Under-16s to be banned from TikTok, YouTube and other social media

[aveatry]

I was talking to my 14yo son about this last night, and asked him what he'd do when the ban comes in. He just said he'd use a VPN. I assume all VPNs (both free and paid-for) would have to use the same age verification? Otherwise they just set their country to one that has no such ban, and log in as usual? It will be interesting though; they tend to use snapchat for chatting with friends, so could use WhatsApp instead. But being bored and scrolling through tiktok or YT shorts would no longer be possible. Something will be brought out I'm sure, to fill the void. Already, a company is sitting there watching a potentially huge gap in the market, and wondering how they can fill it. Perhaps a new platform altogether, or just more of the same that uses some sort of loophole to the ban

A lad rang LBC and was saying he is all for it because if you are fairly academic like him he has no interest in the social media stuff and as such gets bullied by the "cool kids" who are all over the socials all the time.
There are also those whose parents are stricter or you might say responsible and do not let their kids use it but then those kids gets left out of friends groups as they all have it and they dont. So a ban would level the field as it were.
He also said he is doing homework right now using YouTube that the teacher directed all the kids to use

 

[HayMaker]

A lad rang LBC and was saying he is all for it because if you are fairly academic like him he has no interest in the social media stuff and as such gets bullied by the "cool kids" who are all over the socials all the time.
There are also those whose parents are stricter or you might say responsible and do not let their kids use it but then those kids gets left out of friends groups as they all have it and they dont. So a ban would level the field as it were.
He also said he is doing homework right now using YouTube that the teacher directed all the kids to use

Some thoughts (now I've had time to think) about the above:

My son uses YT a lot to learn guitar and drums. If he can't do that, then he probably won't bother trying to find specific websites to do this, that are either plagued with ads or require payment. So he loses out, or I just give him my login.

The schools are copping out big time. If kids like this (above example) are getting bullied for not using social media, then the school has a bullying problem that they can't address. It's like your local council having a dangerous driving problem, but then crying to car manufacturers and lobbying for all new cars to be limited to 30mph. Instead they should have something in place to prevent phone use, and to prevent bullying, but that's obviously too hard so they've given up.

Poor parental management has led to kids either bullying or being bullied via social media, or being addicted to it, and are not held to account. I can guarantee that my son uses social media for hours every week, probably as much as the average teenager. But he knows right from wrong and how to use it responsibly. So in essence, all the problem kids, usually from crap parents, have ruined it for everyone else.

This does sound more like a covert push to get kids used to having digital IDs

 

[ellal]

Man moans about nasty people - while posting a nasty comment

Not a nasty comment, just trying to educate him about the truths regarding the internet world...

I suggest he thinks about his online practices regarding his family and adjusts accordingly

 

[Mottie]

Man moans about nasty people - while posting a nasty comment

Who ellal? He's well respected on here, gets on with absolutely everyone. Nobody has a bad word to say about him. Whataguy. Mind you, Iceland wouldn’t have him when he bragged about leaving the U.K. and this forum for good and going back to his 'partners' country. He sure had to chow down on some humble pie then.

 

[Mottie]

We never put anything online about our kids, even though they were miffed back in the day especially when we vetoed school photos...

Well done. Thanks for the explanation. Some on here were thinking those highly gifted bi and trilingual medical sons of yours were a figment of your imagination.

 

[aveatry]

Yes

Who ellal? He's well respected on here, gets on with absolutely everyone. Nobody has a bad word to say about him. Whataguy. Mind you, Iceland wouldn’t have him when he bragged about leaving the U.K. and this forum for good and going back to his 'partners' country. He sure had to chow down on some humble pie then.

That's a funny read, no one even believed him at the time.

 

[pete01]

Yes

That's a funny read, no one even believed him at the time.

Wonder if he went?

 

[ellal]

The one trick donkey and his 'merry men' strike again with their infantile lunacy...

Of course the seriousness of the issue went way above their collective head...

But hey, if you don't care about your own family then who do you care about?

Oh that's right, only yourself

 

[pete01]

The one trick donkey and his 'merry men' strike again with their infantile lunacy...

Of course the seriousness of the issue went way above their collective head...

But hey, if you don't care about your own family then who do you care about?

Oh that's right, only yourself

Did you leave England?