Our Golden Dome of Wisdom appears determined to put social media back into the bottle, or maybe Pandora’s box. Or it could be shoving toothpaste back into the tube. Just know it’s going to be tough, impossible even.
But lawmakers are going to try. This week, the House Ways and Means Committee signed off on a bill that would prohibit teens younger than 17 from signing up for a social media account without “verifiable parental consent.” All the support came from Republicans, but not all Republicans.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” said GOP Rep. Megan Jones, according to The Gazette’s Tom Barton. “Parents should be in control of what their children are seeing and doing online. I don’t think this bill or this amendment will do that. And I have a lot of questions of what is happening here.”
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What’s happening here is yet another legislative attempt to ban what it sees as a societal malady. This will have three effects. It will give lawmakers a chance to brag about how they’ve saved the children and championed parental rights. It will give parents a false sense of security. And the ban will fail to stop the malady it targets. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’m not here to sing the virtues of social media. Concerns about its effects on mental health are real. It’s rapid-fire, real-time cruelty is a big problem. Our kids have weathered social media storms. We require them to allow us access to their accounts, and my wife does the work of making sure what they’re up to. At least we try to make sure.
Did we let them have smartphones before we should have? Yes. Live and learn.
The problem is technology moves faster than government. And kids are smarter than legislators. Social media is the medium by which these kids communicate. For better or worse, this is their community. It’s their free speech. Having to get parental permission to live in that world will not stop them.
So it gets driven underground. As bad as social media can be, it could be worse if kids afraid of getting caught with an account decide to keep quiet about threats of violence, suicide and other alarming content they’re seeing.
With bans, it’s always the unintended consequences that come back to bite us. Bans take aim at the bad without considering what other collateral damage might be caused. See Prohibition and the war on drugs as good examples of bans gone bad.
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Every generation faces predictions its ushering in societal decline and downfall. When I was a kid, it was the devil worshipers who were out to get us. Do-gooders slapped labels on our heavy metal cassettes warning of obscene lyrics. Wow did those albums sell like hot cakes.
And you can’t help but conclude this is as much about content as danger. Conservatives have insisted for years that social media skews liberal. So maybe this is also about keeping kids from learning about the perspectives of people and communities that Republicans don’t like. They’re already seeking to banish books by LGBTQ authors and people of color and whitewash history curriculum. Maybe this bill fits into our current drive to make Iowa into a bright red cultural nanny state.
And if Republicans care so much about kids’ mental health, why not fully fund the state’s children’s mental health system? Makes you wonder what’s really happening here.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
But lawmakers are going to try. This week, the House Ways and Means Committee signed off on a bill that would prohibit teens younger than 17 from signing up for a social media account without “verifiable parental consent.” All the support came from Republicans, but not all Republicans.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” said GOP Rep. Megan Jones, according to The Gazette’s Tom Barton. “Parents should be in control of what their children are seeing and doing online. I don’t think this bill or this amendment will do that. And I have a lot of questions of what is happening here.”
Advertisement
What’s happening here is yet another legislative attempt to ban what it sees as a societal malady. This will have three effects. It will give lawmakers a chance to brag about how they’ve saved the children and championed parental rights. It will give parents a false sense of security. And the ban will fail to stop the malady it targets. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I’m not here to sing the virtues of social media. Concerns about its effects on mental health are real. It’s rapid-fire, real-time cruelty is a big problem. Our kids have weathered social media storms. We require them to allow us access to their accounts, and my wife does the work of making sure what they’re up to. At least we try to make sure.
Did we let them have smartphones before we should have? Yes. Live and learn.
The problem is technology moves faster than government. And kids are smarter than legislators. Social media is the medium by which these kids communicate. For better or worse, this is their community. It’s their free speech. Having to get parental permission to live in that world will not stop them.
So it gets driven underground. As bad as social media can be, it could be worse if kids afraid of getting caught with an account decide to keep quiet about threats of violence, suicide and other alarming content they’re seeing.
With bans, it’s always the unintended consequences that come back to bite us. Bans take aim at the bad without considering what other collateral damage might be caused. See Prohibition and the war on drugs as good examples of bans gone bad.
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Every generation faces predictions its ushering in societal decline and downfall. When I was a kid, it was the devil worshipers who were out to get us. Do-gooders slapped labels on our heavy metal cassettes warning of obscene lyrics. Wow did those albums sell like hot cakes.
And you can’t help but conclude this is as much about content as danger. Conservatives have insisted for years that social media skews liberal. So maybe this is also about keeping kids from learning about the perspectives of people and communities that Republicans don’t like. They’re already seeking to banish books by LGBTQ authors and people of color and whitewash history curriculum. Maybe this bill fits into our current drive to make Iowa into a bright red cultural nanny state.
And if Republicans care so much about kids’ mental health, why not fully fund the state’s children’s mental health system? Makes you wonder what’s really happening here.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: Kids are smarter than ban-happy Iowa legislators
FILE – The TikTok logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays the …
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