Over_ed said:

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TXAggie4Christ said:

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Or parents could actually set some boundaries and guardrails.

I agree on less social media for all ages but less big government is the best government.

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But they won't. I HATE this. Adults giving up freedom because parents will not parent. But, many kids spend 8+ hours per day on social media. Of course they are more screwed up.

Don't see any real alternatives than to pass laws that will help. Will not come close to fixing it though.

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"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

Yeah...no.

zooguy96 said:

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Yes in theory, but parents could just do their jobs……

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Exactly. I home school my kids and don't give them access to the internet or cable. I also screen the social media of everyone they might talk to.

I know. We are in agreement. Scourge on society.

Spotted Ag said:

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Oh yeah, just what we need. The govt telling more of us what we can and can't do. No thanks.

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No constitutional right to your TikTok account for a child.

Elected representatives would be making that decision

It's not government tyranny

It is rare that I would say this, but we should copy Australia's effort. We already restrict other items due to kids not being old enough (tobacco, drivers license, etc), this would be a similar effort.

StandUpforAmerica said:

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It is rare that I would say this, but we should copy Australia's effort. We already restrict other items due to kids not being old enough (tobacco, drivers license, etc), this would be a similar effort.

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but but but... that would make our billionaires like Zuck and Elon worth only a 10s of billions instead of 100s of billions. Not fair since we are capitalistic and free markets and we love corporations and hate regulations and all that....

Why does America hate rich people????? They deserve their success. They worked long and hard for it. Even at the cost of our kids.

I demand that Social media must be made mandatory to all kids from kindergarten itself. All newborns must be outfitted with one of Zuck's metaverse googles which they won't be able to remove.

Isn't little Stevie cute?


Aahhh now we are truly conservativey and free-markety.

CEO Bonuses Matter!

Kenneth_2003 said:

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infinity ag said:

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ha ha

What I did almost 10 years ago, everyone is following now.

I did not buy my kids cellphones until freshman year of High School. And during their freshman year, they only had flip-phones, so no "smart phones" so no stupid apps.

My kids were the only ones in the entire high school with flip phones. I explained to them clearly and repeatedly that they were NOT being punished, they were being protected. They both did not argue or fight back, to their credit. My daughter (sr in HS) now thanks me and says all her friends are addicted to making TikTok videos and posting spicy coquettish thirst-trap photos on Instagram but she doesn't have time or interest in doing that.

I even got some judgy comments from some parents that I was "depriving" my kids. Now their kids spend days and nights on TikTok. I even posted about that here many times over the years. Some parents even hinted that I was not wealthy enough to buy them phones. ha...Sure.

As they get older and more mature, they can take their own decisions on this. Usually it will be the right one, I hope it will be. When they are young, they have no capacity to judge right from wrong, so I take decisions for them.

Do the right thing. Protect your kids. Don't let some greedy CEO get rich at the expense of your kids.

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I haven't dealt with it personally... So...

But I've seen numerous articles/reports where over parents are interviewed anonymously they about they don't want their kids having smart phones and social media etc. It's only per pressure from the perception of how they think the other parents feel.
So they publicly and I'm the group all give their kids these things that the ALL privately agree the kids shouldn't have, but to a person they're too clearly to admit publicly what they all privately want.

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Peer pressure, meer pressure.
Time to man up and woman up. And parent up.

Do the right thing for your kids. Don't care what people say. The real problem is most parents want to be cool and be "friends". I've openly said in gatherings of friends when the topic came up that I spanked my kids when they were little to discipline them. I also did not let them have phones until high school and only a FP in 9th grade. I also even today have banned my HS senior daughter from posting anything on instagram and Tiktok. I enjoy the expressions of shock on my friends' faces. Esp the guys who are all trying to show how the are cool dads and here I am, a proud uncool one!

What's the "other MSM" that is the enemy of the state, in your signature?

This shouldn't be a gov decision, this should be enacted by the social media companies….but we all know they don't give a **** about the wellbeing of kids.

TefIon Don said:

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This shouldn't be a gov decision, this should be enacted by the social media companies….but we all know they don't give a **** about the wellbeing of kids.

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I would take it a step beyond that. Some are no better than old school tobacco companies who want your kids addicted to their product.

