[thatscot27]

To the people that agree social media is somewhat bad for children (I wish it didn't exist for adults). What do you propose the government do, if not banning it via internet restrictions?

I don't see anyone offering alternate solutions in these conversations and I think the ban is a necessary evil

I do however think the ban should be more nuanced

[d1sxeyes]

There are two key problems with social media. The first is a people problem. Predators, bullying, etc. This is a difficult problem. The furthest I got in ideating on this was some kind of graph-growth limitation: some proof of physical co-presence or chain-of-trust (i.e. approved by a trusted adult) required for friending.

The second is a product problem. Advertising, the 'algorithm', etc. For that, I do have a suggestion: force all social media sites to have ad-free versions which apply to the accounts of under eighteens, and attempt to reduce 'virality': no like buttons, ways to discourage reposts of original content, etc. so the timelines become less engagement driven.

[throwawayk7h]

device-side restrictions; improve the UX for parental restrictions and make them on-by-default for children.

When you buy a device, if you can't present ID (or the device is for a child), the vendor gives it to you in "child mode." Child mode has a whitelist/blacklist of all apps and websites that it can use. The list is set by the vendor, but modified by the federal government, state/provincial government, municipal government, school district, and parent/guardian (in that order, each overriding the previous.)

Perhaps in addition, devices in "child mode" always attach "do not show me adult content" to the HTTP headers they send to websites.

[Cider9986]

They could force the social media companies to federate so you can use the content with different algorithms.

They could regulate the harmful algorithms.

They could make for-profit operating systems implement actually robust and easy parental controls. Anything to give parents more control.

[thatscot27]

But how would they serve the first two to kids?

Yeah agree with the last one, but I have wondered if parental controls will breakdown relationships between parent and kids. I see articles now and again about parents controlling kids causing issues?