While I largely agree the law is a good idea and should be replicated here in the U.S., leaving Discord and Pinterest alone seems like an inevitable future problem as they likely shift their strategies to being more social-media like to gain market share among teens wanting a replacement (let alone other companies shifting their strategies). This means the law would need to be updated, as laws sometimes do, but it points to why this, as with laws in general, only generally work well when the populace is buying into the argument. More than kids, adults need to be provided greater media savvy skills, and, more helpful, a fundamental shift towards anti-fragility practices needs to be implemented in families, schools, and society at large.
I was thinking the same (about Discord and Pinterest). As an awkward upside, at least since there are only the two spaces left, it will be easier to track what happens on those platforms going forward so we can all learn from it. And of course if some new product and market gets created… Hoping there are safeguards to stop that from happening. We all know how rapidly TikTok rolled out.
I'm not sure what safeguards could even be created. Social media isn't going away and there can be some good, when properly used, but that all just goes back to laws are the start of or a needed variable for change to occur. Teaching kids (and adults) that not every thought/emotion they have must be taken seriously is another piece. Things like TikTok prey on the lack of self-critical reflection.
Also hate to even add this but... I just saw a post on Insta (story covered by @abcnews_au) showing a bunch of teens girls saying they were "really worried about the ban and then the day came and it was anticlimactic as nothing really changed and its easy to get around". Hoping the overall shift will still make a difference despite stories like that. Time will tell. Regardless, I appreciate Australia making an attempt at this. We need it!
I do find it rather interesting how you chose to use America's 21 drinking age as a comparison. The best studies on the matter (Miron and Tetelbaum 2009, Asch and Levy 1987 and 1990, Dee and Evans 2001, Males 1986 and 2007, and Dirscherl 2011, among others) have found that the supposed net lifesaving effect of those illiberal laws was essentially a mirage in the long run, and/or that it had at most a minor impact on teen drinking in the long run as well. Also note that several other countries, such as Canada, have also seen similar drops in teen drinking and drunk driving deaths despite NOT raising the drinking age to 21.
It seems that all the 21 drinking age really does is force drinking underground and make it far more dangerous than it has to be. We ignore this timeless lesson at our own peril.
To paraphrase a wise man, the first three years of legal adulthood and citizenship should NOT be a lesson in hypocrisy and lawbreaking.
Let America be America again, and lower the drinking age to 18. If you're old enough to go to war, you're old enough to go to the bar. 'Nuff said.
This ban is both over-and under-inclusive, and will do far more harm than good. It will just create a privacy and cybersecurity nightmare for everyone. Kafka, meet trap. Pandora, meet box. Albatross, meet neck.
Baby, meet bathwater.
What they really need to do is do a safety recall and QUARANTINE these platforms completely until they can be made safer for all ages. We need to have better guardrails and default settings for everyone, nix the personalized algorithmic feeds, and we need comprehensive data privacy legislation that would, at a minimum, ban surveillance advertising and dark patterns. But mandatory age verification and censorship will do more harm than good.
While I largely agree the law is a good idea and should be replicated here in the U.S., leaving Discord and Pinterest alone seems like an inevitable future problem as they likely shift their strategies to being more social-media like to gain market share among teens wanting a replacement (let alone other companies shifting their strategies). This means the law would need to be updated, as laws sometimes do, but it points to why this, as with laws in general, only generally work well when the populace is buying into the argument. More than kids, adults need to be provided greater media savvy skills, and, more helpful, a fundamental shift towards anti-fragility practices needs to be implemented in families, schools, and society at large.
I was thinking the same (about Discord and Pinterest). As an awkward upside, at least since there are only the two spaces left, it will be easier to track what happens on those platforms going forward so we can all learn from it. And of course if some new product and market gets created… Hoping there are safeguards to stop that from happening. We all know how rapidly TikTok rolled out.
I'm not sure what safeguards could even be created. Social media isn't going away and there can be some good, when properly used, but that all just goes back to laws are the start of or a needed variable for change to occur. Teaching kids (and adults) that not every thought/emotion they have must be taken seriously is another piece. Things like TikTok prey on the lack of self-critical reflection.
Also hate to even add this but... I just saw a post on Insta (story covered by @abcnews_au) showing a bunch of teens girls saying they were "really worried about the ban and then the day came and it was anticlimactic as nothing really changed and its easy to get around". Hoping the overall shift will still make a difference despite stories like that. Time will tell. Regardless, I appreciate Australia making an attempt at this. We need it!
I do find it rather interesting how you chose to use America's 21 drinking age as a comparison. The best studies on the matter (Miron and Tetelbaum 2009, Asch and Levy 1987 and 1990, Dee and Evans 2001, Males 1986 and 2007, and Dirscherl 2011, among others) have found that the supposed net lifesaving effect of those illiberal laws was essentially a mirage in the long run, and/or that it had at most a minor impact on teen drinking in the long run as well. Also note that several other countries, such as Canada, have also seen similar drops in teen drinking and drunk driving deaths despite NOT raising the drinking age to 21.
It seems that all the 21 drinking age really does is force drinking underground and make it far more dangerous than it has to be. We ignore this timeless lesson at our own peril.
To paraphrase a wise man, the first three years of legal adulthood and citizenship should NOT be a lesson in hypocrisy and lawbreaking.
Let America be America again, and lower the drinking age to 18. If you're old enough to go to war, you're old enough to go to the bar. 'Nuff said.
This ban is both over-and under-inclusive, and will do far more harm than good. It will just create a privacy and cybersecurity nightmare for everyone. Kafka, meet trap. Pandora, meet box. Albatross, meet neck.
Baby, meet bathwater.
What they really need to do is do a safety recall and QUARANTINE these platforms completely until they can be made safer for all ages. We need to have better guardrails and default settings for everyone, nix the personalized algorithmic feeds, and we need comprehensive data privacy legislation that would, at a minimum, ban surveillance advertising and dark patterns. But mandatory age verification and censorship will do more harm than good.