I'm in Texas and already have that policy in my house.

Enforcement is something I worry about with this. Does it go after the kids, their parents, or the companies?

Then there's the real world implementation of it. Age restrictions for websites like Coors or Smirnoff require little more than to fake a birthday and your in. For something actually effective, you're starting to talk about personal login ID's for access to the internet. Slippery slope there.

Curious how Australians in general view this new law.

The only opinions we could likely find are from people on social media, and we all know that's not representative of real world opinions.

Australia Bans Social Media Those Down Under 16

fify

BigRobSA said:

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Or.....just parent your children and quit wanting govt to do it for you.


Big govt liberalism is so stupid.

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Parenting your children gets in the way of PS5 time and screen time.

As usual, the Bee gets it.

https://babylonbee.com/news/13-things-safer-to-give-your-kids-than-a-smartphone

I like the idea in principle but don't like government mandating it. Raise your kids away from social media. If you let your child have access to social media before their 16 you've massively failed as a parent.

zooguy96 said:

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Sims said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Yes in theory, but parents could just do their jobs……

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I agree, generally, in both directions.

My own experience has hit/miss success. We coach the kids constantly on what to look out for, what to avoid, what they need to tell us about immediately, etc.

I have parental controls that are quite strict on our home internet. From time to time, I find different apps, websites or avenues that slip past and I have to additionally block those.

Our kids don't have phones.

But other kids do...and our kids know other kids. There's almost no scenario where the kids aren't exposed to this stuff. It seems to me the best I'm going to do is coach/guide them in such a way that assumes they'll be exposed to the worst stuff out there and then just have the tools, temperment, knowledge and resources to deal with it.

Sometimes I wish it weren't that way but I guess that's how we build resilient kids.

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Well, yes, kids can know other kids. Our parents made sure we only hung out with the right kids. If our friends weren't the right kind of kids to hang out with, we didn't hang out with them outside of school. We didn't have licenses until we were 17 and didn't have cars of our own until we could pay for them ourselves. Everything we had was a privilege, because we were still kids.

Too many kids have too much "stuff" these days which don't make them better people. Too many parents don't parent. I was in the classroom for 10 years, and now work with college students. It's not any different. Just getting worse.

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This seems a bit extreme on the no license till 17. Were you home schooled too? I'm not overly opposed to homeschooling, but there is something to be said about growing up/learning life lessons with your peers.

Had to work with a kid that was homeschooled and no license until 18. He has zero social awareness and just tough to interact with in general. "Nice guy" and all but just no.

WestHoustonAg79 said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Sims said:

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zooguy96 said:

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Yes in theory, but parents could just do their jobs……

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I agree, generally, in both directions.

My own experience has hit/miss success. We coach the kids constantly on what to look out for, what to avoid, what they need to tell us about immediately, etc.

I have parental controls that are quite strict on our home internet. From time to time, I find different apps, websites or avenues that slip past and I have to additionally block those.

Our kids don't have phones.

But other kids do...and our kids know other kids. There's almost no scenario where the kids aren't exposed to this stuff. It seems to me the best I'm going to do is coach/guide them in such a way that assumes they'll be exposed to the worst stuff out there and then just have the tools, temperment, knowledge and resources to deal with it.

Sometimes I wish it weren't that way but I guess that's how we build resilient kids.

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Well, yes, kids can know other kids. Our parents made sure we only hung out with the right kids. If our friends weren't the right kind of kids to hang out with, we didn't hang out with them outside of school. We didn't have licenses until we were 17 and didn't have cars of our own until we could pay for them ourselves. Everything we had was a privilege, because we were still kids.

Too many kids have too much "stuff" these days which don't make them better people. Too many parents don't parent. I was in the classroom for 10 years, and now work with college students. It's not any different. Just getting worse.

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This seems a bit extreme on the no license till 17. Were you home schooled too? I'm not overly opposed to homeschooling, but there is something to be said about growing up/learning life lessons with your peers.

Had to work with a kid that was homeschooled and no license until 18. He has zero social awareness and just tough to interact with in general. "Nice guy" and all but just no.

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Was not home schooled. Just had a dad who was Asian and looked like Mr. Miyagi (he was like mean Mr. Miyagi).

Enough said.