In commenting on Florida’s proposed ban on social media for under-16s, Robert Shibley says this:
It would be wise for the big platforms to make it much easier for parents to regulate this stuff, because that’s far preferable to the law stepping in.
That’s a laudable suggestion, but unfortunately it doesn’t take into account the fact that getting kids hooked on their programs is the actual goal of the “big platforms”, simply to get eyeballs for their advertisers. That any harm might occur to the owners of those eyeballs is to be ignored because First Amendment, dude.
I myself think that lowering the age of consent to 12 and the drinking age to 13 would probably do less harm to kids than does exposure to FaecesBook and the like. What the hell: if we’re going to trust kids not to do stuff that might harm them, let’s go all the way. [/Big Platforms]
I think it was in Heinlein’s Podykane of Mars novel that had such a libertarian society that a 14 year old boy could go into a casino/bar on Mars, and asked what was the tax intended to do? He might want to contribute.