Should minors be able to use social media?

[ProgressiveModerate]

Currently, many social media apps only require the user to be 13 - and even in the cases where they require the user to be 18 there’s no real enforcement mechanism and you see tons of minors.

Some argue social media has been positive in allowing young people to better connect.

However, in my view it’s overall been negative. Social media spreads misinformation that can shape young impressionable people’s world views. Social media has been attribute to increases in depression and suicide amongst young people; young people literally die trying to do social media challenges. Social media (and phones generally) have been associated with making young people dumber. It’s also ironically making us more anti-social.

It personally really worries me what the consequences of this will be. We have a whole generation of young people who have been programmed with mis-information from fairly young ages that will be hard to reverse. People are having less in person real life experiences that are important for good communities and societies. And every life lost to social media is awful.

I think at the very least, every American high school should have a class on how to spot misinformation, fake accounts, scams, ect. I think apps like Instagram should work differently for kids 13-18 - where it doesn’t show them external reels, political posts, ect, and is basically just a platform for teens to communicate with their friends. In order to have a 18+ account, it should have an actual enforcement mechanism - like sending in an ID Photo or Social Security Card to confirm.

[ProgressiveModerate]

I think at the very least, every American high school should have a class on how to spot misinformation, fake accounts, scams, ect. I think apps like Instagram should work differently for kids 13-18 - where it doesn’t show them external reels, political posts, ect, and is basically just a platform for teens to communicate with their friends. In order to have a 18+ account, it should have an actual enforcement mechanism - like sending in an ID Photo or Social Security Card to confirm.

Young people can tell a fake account or scams. Its middle aged and seniors who need to know how to spot stuff like that

I don't think its wise to require a ID photo or SS. Instagram could get hacked and that information is online

This is a fair point, but in general, young people are more impressionable just by nature of being younger. A 13 year old is going to have little to no defense against misinformation whereas you'd hope a 50 year old would have enough life experience and real-world knowledge to have a fighting chance at combatting online BS.