Mastodawn

The social media ban for under 16s is interesting as it feels like a low-stakes admission from government that social media use can be highly problematic.

The reasons for this are in the design of the platforms, and I would argue that it's probably not the under-16s who are most at risk from its most pernicious harms.

I don't think many under-16s were rioting in Southampton and Belfast over the last couple of weeks. That unrest was almost entirely social media-generated. #socialmedia

@martwritesstuff @noodlemaz It is, however, the wrong answer to the wrong question. It shouldn't be "how should our youths be regulated", it should be "how should corporations that exploit our youths be regulated".

Noodlemaz Jun 15

@cstross @martwritesstuff exactly that.

Sven Rudloff Jun 15

@cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz Not only that. Any such age restriction will end in *everyone* needing to prove their age, so it’s another surveillance hit and against, e.g., anonymity in the digital world. Plus, once this age verification is the base case, the platform owners will stop all other (costly) measures to make their platforms safe, as now there cannot be any minors on them by law, and users / parents are the ones carrying the legal burden.

Richard Quinn Jun 15

@svenrudloff @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz

Came across this a few days ago :)

https://graphics.social/@metin/116732565201091211

@cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz I'm still stuck on "This is toxic for all humans so we're going to ban giving it to children" as the supposed answer.

If somebody is distributing poison to people, it seems like stopping the poison is the answer.

Fish Id Wardrobe ⁂Jun 15

@gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz
"the cars keep running over children on this road — so we're going to ban children on this road."

Hubert Figuière Jun 15

@gooba42 @martwritesstuff @cstross @noodlemaz @fishidwardrobe that’s basically any urban planning right now.

@hub @gooba42 @martwritesstuff @cstross @noodlemaz @fishidwardrobe for the last few decades in North America

@fishidwardrobe @gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz

"the cars keep running over people on this road — so we're going to ban children on this road."

@gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz I don't have numbers but "this is toxic for everyone so we'll ban it for kids" seems to have worked pretty well for alcohol and cigarettes, which are said to be much less popular with the younger generation now than they were a few decades ago.

Perhaps there should be a ban on using Facebook indoors and make everyone go to the outdoor scrolling area

Pete / Syllopsium Jun 15

@gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz Not really. There are positive aspects to social media, to go with the negative ones.

Also, there are very obvious parallels with alcohol and other drugs.

@syllopsium @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz Mainstream social media is going to have to do a lot better than vague "it has positive aspects" after being the willing vehicle for various massacres, MAGAt and Brexit propaganda campaigns.

WellsiteGeo Jun 15

@gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz
But ... but ... poison is PROFITABLE!

Nate Cox 6d ago

@gooba42 @cstross @martwritesstuff @noodlemaz I feel like more meaningful action, if we're going to ban something, would be banning infinite scrolling for everyone.

Lots of studies out back when I did UX work indicating that infinite scrolling is an attention trap, we just aren't willing usually to click past a second or third page.

@noodlemaz @cstross @martwritesstuff @nate @gooba42 or limit the data they can@keep to that which users explicitly provide…. Heck ban the algorithm entirely.