Fair's fair: Social networks prohibited. Mom and dad won't solve the problem, they didn't take it at school.
A crucial breakthrough in the short, yet at the same time very dynamic, history of social media came in Australia. A ban on entry into the environment of these internet social networks for users under 16 years of age is coming into effect. Other countries will likely proceed with similar legislation, but the Czech Republic won't. The world of internet communication has caused fundamental changes in how relationships between people work within a few years. However, even if the ban on children became a global trend, it is unlikely to bring about a major change for one reason.
Youth are limiting visits to pubs and discos because they socialize online. Even younger youth don't go outside to play for the same reason. We could continue in this vein, but it's just a snippet of how life was transformed by the revolution kicked off by university student Mark Zuckerberg. From a curly-haired boy, he became one of the richest and powerful men in the world.
However, the Australian government has decided to curb his powers. His network must ensure that minors cannot access it on their own. This applies to other platforms as well, but so far only Facebook and others are known to be trying to actively comply with legislation and have just begun to kick out hundreds of thousands of child users.
It's no joke, a violation threatens a fine of up to an almost diabolical 666 million crowns at a favorable exchange rate. That's how much Meta earns with its internet platforms during a single twelve-hour shift in continuous operation.
It still remains a question whether it is really possible to prevent access to social networks in the so far loosely regulated internet space. With strict enforcement, a human rights issue arises, which currently also affected Czech representatives during the voting on Chat Control in the European Parliament.
"To verify age, all platform users must be identified. Read: upload an ID to the American and Chinese servers of big corporations. This would completely kill anonymity. What protects, for example, those protesting autocracy. And children (as well as bad actors) will circumvent the ban anyways. Everyone loses. With this proposal, we start from the completely wrong end. We don't need to massively ban young people's access to information. We need to end addictive designs, enhance parental control tools, and promote awareness. Why are we addressing children instead of the companies that are causing the problem?"
Pirate Member of the European Parliament Markéta Gregorová wrote about the problem on the X network.
There is no doubt about the toxic dimension of being on social networks. It affects human psyche and children encounter dangerous content there. From the so-called manosphere, which accelerates violence committed by men on women, through the promotion of inappropriate dietary models to sexual harassment. Is it just cases from the media? Such content is exposed to 7 out of 10 children. So the majority.
Representative Gregorová represents the attitude of many psychologists that restrictions alone will not solve anything and further problematizes anonymity on the internet. A better solution is for schools and parents to teach proper handling of these platforms.
Sure, even Facebook is a good servant but a bad master. Parents could explain this to their children if they knew it themselves. While today's teenagers were born into the world of mobile phones and social networks, their parents were not. This makes them more vulnerable in the face of addictive technologies.
All you need is luck and to come across a parent with children in public transport, for example on a plane. Will the rule that "only" 7 out of 10 parents expose their children to the mobile phone, most likely via YouTube, which is also a social medium, so as not to "disturb", still apply here? Or will it be even more.
According to research by experts from Palacký University in Olomouc, only 15% of parents know what their children are doing on the internet. It doesn't seem they have the ideal qualification to raise someone to responsible behavior towards social networks, which cause addiction. And where could they get it? The generation of today's forties did not and could not take it at school.
However, if the Australian government begins to enforce the ban, it may not be entirely successful, but it could generate more interest than the 85% of their colleagues in the Czech Republic currently do.
Upbringing and adults, at home ...they just fart know ...they stick kids in front of youtube, but also themselves and the teacher will no longer educate.
Source: author's text, comment, X, BBC, e-news.cz, SeznamZpravy.cz
