Just tryna be a human

You know what kids will do instead? They will find ways around it, ways that are potentially more dangerous than if they could freely have socmed accounts, especially if they go to untrustworthy adults who promise to help them. Also, this has to be enforced by the websites on a case by case basis! They will probably try to use age verification via ID! We should not have to give our IDs out to companies who have been and will continue to harvest our data!

This will also make it harder for children who have abusive parents. These parents will now have legal standing to control their kids' social lives. I'm not saying social media is a net positive for anyone, let alone kids, but bullying can happen just as much irl as online. Regulation over restriction is what's needed here, but you know what's really needed?

At a certain point of a word or phrase being used "incorrectly," it's not incorrect anymore.

But this is about the Australian Social Media Ban

If you happen to find this as your first mention of the ban, let me pit it down in my understanding.

The social media ban makes it so that countries must take "reasonable measures" to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from having a social media account. As for what exactly that means, all I'm fairly certain is that, if they're going to make Government ID a verification option, the company will also have to provide an alternative, like a bank card or a face scan.

As for what the government calls "social media," it includes:

X (Formerly Twitter)

Facebook

Instagram

Snapchat

Discord

YouTube

WhatsApp (Dunno if this is certain or discussed rn)

Reddit

Steam

Roblox

And more that I haven't put here, I'm sure

I have a few issues with this

First, for things like WhatsApp and Discord, I personally would call them, essentially, a different form of text messages. Discord has better group chats and emojis and stuff, WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption. I'm not an expert but those seem like the only major differences to me.

Second, for YouTube.

To my understanding, people will still be able to access it, but they won't be able to have an account. But that's not my issue (other than it seems kind of pointless.) My issue is the government originally said they would not ban YouTube. And they changed their mind. Why? The eSafety Commissioner said so.

"Four out of 10 Australian kids have had their most recent or most harmful experience on YouTube," she said.

Not to be that guy, but maybe that's because of how insanely popular YouTube is. But from what it looks like, the ban is just for show. If you don't have an account, currently, you can still watch YouTube. So it's pointless.

Another thing, I feel like 16 is just. Too high.

You can fly an aeroplane at 15. You can get a learner's permit to driver at 16. The Age of Consent is 16 in most parts of Australia. In New South Wales, you can get a form of gun license at *12*.

And you need to be 16 to use Discord.

To me, that reads as the government saying its safer to fly a plane than to use Twitter. It's just as dangerous to be on Facebook as to drive a car. And there's probably something to be said about other resources and sexual orientation stuff only being available at the age of consent.

And I have yet another point. Social media is a huge way young people can make their voices heard to the government, because it helps inform and talk to other people and spread the word about things.

Under 16s can't vote, so social media is one of the only and best ways they have of getting their voice heard democratically and governmentally.

And they're taking it away

Taking it away in a way that, if any of them bring it up, it's easy to say "you're just salty you can't go on social media" or "you're annoyed you can't scroll TikTok."

The government's justification for taking away a lot of their voice? "It's for the kids."

Because making kids unable to make themselves heard is always a good thing.l, right?

Right?

And if you're someone who says "oh well I don't care because it doesn't affect me."

Yes it does. You still need to verify. You still need to use your bank card. You still need to give the company your face scan. You still need to give them your government ID. You are still affected.

Not only could that be devastating if that gets stored then sold, or stolen in a data breach. No one wants to give away their face, no one wants their online activity linked to their ID.

So reblog this, reblog other posts like this, make your own post on here or literally anywhere, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

Tell people, message your friends, message your family about this.

If you're Australian, email your local MP, hell, send a letter to the Prime Minister. Don't be rude or threatening or anything, they'll ignore or arrest you, but show them you care, and that you think this is wrong. Show them it's not just a handful of people.

Start petitions, sign petitions, organise and participate in protests and strikes if you're brave enough.

We should not take this lying down, because this will not be a good thing if it happens the way it's planned. And if we don't do anything about things we disagree with, where will we draw the line? Where will we look at what they're doing and say, "that's a step too far."

Because if impeding and infringing on the participation of AUSTRALIAN PEOPLE in their democracy isn't something that's wrong, I'm not too sure what is.

Do anything and everything you can, spread the word, get this noticed. Don't be violent or hateful, it'll delegitimize us. But show you care, and show it's not just you, whenever and wherever you can.

@its-spelt-censorship

"Alright, so what? Many people have had digital wallets and/or their real-world identity connected to their browsing activity, nothing much has happened to them"

"Protecting children from bad actors online is worth the few minutes it takes to set up a digital wallet. Children should be playing outside eitherway"

As all stories about my childhood start, I was bullied badly.

The teachers failed to manage it and my parents thought that learning a few things about the world sooner rather than later was for the best. Also due to their extreme suspicion towards other families and their fear for my safety, I could not socialise with anyone my age.

That affects children

I did not want to go to school. I did not want to study. I did not care about anything. I was experiencing the worst days of my life during a time most people remember fondly

Yes, my parents were at fault. Yes, in an ideal world the adults in my life would have been my protectors

But I was told off for even suggesting I did not deserve what I was going through, and I was confined to the house with no siblings and the balcony off-limits

I found my very first friends playing video games online. I learned basic social skills talking to those friends. I finally had people who would give me the time of day

I learned English watching videos online, since I could not focus during lessons owing to my mental state

I learned about the world online, other places, countries and cultures

I developed an interest in science that I have to this day, and I found music to love

Yes, I did also become convinced of rather wrong things, and briefly became fond of violent ideology

What people fail to realise is that harmful beliefs are commonplace and harbored by every family. Children will come across such beliefs in life whether or not they use the internet

Same goes for adult material. And criminals

Children should be taught to respond correctly to such things at school and at home, not shielded until an age when they don't look as fragile anymore

Children are not easy to profit from, because they have little to no spending power, and free media available to children is being taken down to comply with copyright laws or due to lack of funding. Therefore, unless parents are willing to buy them games or movies there is little to nothing truly age-appropriate online [discounting elsa-gate content, which is a matter everyone somehow forgot about that has never been resolved]

But in an increasingly digital and isolated world, life without the internet is an injustice towards them

Children have no political power

There is also very reasonable concern regarding identity being tied to browsing history, which I believe is a subject that has been talked about extensively by nothing short of experts

Please, don't wait until it affects you personally

Me: And we're not gonna delve into that even a little bit, huh?

Queer-Friendly Indie Tabletop RPG #137: Here's 5000 words exploring the implications of undead skeletons being fully integrated members of society.

To be fair, sometimes it's more along the lines of "our goblins have exactly the same stereotypical traits and propensities as their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts, but the text awkwardly tries to spin those as virtues".

The weird Oreos don’t sell… but the weird Oreos just being around and visible make people buy more regular Oreos.