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Australia has gone for an under-16 ban and there's been loads of talk about the UK doing something similar. I'm genuinely torn and curious what other London parents think.
On one hand my 13 year old's mood is noticeably worse after an evening on her phone. On the other, I'm not sure a ban is enforceable, and I worry kids will just go to the less regulated corners of the internet instead.
Where do you land?
Ban it. I don't care if it's not perfectly enforceable - we have an age limit on alcohol and that's not perfectly enforced either, but it changes what's normal. That's the point.
The enforcement question is the whole thing though. If it means every adult has to upload ID to use any website I'm not sure that's a world I want either. The age verification stuff that's already come in has been pretty clunky.
@JonnyB I'd rather put up with some clunky ID checks than watch another generation of teenage girls being fed eating disorder content. Different priorities I guess.
I think the companies should be held responsible, not the kids. Make the algorithms safe for under 18s and fine them properly if they're not. Banning kids feels like punishing the wrong people.
That's kind of where I'm drifting, Daria. The feed is the problem more than the messaging.
my son is 15 and i asked him. he said a ban would be "fine actually" as long as it applied to everyone. what he hates is being the only one without. the collective bit matters more than the law itself
Interesting that a lot of teens apparently say the same thing as Tobi's son. Feels like they'd welcome the excuse.
As a secondary teacher I'll just say that the stuff we deal with on Monday morning almost always started on a platform the kids technically weren't old enough to be on. Whatever the answer is, the current situation isn't working.
the ages on these apps are already 13 and nobody checks. my 10 year old nephew has accounts on everything. so a law that says 16 doesnt change anything unless someone actually enforces it
I think the bit people forget is that parents are the ones handing over the phones and saying yes to the accounts. Me included. A ban would make it easier to say no, which is half the battle.
Thanks everyone, genuinely useful thread. I think where I've ended up: I'd support it, mainly for the collective "nobody's on it" effect Tobi's son described, but I'm not expecting it to fix things on its own. We're going to keep the phone out of her bedroom regardless.
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