Kids, Phones, Social Media

We got our 13 yo daughter her SIM card finally. Too early? Maybe (time will tell), but so many other kids seem to have gotten one at a much younger age. The other reason was the expectation that she’ll over-do/over-use whenever she gets her own phone number, and we will all take time to settle down on her usage (Time she spends? Which apps? Sharing her number with who? Learning to deal with unknown callers? Recognizing scamsters? etc). Better that the (team building) phases of ‘forming’, ‘storming’ and ‘norming’ get done long before she gets to 9th standard, or so we hope. (I didn’t mention the ‘performing’ phase of team building because, well, she’s a teenager).

 

That’s the plan. But as Clausewitz said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy”, so let’s see…


~~

 

It reminded me of this recent Australian bill to set the minimum age for social media accounts at 16. Social media companies will be expected to enforce this law. My initial reaction was that this is a totally unrealistic law – How can any social media company enforce a perfect age check system? Won’t any mechanism to confirm age throw up privacy concerns? If kids find creative ways to circumvent the system, should/will they be penalized?

 

I was surprised that this bill came with a detailed explanatory memorandum! Pranay Kotasthane points out that the bill has some exceptions – messaging apps, gaming apps, and apps related to health and education. (Again, I wondered who checks the classification? What if the game has too much violence?). Second, the bill allows “logged-out” versions of social media. Wondering what that means? It refers to apps you can access without signing in e.g. YouTube, X etc. How does that help? The logged-out version eliminates notifications, alerts and algorithmic content tailoring “which have been found to have a negative impact on sleep, stress levels, and attention”.

 

Unbelievably (and realistically), the bill says its aim isn’t 100% compliance! Why? Because this is about kids and teenagers, says the memorandum:

“It is impossible for governments to completely prohibit young people from accessing harmful products or content.”

The memorandum puts social media at par with (well, read it for yourself):

“(This law is an) age‑based law to limit or minimise access to known harms, as in the case of alcohol and cigarette use.”

 

Like Kotasthane, “after reading the explanatory memorandum, I am not so sure (that this is a pointless law)”. Like my daughter’s experience with the phone, I will have to wait and watch on how this Australian law plays out.

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