harms, including addictive algorithms and inappropriate content."
Utter nonsense. The difficulty they are expressing is of their own making by GIV
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Why is it so important to you for other people's children to be available on the internet?
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Leaving the groomers aside, there are probably more than a few people here involved in building digital products for kids. And one of the most important features of those products is leveraging peer pressure to create demand among its community of users (kids).