Really enjoyed this episode and learned a few things, but I have a quibble with the topic right at the end - I recognize that there may be more in the book, but the suggestion that implementation of an enforceable age limit on social media is an 'easy and free' option is overwhelmingly incorrect. How does something like this get built in…
Really enjoyed this episode and learned a few things, but I have a quibble with the topic right at the end - I recognize that there may be more in the book, but the suggestion that implementation of an enforceable age limit on social media is an 'easy and free' option is overwhelmingly incorrect. How does something like this get built into a platform? How do we prove that a 12 year old is a 12 year old if they don't have government-issued ID? Surely we don't want social media companies getting access to SSNs, but what's the alternative? Lobbying parents to get government-issued ID cards for their kids? Creating some centralized database of children's ages and addresses? These all sound like pretty terrible options that I think people would push back against. Plus, how would this work internationally? I don't think this is an unsolvable problem, and the onus is absolutely on the social media companies to find a way, but I strongly disagree that this is a problem that's easy and cheap to solve.
Really enjoyed this episode and learned a few things, but I have a quibble with the topic right at the end - I recognize that there may be more in the book, but the suggestion that implementation of an enforceable age limit on social media is an 'easy and free' option is overwhelmingly incorrect. How does something like this get built into a platform? How do we prove that a 12 year old is a 12 year old if they don't have government-issued ID? Surely we don't want social media companies getting access to SSNs, but what's the alternative? Lobbying parents to get government-issued ID cards for their kids? Creating some centralized database of children's ages and addresses? These all sound like pretty terrible options that I think people would push back against. Plus, how would this work internationally? I don't think this is an unsolvable problem, and the onus is absolutely on the social media companies to find a way, but I strongly disagree that this is a problem that's easy and cheap to solve.