Starmer’s plan to ban under 16’s from social media

Well done instagram 👏👏👏

Let’s hope the others follow suit.

Instagram automatically places users aged 13 to 17 into Teen Accounts, which feature built-in protections like private accounts by default, strict messaging limits, sensitive content restrictions, and scheduled sleep mode. Parents can use supervision tools to monitor usage or approve changes to these settings
Here’s a bit more about it

Interesting … instagram have started advertising ‘teeninstagram’
Not heard it before so think it’s a reaction to the up and coming ban it needs parents permission and you can’t get messages from anyone not on your list of approved friends There was more but they were the bits I picked up on

I wonder how many of the current ‘naysayers’ would welcome the ban with open arms if it had been introduced by a Tory or Reform government

Seeing as Kemi Badenoch has been calling for a ban for a long time your comment has no relevance.

Naysayers

Does Questioning how this ban is going to work and why the government isn’t going after the content creators and tech giants put me in the naysayers camp?

Babsbada

I detest Starmer bashing. He's made a lot of mistakes and inherited a total mess to try and sort out but he's a man of integrity and anyone who thinks they can do better, needs to think hard.
As far as social media banning for under 16s is concerned, its a step in the right direction, certainly not perfect but should be applauded. The Musks and tec companies should be held to account for the damage they do. They are the villains.

I agree Babsbada.

I wonder how many of the current ‘naysayers’ would welcome the ban with open arms if it had been introduced by a Tory or Reform government🤔

I detest Starmer bashing. He's made a lot of mistakes and inherited a total mess to try and sort out but he's a man of integrity and anyone who thinks they can do better, needs to think hard.
As far as social media banning for under 16s is concerned, its a step in the right direction, certainly not perfect but should be applauded. The Musks and tec companies should be held to account for the damage they do. They are the villains.

TiggyW

I think Nigel Farage has got it right - phone models with limited access. Also tackle the big (anti)social media companies.

In all honesty, I can't see Farage taking on Musk and X.

Nancat that isn’t a scenario I recognise amongst our family and friends.

I think smart phones should be illegal for under 16s, with parental responsibility for any under age child found with one. Any necessary school related work/information could be sent to the parent's phone, and could then be monitored by the parent. The problem there, is that currently, parents seem to be absolved of any responsibility for their children, be that behaviour or safety, the government, someone, anyone is expected to look after child welfare so long as it isn't the parents.

Our under 16’s have their iPhones and iPads linked to their parents accounts.

They cannot download anything without a code sent to their parent’s device.

They are not allowed phone/ipad/laptop in their bedrooms over night, and have their devices checked by a parent regularly.

We all have smart televisions, I wonder how/if this ban will work regarding them.

I am all for keeping our young people safe, but, I am having trouble trying to understand how this ban will work 🤷‍♀️

Does anyone have grandchildren at Primary Schools involved with Smartphone Free Childhood?
www.smartphonefreechildhood.org/
It seems to be in Primary Schools round here.

Seems like a good idea until you see the homework my 15 year old Grandson has to do online! He would not be able to do homework without his phone. All his friends have this problem. Yes my 10 year old Granddaughter spends a lot of time on her phone playing games & chatting with her friends but how do you expect to stop this now phones are relied upon for school work?

My granddaughter has had a Facebook account for a couple of years now, she is 12. I think her mum got the account for her, they must have lied about her age, but as it's nothing to do with me I don't really know.

The kids will still have access to school work. It's all the sites instead of the strauggt to their room, doir closed going to have stricter security access to enable access. Yes, there will be young folk who can work around, but technically, they will be committing an offence. Why do parents not block sites on their children's phones, laptops, it's always someone else's fault. Australia has acknowledged their restrictions are not the best and that they arre being curcumnavigated by some but they also anticipated there would be problems and that work would need to be ongoing to achieve a secure system, which is happening. I just hope the ban will encourage children and adults to speak more with one another instead of the straight in the door then into their room for the evening approach that many households have now.

Various TV shows have had chats with teens on this topic, and the overwhelming majority think it's a GOOD thing.

Various polls for parents have shown around a 90% figure voting FOR such a ban. I'm no fan of Starmer - and even less a couple of the incompetents in his cabinet -- but on THIS topic he's actually on the right track.

There was even a follow-up by some show - Newsnight? (sorry, forget!) - talking to kids and parents in Oz, after they implemented their ban. They seemed to be saying it was working pretty well, on the whole.

Of course a few people will try to get round any regs -- there are laws about stealing, arson & murder (etc) but they still happen. Hardly means the laws are wrong, does it??

I agree in principle but knowing Starmer is just a cover to implement digital ID.

Grantanow

I doubt this will work but it's a good bit of PR for Starmer. The real solution is better parenting and not letting anyone use a smartphone until age 18.

Smartphones were used all the way through lockdowns as an educational tool. For some pupils without access to a tablet/laptop etc., it was their only link to school and their peers.

Even our GC in reception was receiving his tasks and having FaceTime with his teachers, via his mum’s or our iPhones/ipad or laptop.

The genie is out of the bottle I am afraid, which is why I am all for legislation for the tech companies, as opposed to what will appear to these young teens as a punishment/penalisation towards them.

I doubt this will work but it's a good bit of PR for Starmer. The real solution is better parenting and not letting anyone use a smartphone until age 18.

Doodledog

I understand that WhatsApp is not included in the ban. I may be wrong, but I'd have thought that any bullying etc would be likely to be done via that, rather than in more public places such as FB. I don't know many people of that sort of age though, so I'm not well-placed to know.

Probably keeping children off TikTok and the like is probably a good thing, though. The trouble is, areas such as SM evolve all the time, so rules set now will be out of date very soon.

The difference with WhatsApp is that you need someone’s phone number to contact them. It’s also easy to block people.

He hasn't 'rushed into it', it's been discussed and researched for a while

There are a lot of educational videos on UTube, which some schools direct their pupils to for revision and research.

In my opinion it’s the big tech firms which need penalising for any content which is unacceptable and/or inappropriate, the pornographers and violent content creators.

I think Nigel Farage has got it right - phone models with limited access. Also tackle the big (anti)social media companies.

He only wants to ban social media not internet access

I was a secondary teacher at the start of the social media thing and it has got worse. At that time, pupils would be bullied by others using phones, teachers were filmed without their consent and I even had parents phoning their children during class time. Social media has only made it all so much worse. No-one is saying children shouldn't have phones but under 16s don't need access to tiktok or Snapchat etc. They are not educational forums.
The majority of parents in the past kept an eye on what their children were up to but needed reminding every so often about the dangers. There were always parents who couldnt have cared less. That hasnt changed, but the stakes are higher.