Teen sued Utah over social media law requiring curfew for minors
Teen sued Utah over social media law requiring curfew for minors
arstechnica.com
Teen sued Utah over social media law requiring curfew for minors
24 comments
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i don't know why people are so eager to make kids' lives worse? no one likes being restricted from things, whatever nebulous social issue this is meant to fix could be better served by not having the schools start at fucking 730am.
you can work at mcdonalds at 12 now but you can't browse memes after your shift? what the fuck is this?
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First step: block youth from information Second step: block people from information Third step: welcome to New North Korea
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Good! Always good to see young people sticking up for themselves. Too often laws like this happen like they're just a given...
24 comments
You know... when I was in high school back in the early 90s, I'd spend half the night on local BBSes, which were sort of proto-social media restricted to a single phone number you could dial, and a little later I used IRC and Usenet by dialing in to the university computing system. And you know what happened? I was sleepy, but I made a lot of friends, some of them for life. There's a guy from Turkey I met on IRC when we were both in high school and I lived in the U.S. in Indiana. We still talk and we're both in our 40s. It was worth every minute. Even the times where I got harassed, and I did get harassed, on those local BBSes.
Somehow I survived all of that without turning into a drooling imbecile, a juvenile delinquent or commit suicide in my teens. (I also played D&D!)
Teenagers stay up late. That's just how they are. Let them enjoy it.
This could also be survivors bias.
Now, in my beliefs, I agree with you, having also lived that dialup BBS life in the late 80s and early 90s. But part of me always triggers when I hear "when I was a kid, I [did thing] and I turned out fine!" Because maybe we did, and those that didn't aren't posting about it. The same arguments are used about bike helmets and seat belts.
The social media of today is like comparing "I ate hamburgers as a kid, and I turned out fine," and comparing them to eating fast food burgers every day. There's a difference in volume, calories, and lifestyle.
We should be making decisions on what's appropriate using science, not feels. I don't know if the Utah law is based on any sound research, but given that it's Utah, I'm assuming not.
I'm not saying they're wrong, but yeah, it really comes off as how boomers talk about how they lived through lead paint/gas "just fine" and worked their way through college. Things have exponentially shifted since the heyday of irc and chatrooms, and while I don't think a dumb curfew is the solution, it's a problem that needs some sort of addressing.
Jesus. I don't remember writing this post, but I guess I did. I wonder when I created the alt account name I wrote this on.
I agree, but a BBS where you are communicating via text is very different from doom scrolling Tik Tok
In terms of the amount of information you can take in, sure. In terms of the psychological damage, I'm not so sure. There was plenty of harassment and bullying on BBSes. As I said, I got harassed. I had also developed a 'fuck you, I don't care what you say' attitude to pretty much anyone who decided to be a dick to me by that point, so it didn't really affect me, but a more insecure teen? Just as many problems as social media today I suspect. There were just less kids doing it.
Not really? Boredom is boredom and it sounds like you're doing the same thing people said about video games and TV and rock and and and.
This is utah though, a state mostly controlled by mormons. The mormon families I know take all their kids' electronics before they are to go to bed, and don't give them back until the morning, some incl 18yo in high school. Monitoring everything they look at to make sure they don't see anything that could make them question their beliefs is common
This is just them pushing the strict control all the hyper religious families in utah already exercise onto everyone else, like all the other silly laws in utah
I was there for the bootleg software but yeah. I ran up big phone bills because we lived in a rural area and everywhere was long distance.
Oh yeah, those phone bills. I would find BBSs in the local computer magazine, thinking they were local. But for some reason, my area code was big enough that part of it was long distance. I can't imagine doing it today, but it sure seemed worth it to spend forever at 1200 baud, downloading a black and white topless picture of Morgan Fairchild.
Haha. I did that too. I used to download porn pics from the internet since I could use my dad's university account, then upload them to the BBS, get a huge ratio, then download all the games I wanted. Then I had games AND porn.
I ran 3 BBSs when I was a teenager, I learned to get a thick skin pretty early. When some 50yo dude that's paying for a modem to watch porn at 9600baud starts loosing his shit on you, you learn to handle yourself or you'd go under quickly.