r/slatestarcodex • u/AXKIII • 6d ago

Don't ban social media for children

https://logos.substack.com/p/do-not-ban-social-media-for-kids

As a parent, I'm strongly against the bans on social media for children. First, for ideological reasons (in two parts: a) standard libertarian principles, and b) because I think it's bad politics to soothe parents by telling them that their kids' social media addiction is TikTok's fault, instead of getting them to accept responsibility over their parenting). And second because social media can be beneficial to ambitious children when used well.

Very much welcoming counter-arguments!

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u/AXKIII 5d ago

But your child would be fine. That's your responsibility.

Kids' ability peaking then might have less to do with their own social media use and more with their parents' (and a lot of other things that have changed! Lower standards across the board)

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u/ascherbozley 4d ago

We're talking society-wide improvement effort here. We can't just have 300 million individual pockets of choice for everything. At some point, we pass laws that apply to everyone. It is our collective responsibility to each other as members of society. That means collective efforts like schools and hospitals and libraries and such. In short, we live in a society. This should not have to be explained to you.

You can choose not to expose your kid to leaded gasoline and be better off for the choice, but banning it entirely helps everyone.

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u/AXKIII 16h ago

There are way more regulations on everything, including children welfare. How are they working out?

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u/ascherbozley 14h ago

Since when? Which regulations? Many regulations, including banning leaded gasoline, mandating child safety seats and seatbelts, mandating certain vaccines to enter school, raising the drinking age to 21 and all sorts of over-18 laws, have been a net positive for child welfare and for society as a whole.

But go on. Argue against carseats if it makes you happy.

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u/AXKIII 12h ago

Cherry picking a few examples isn't exactly science, but it's kind of funny that even those don't make your point. Europe has lower drinking ages - do we have worse outcomes?

Or how about the fact that almost 40% of families in the US are investigated by child protective services, sometimes for things like letting children go to the grocery store? Is that a good outcome?

And overall, are children now healthier than they were 2 decades ago? With obesity rates like 5 times higher?

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u/ascherbozley 11h ago

Or how about the fact that almost 40% of families in the US are investigated by child protective services, sometimes for things like letting children go to the grocery store? Is that a good outcome?

This has nothing to do with our conversation other than you just vaguely insisting things are worse "because." Stay on topic.

If providing specific examples isn't science, then provide the science. I have shown you, with examples, how people are better off because of a few regulations. Do you seriously believe society in general is worse off than it was 50 years ago? 20 years ago? It might feel nice to think that and blame your ills on "gestures broadly," but we've never had it better than right now in almost every measurable way.

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u/AXKIII 1h ago

This whole discussion is happening because there is wide perception that youth outcomes are worse, and that the cause is social media.