How to Enforce Australia’s Teen Social Media Ban
Video Transcript
Steven Gacovino – Personal Injury Attorney – Suffolk County (Long Island), New York
If there’s a burden on the user to somehow establish their age, if so, I wonder how.
I don’t know if they do it by some sort of social security number system, or do they look to capture an image of something that establishes the person’s proof of age?
I think it can be done. I don’t know how it’s being done in Australia.
But that said, the fact that as a country, as a big country, not big like United States big, but a big country with an awful lot of people, that they’ve recognized that they have a terrible problem there, I respect it.
Because this is a tremendously affirmative step towards addressing youth safety, youth mental health safety, which is an exposed raw nerve on social media.
So I don’t know about how they’re going to enforce it, I don’t know how they’re going to really implement those limitations, but it’s good that they’re setting those limitations.
It’s good that they’ve impressed upon young people that, look, you’re in your formative years, you’re growing up.
You have so many important things that are happening in your world, so many important things that are happening to your body, so many important things that are happening to your developing brain that let’s not pile up this junk that is going to interfere with that progress and that growth and that ability to look forward.
So I think what they’re doing there sounds great.
I would like to interact with Australians to say, how is it starting to go? How is it starting to work?
I think like anything else, there’ll be some resistance from young people and some pushback.
But they also may get used to the idea that, hey, this is better. This is good.
I have to go outside to go find somebody.
I have to go out and engage in play or ride a bicycle or ride a skateboard or grab a soccer ball in order to interact with somebody else, rather than just a few lazy words that one might exchange or memes that they may exchange on an Instagram exchange or to film a silly picture of themselves looking foolish, which is what I seem to see.
I sound like an old guy, but that’s what it looks like. I see the same thing. Yeah, I see the same thing.
But, you know, if they’re going to have the ability to actually do something together and force themselves to really connect with people at a real human level, I think it’s going to be better for the young people of Australia.
I think it’ll also be better for the parents of Australia.
