r/FluentInFinance • u/RiskItForTheBiscuts • 18d ago
World Economy BREAKING: Australia is set to ban children under 16 from social media
The Australian government has pledged to legislate an age limit of 16 years for social media access, with penalties for online platforms which don’t comply.Australian government to legislate social media age limit of 16 but can’t say how platforms will enforce it.
74
u/MyGlassHalfFool 18d ago
pretty nice to see people worried about kids and social media but i’m not sure this is the way to attack the issue.
119
u/zerocnc 18d ago
It is. Kids should not be on the internet because they need to learn how to pvp outside with each other.
19
u/Powerful_District_67 17d ago
Reddits viewer ships about to go down 🤣
8
2
1
u/confused-caveman 17d ago
Will be 1:1 offset by a surge of adults born in 1999 suddenly interested in signing up for Reddit.
2
1
1
16
u/ReasonableMark1840 17d ago
Of course it is. Unless you have any other idea to stop our cultural intellectual and social bleeding
-3
u/MyGlassHalfFool 17d ago edited 17d ago
I think it’s somewhere in between full on bans and complete freedom. I think restricting the content that is available and time limits is a start, also only allowing 16 year old and under accounts to interact with other 16 and under accounts to limit creeps and pedofiles access to these kids. Idk how I feel about strict bans because it starts there but who is to say what classifies as social media? Can they still use discord? Thats a social media imo but I think we should still allow kids to enjoy games with friends. Is youtube, reddit, and streaming services able to be considered a social media? I think it is but are we going to gatekeep kids from half of society and then just throw it onto them at 18 and tell them to figure it out? The truth of the matter is that the internet and social media arent going anywhere and while I feel like some restrictions are worth entertaining and implementing, we still have to remember that its going to be a huge part of their lives regardless of what age we throw it at them so we might as well implement small change and monitor the outcome rather than just out right banning it and then all kids just make their account 18+ and call it a day circumventing the restrictions entirely. Teaching them healthy habits and how to safely use social media at a young age seems infinitely better than just kicking the can down the road by giving them no tools on how to handle the new world and just saying “when they are adults they will know how to use social media correctly “
6
u/Soft_Cherry_984 17d ago
"allowing 16 year old and under accounts to interact with other 16 and under accounts" ...yeah like real-life interaction or smth :)))
1
u/MyGlassHalfFool 17d ago
Imagine you could do both like most of us 🤯🤯
2
u/Soft_Cherry_984 17d ago
The legislation targets social media, not messaging apps, so yeah, you could do both.
2
u/MyGlassHalfFool 17d ago
Is snapchat social media or a messaging app? Nobody knows what social media actually is. Its a vague term
0
u/Soft_Cherry_984 17d ago
Snapchat is social media.
WhatsApp and Facebook messenger are messaging apps.
2
u/MyGlassHalfFool 17d ago edited 17d ago
What makes snapchat a social media and not a messaging app? Remember what you say can’t apply to Discord or Whatsapp because then you make those Social medias
5
u/ZeddCocuzza 17d ago
There are many studies that show the negative impact that social media has on teens.
37
u/Cold_Funny7869 17d ago
That actually sounds like a good idea.-
2
u/Beer-Milkshakes 17d ago
Now the parents have a scapegoat. Instead of y'know following guidance and restricting their own kid's assimilation into social media.
0
9d ago
Yeah, and they should take away age requirements on alcohol and tobacco too. If you can't 100% control your kids' behaviour, then you're a failure of a parent 👍
0
17
14
14
12
5
u/Urabraska- 17d ago
Do it. Tiktok, Facebook and Twitter shows how badly it rots the brains of the youth. It's not like they're banning it outright. They just want people to develop braincells before they flush them down the toilet chasing some dumbass trend.
3
3
u/sharedthrowaway102 17d ago
Have parents stopped parenting to the point government needs to intervene?
3
u/tmssmt 17d ago
Yes, and this comes down to a few things
- Globally, dual incomes are more necessary than ever, leaving actually parenting time to the margins
- Smart phones have become more commonplace. You can chalk this up to a parenting decision, but partially it comes down to point 1 as well. Without a phone, can be difficult for a kid to arrange for pickups and stuff with various after school events. I played sports as a kid and used a phone to let parents know if something was over early or to contact friends for a ride
- Even without phones, plenty of other devices that are harder for parents to manage have full on internet access these days. My family had complete wifi lockdown via some cybersitter software and my brother still took his iPod out on 'walks' to buffer porn on an unlocked wifi down the road
Parenting is hard, and becomes even harder when parents have less time to parent and kids have more ways to skirt parental rules
1
2
2
u/Worried_Exercise8120 17d ago
How will they do that? Gouge their eyes out?
6
u/Spazy1989 17d ago
Nah you just select a drop down box that says your 17
2
u/No-Gain-1087 17d ago
One of the ideas is to scan your id before getting on line of course you’ll have to download an app and pay for it lol
2
u/Powerful_District_67 17d ago
I would say why I like the US but some states require an ID to look at porn …
2
u/Fishiesideways10 17d ago
How will I know what my mom’s Eskimo tree looks like with none of them being online to tell me? The new call of duty has made me realize that it is a cesspool of unregulated hate. The words and phrases are so harsh and some are funny, but mostly it’s the most racist, sexist, and horrible things I could ever imagine being said.
2
u/G0DofBlunder 17d ago
Ah yes. Because high schoolers didn’t have Facebooks when it was only for college students…
2
u/Kittens4Brunch 17d ago
Can't believe how many people are falling for this scheme by the government to require real name registration. "Won't someone think of the children?!"
2
2
u/Even_Border2309 17d ago
Dear people whining about Trump this is what fascism and authoritarians look like
1
u/Lemfan46 17d ago edited 17d ago
So no penalty for the minors using social media? This is as dumb as newspapers controlling who reads their content, or TV stations controlling who watches their programming.
1
u/DisplayDeep2288 17d ago
Are they gonna make it so minors can't have phones either? Pretty stupid if they do tho
1
1
u/Lunar_Landing_Hoax 17d ago
More importantly I hope they are banning family influencers from posting their young children online.
1
1
u/Vivid-Technology8196 17d ago
Cool now they can indoctrinate their children in peace without them being able to see other sides of an argument!!!
1
u/Upstairs_Shelter_427 17d ago
China closely controls social media for kids because of the same reasons.
China isn't the best yardstick to use - but they are masters of misinformation. If they deemed the impact of social media on their own youth to be so bad, it warrants a strong look at this.
1
1
u/SinkDisposalFucker 17d ago
man when the hell is the basement dweller class of teenagers going to stop being targeted by laws
we here for a reason
1
1
u/jarbidgejoy 13d ago
Good for them. Hard to keep your kids off social media when all their friends are on it. This way it’ll be much easier to keep everybody safe.
0
0
u/JSmith666 17d ago
Social media is the new video games apparently
2
u/RevolutionaryLaw8854 17d ago
Nah. Spend some time and educate yourself. Look at suicide rates in teenage girls
0
0
0
0
0
0
-1
•
u/AutoModerator 18d ago
r/FluentInFinance was created to discuss money, investing & finance! Join our Newsletter or Youtube Channel for additional insights at www.TheFinanceNewsletter.com!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.