How about the government makes the social medias less shit instead? They are harming not just children, they are harming everybody.
United Kingdom
General community for news/discussion in the UK.
Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.
Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.
Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.
Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.
If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.
Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.
Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.
We plan to use the same model for a social media ban as Australia. Their model included platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and X.
BBC News - How does Australia's under-16 social media ban work? - BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyp9d3ddqyo?app-referrer=deep-link
Ten platforms are currently included: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and streaming platforms Kick and Twitch.
The government assesses potential sites against three main criteria:
whether the platform's sole or "significant purpose" is to enable online social interaction between two or more users;
whether it allows users to interact with some or all other users; and
whether it allows users to post material
Hmm. So affects the big platforms for now, but no guarantees it won't extend in future to the fediverse if children were to move there. More likely people will work around the age-gating if they can. I wonder how this is looking in Australia?
I wonder how this is looking in Australia?
But of course, that's not the talking point I would want to focus on. It's a bad idea even if there were no workarounds and even if there were no privacy problems. I find it difficult to think of a more harmless, more fulfilling, less dangerous hobby for young people to have than to be on social media.