cross-posted from: lemmy.ca/post/72616422
Based on the evidence, I’m not convinced that banning social media platforms will be an effective solution to the mental health crisis among young people today.
So what could work?
Supporting young people’s mental health is a complex endeavor that will require a combination of people, organizations and resources coming together.
I believe kids’ mental health would be better served by governments enforcing safety by default standards on social media platforms rather than outright bans. This means that the highest security and privacy options are in place by default so that minors still on a platform are protected. For instance, accounts would be unsearchable by default, so users would have to intentionally make a profile change to be found by people they don’t know in real life.
UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 2 days ago
Banning kids is the most cowardly way to go about this. Force these companies to go back to chronological feeds curated by the user. Make it healthy for all ages groups.
But the state enjoys the power these services gives them. A sad world for a sad species.
supersquirrel@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Also, don’t skip on the human element of moderation, the danger isn’t youth being online the danger is youth being pushed out of other spaces until they congregate on platforms where no responsible, caring adults ever go or take a genuine curious interest in.
Thus the root problem is not whether to ban or not ban social media for youth, it is a desperate lack of curiosity and engagement with youth from the adults in their life that sets up the conditions for social media corporations to prey upon the youth in unhealthy ways, which really isn’t a new story at all when you step back and think about it.