Should social media have warning labels???

This is a thoughtful approach, but most parents don't have the discipline to do this sort of thing.

There are plenty of studies showing the benefits of playing outside. Kids nowadays are doing this just a tiny fraction of the time that their parents and grandparents did.

When is the last time you heard a parent tell a child, "Make sure you're home before the street lights come on"?

It's not just about phone vs TV. Sitting on their phones is all a lot of these kids are doing every day.

I'm not lamenting kids playing video games with their friends, but they're throwing punches at teachers who take their phones away, and as you said earlier, the internet never forgets. How many girls are having their photos passed around school, or how many kids post a comment or video that ends up haunting them forever?

It might be where I live, but sports are very popular and kids play and do things outside all the time. I agree with tbe health benefits of being outside and agree social media can be harmful. But I think the idea that people are on their phones all the time isnt really true. Most of the young people I know seem extremely healthy, well adjusted and more understanding than the last generation. Younger parents also seem more involved in their childrens lives than boomers were. Thats my experience.

I remember I made a post on OOT about 16 years ago when I was in law school about how I felt like I was hopelessly addicted to the Internet. There were a few people in that thread that shared a similar sentiment. This was years before I had a smart phone or anything other than bare calls and texts on my phone. That was purely being addicted to using the Internet by computer. For me, it has only gotten worse over time and constant access to the Internet by smartphone has not made it any easier.

I could not imagine how horrible it would have been for somebody that loves the Internet as much as I do to have had access to it 24/7 while I was in my formative years. I honestly think it was damaging enough just having the limited access to the text-only Internet available to me when I was 12 years old in the mid-90s. At that age, my parents recognized that I had a serious problem being addicted to that old computer and took it away completely, to the point that I did not go back on the Internet at all until I was in high school. If 12 year old me had access to a smart phone with unlimited Internet like kids do now, I have no doubt I would have seriously messed up my life along the way.

Even for adults, Internet addiction is a real thing and a damaging thing. I recognized it in myself when I was 12 on my MS-DOS PC, when I was 24 in law school, and even now that I am almost 40. There has never been a time in my life that I could legitimately say that the Internet was a positive force in my life. There is little doubt in my head that young children with constant access to the Internet are being irreparably harmed by their exposure to the Internet. At least when I was a kid, the Internet was almost 100% anonymous; now kids have to suffer the added burden of their impaired youthful judgment screwing up their lives forever.

I don't know if a warning label is really the solution, but there does need to be some kind of public acknowledgement that the Internet can cause serious harm to children. I don't think that comparing the Internet to television or video games is adequate, as the Internet has a uniquely addictive quality to it that I do not think television or video games come close to touching.

This is true, especially among wealthier parents. In some cases, they are involved to a degree that inhibits their kids ability to function independently.

For the sake of our future, I hope Kansas is a sign of things to come, then.

A simple Google search akin to, "What happened to playing outside?" pops up a million articles saying that we've been in a severe downtrend over the last 3 decades. A lot of them blame it on unsubstantiated fears of parents thinking their kids would be stolen, but many others cite technology.

"Screen time" wasn't even a thing in 1995, for instance.

One little addendum here but this is a politics forum so we all tend to gravitate towards the political implications of things as I'm sure the feeds of those here are deep in the political derp but the avg person cares far less about the political landscape than the regs here do.

So while some kids may be better prepared to determine whether Frazzledrip is real or not, or if the earth is flat or the moon landing happened (which they haven't really yet) more kids are dealing with insomnia, loneliness, poor self-esteem, overeating and the negative effects of living a sedentary lifestyle and the increase use of anti-depressants as the side effect.

It depends. I think that warning labels have contributed to increased awareness of the dangers of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption. If I get OTC medication, I certainly check to see if it interacts negatively with alcohol, limits my ability to drive, etc. If there is a warning that fumes should not be inhaled, I generally heed that warning. If there is a warning that a product should not be stored near a heat source, I generally would heed that warning.

I understand what you mean very well but you are skipping a generation basically.

so my claim isn't that rn things are better than in the 80s for kids. I am saying they aren't worse than in the 00s and possibly are a littler better than back then

3h/day+ of tv wasn't a thing in 1995?

If people were only on the Internet for three hours a day, then it would not be a huge deal.

That would be an interesting social experiment

California governor wants to restrict smartphone usage in schools

https://apnews.com/article/california-ne...

I'd imagine that we are likely to see more enforcement with this at all ages in all areas at large.

The former is a big part. The latter might be too. But my cousin works at a school in a middle class ruralish suburb. It must be one of the safest places in human history. Literally zero kids walk or bike to school.

School district in Katy, TX (large suburb west of Houston) has apparently banned smartphones (or maybe cellular devices altogether) at all schools K-12.

Good for them!

What a double edged sword that is! I know for me, I wish my parents had been a bit more involved in my life. This would lead to a related debate about what is happening there, is it helicopter parents or is it millenials being more understanding of what modern life is like for children? Most of my friends are getting married and having kids and these kids are 1-3 years old now. I help with my cousins kids and best friends, occasionally babysitting and am very interested in how things will play out in regards to these debates- most of the toddlers in my life are too young for school or for cell phones to apply to them. But most of my friends and family are great parents who worry about their children a lot. For instance my family imports baby formula from Europe because it is healthier than the american brands.I think I might learn something about this pretty soon since basically we were the children ten years ago. and now there is a new generation in my family of literal babies. Obviously like any generation there is going to be new challenges and new rewards. My sense is bad parents will be bad parents and good parents will be good parents like always.

if you want people to be able to play without adult supervision, you should start by making it fully legal.

when parents are harassed by law enforcement if their 11y old walk to school alone, you can't expect the kids will be allowed in parks unsupervised like we (born in the 80s) were.