Granted this law was more clear cut with 14, 16, and 18 being the dividing lines, but it definitely fails to concisely define social media.
The other issue is how do you verify age, and that has been another difficult question if you think people should have reasonable expectations of privacy and aren’t comfortable with the “enter your birthyear” forms.
The main difficulty is defining social media in a way that doesnt restrict other modern communication, education, idea publication, operating a business, shopping, sharing ideas, etc.
Should such laws block Etsy, your family’s Nextcloud, a school ran web forum that only students/parents/faculty can access, Crash Course on YouTube, encrypted communication between your family, etc?
The other difficulty is defining the term “children” consistently. Many US states have simple categories that go all the way to 18, if not later.
Should there be a difference in laws for access for toddlers, elementary ages, and adolescents?
If you think these are easy questions, I suggest you look at the dialog around the UK’s Online Safety Act where they are having to answer these questions after the fact.
No. The internet and the later WWW have been so instrumental in my life there is no way I’d have not had been influenced differently.
I’ve worked through so many arguments and unsafe questions in online spaces that simply wouldn’t have been possible in the very conservative areas I grew up. I’d likely have had to seek answers with out groups and ended up elsewhere adding to my changed influences. I’d have likely had a very different career path too.
I’m faithful that I’d have ended up in the same religion but it’d have taken a much darker journey to get there.
Hopefully things like PineTime, Bangle.js, and the return of Pebble can shake up the market. There’s always neat DIY hacks like the SensorWatch too that can still make the space fun even if the major players get enshittified.
I don’t have much to say except I love the amount of effort you put into that comment! Thanks for making the fedi awesome!