The off topic thread 6.0

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Re: the social media thing, I think the bigger issue for me is that it's felt like they announced it and since then they've not really thought much through how to implement it.

And when it was first announced I saw that the peak body for psychologists said their view was that a better way would be to find a way to regulate the companies involved because kids will always get around it.

I also was definitely all over the internet before I was 16. I was on neopets at 10 I'm sure.

The issue isn't so much with the communication aspect of social media (likewise I was on things like Neopets and MSN to communicate), the issue is with the algorithms that direct young teenagers to the extreme corners of the internet and lead to eating disorders/body dysmorphia in adolescent girls, and boys to people like Andrew Tate. I would think IF this bill passed, the intention would be that while something like Facebook would be banned, Messenger wouldn't be, as an example.

It's the addictiveness of the endless scrolling on Reels/Tik Tok/Instagram that is the biggest issue because of the way it impacts on the chemical make up of teenage brains. If we don't think teenagers should be allowed to gamble because of the addictive/negative social impacts, if we don't think teenagers should be able to drink because of the impact on their developing brain, I really don't see a difference when it comes to these algorithms when they've been shown to have a clear impact on the development of teenage minds.

 

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In fact this BigFooty account is probably from before I turned 16

Mine's from a few months after I turned 16, but even then I reflect on that and wonder if I should have been able to sign up?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Bojan KantKick Bradesmaen