This is just a ramble / personal thoughts on the new social media ban thing
I'm re-subscribing to news sites! Yay!
Reading about social media bans now.
Looks like the one that has passed is Australia's, and many countries are thinking of following suit. They don't seem to have banned discord, or video games with a chat function.
I personally had many more weird interactions on discord, game chats, and lesser known fandom or topic forum websites than I ever did on mainstream social media (which I kept my accounts private on).
I think if the purpose of it is to prevent things like grooming, they really need to ban anything with a chat function.
Which is pretty stupid, I can't lie.
I think this type of legislation is making victims shoulder the consequences of the actions of abusers and people in power.
Why isn't the legislation penned against sniffing out and banning predators? Am I stupid, and is there something that makes it such a scientific impossibility to find and remove the predators who are making the internet an unsafe place in the first place? Why do internet weirdos, who probably live in a shack, have the same staying power as Luc Besson? I don't understand.
And why is NO responsibility being placed on parents who fail to enforce screen time? They also need to know that it's not just about throwing the iPad into a locked drawer and yelling at your kid and making them hate them.
It's not just about locking up a kid's iPad. It's also about giving them an environment where they WILL find something else more fun to do. Letting them do a sport, a hobby, draw or paint, play in a band, or talk or play with their friends. Or play d&d! That's a really fun non-social media thing I enjoyed a LOT when I was in the younger teen age range. I think kids need to be in an environment where they have access to these alternative entertainment ventures.
This sort of legislation also takes away some people's outlets for entertainment, meaning, and community, where the "real world" becomes increasingly more gentrified and expensive.
Malls need money. Movies need money. Bowling alley needs money. Cafe needs money. Comic convention needs money. Yoga classes need money. MUSIC FESTIVAL NEEDS ULTRA MONEY. Where else are you supposed to find community in real life without spending money?
"What about the park???" To be fair, I got sent to A&E as a kid because of fire ants at a park. Okay, no kidding. Parks are a good option, but that's outdoors, therefore weather dependent and not every place has comfortable weather all the time. Not like a nice, comfortable environment you have to pay to be in because people who don't pay deserve to be in the heat or cold or on top of fire ants. Or something.
If governments are in this replacement "parental enforcement" role, will the government also take responsibility in giving the people more accessible spaces as alternatives for community?
Not sure if these countries pushing bans are also pushing accessible methods for teenagers to socialise and find passion and community. It's very dangerous if they don't. Entertainment and socialisation is so important. Everyone's gonna have nothing to do but hate each other and themselves without it.
The methods for age verification can be pretty stupid as well.
Apparently one way to verify age is with a selfie. This one has been enforced in the UK right now.
I'm not even kidding, I am halfway through my 20s, haven't been 16 in 8 years, almost a decade! And there was one time they marked me as underage. Yes, okay, while that's a humble flex, don't get mad, that's not the point I'm making. I got around it in the end when I found the worst possible lighting for my face, and tried to look dead-eyed and a bit angry. That got me past the adult filter.
This is because I don't look too different from when I was 15-16, and I think the ages near the ban really blur the line as well. Feels like a system designed to inconvenience adults as well as potentially letting minors through.
It's such an inconvenience too. I can't even research my big boy Adult Interests without being asked to LOOK LEFT! LOOK RIGHT! again and again at EVERY new site. This shit pisses me off. Fuck off! I haven't been 16 in almost a decade! Actually fuck off man 😠Thinking about this has annoyed me to the point of using an emoji in my Sophisticated Text Blog.
Well it's not really sophisticated, I lied. It's just some thoughts I had in my head that are very much from my POV only and based on my experiences. I'm going to keep reading into articles to actually see why people pushed this legislation into practice.
On the other hand, indeed, kids shouldn't be glued to their screens.
I had really a fulfilling childhood where a screentime ban was very, very strictly enforced up until the later ages of 16 and above. I don't regret this and I believe this allowed me to form into my own person without an algorithm shaping my very being into a trope.
However, I recognise that I was in a position of privilege in regards of alternative activities my parents gave me access to in my life, like classes, trips, hobbies they never discouraged me from, and such. In addition, I was pretty much best friends with my younger brother as kids and he was very agreeable in playing all my pretend games with me.
I don't think the screen is entirely evil.
I was still "glued to a screen" in a way where I was a fiend for movies and cartoons, and absolutely loved TV. We had DVDs and all that, because my father was a movie buff too, and he loved buying the ones from those roadside plastic tables.
I found one of my greatest passions of life, art and film, via entertainment on the screen.
In the same vine, social media can help teenagers discover their passion and community at a time where they are discovering who they are as a person. I solidified what I wanted to be for the rest of my life at, arguably, age 11-15.
Maybe that's why it's so important and beautiful, but so dangerous at the same time.
Even so, a ban like this feels like a shallow net cast to capture the deep social issues that it aims to terminate.
I will be reading more, but I doubt I'd change my mind, so this is my thoughts so far. Sorry to the Australian teenagers who will never get to see this, rip, you will be remembered
