You wanna bring down rates of child depression? Make Smartphones and Apps safer for kiddos and teens…

Thursday, November 16, 2023.

Are you fed up yet?… It’s time to start making Smartphones and App Stores safer for kids and teens

A new policy brief from the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) and the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) calls upon federal and state lawmakers to consider whether regulating social media platforms alone will achieve the goal of online safety for children.

The IFS and EPPC also recommend that as leaders pursue vital legislation to control pursue device-level legislation to make devices and app stores safer for kids, and not just the social media platforms themselves.

This is a brilliantly good idea.

The time to wait for voluntary action is over. American parents would appreciate you taking your fu*king boot of the neck of their kiddo’s mental health… bless your heart.

This is an egregious example of unfettered Limbic Capitalism…

• Apple, Google, and other smartphone and tablet manufacturers have arrogantly refused to take voluntary action to ensure that the materials accessible by children are age appropriate.

So it’s time to get medieval on their sorry asses.

So the device manufacturers want to dodge responsibility for our kid’s mental health. They want responsibility to fall entirely on the shoulders of social media companies? Don’t worry they will be spit-roasted as well. Let’s have a block party!

Nothing about the social media powers-that-be have shown any fu*king regard for the public good.

Why do we assume that the digital products of Big Tech device, and App Store companies should be somehow exempt from child safety laws?

These laws already apply to physical goods and services that are used by children, such as pajamas, playpens toys, playgrounds, and even food.

It's high fu*king time that well that similar protections be applied to to the hardware of Limbic Capitalism.

"Big Tech's profits are coming at the expense of our kids," said study co-author Michael Toscano, IFS executive director.

"Kids have unplugged from the real world for a virtual one that is completely unregulated for child safety. Big Tech has been given free rein to reap massive profits at the expense of our kids' mental and emotional health."

No Michael, you’re wrong! Didn’t you read the social science? It’s the parents fault. Sometimes during the puppet show, the wrist hairs show.. don’t they?

What should our government do? 

Are we gonna get serious about childhood mental health once and for all?

Here are the policy positions that might be undertaken in a joint effort between Congress, state lawmakers, state attorneys general, and enforcement entities like the Federal Trade Commission.

Let’s empower parents instead of vilifying them. Check out these policy recommendations for Congress:

• Verify age on the device.

• Automatically enable family-friendly device defaults for minor users.

• Open up litigation by amending the Federal Trade Commission Act.

• Expand competition in the App Store market.

• Prohibit apps and app stores from displaying obscene ads to children.

What device manufacturers and app stores should do:

• Adopt new, accurate age-rating systems for informed parental consent.

• Prevent mature ads from running in apps rated for minors.

• Block mature ads for minors using the app stores.

• Provide additional "school mode" and "bedtime mode" settings as parental controls.

• Provide a "child safe" setting on devices (implemented on a parent's shared device).

Final thoughts…

It’s inevitable that will be seeing ads, and hearing commercials telling us that more doctors smoke camels.

In other words, we’re already seeing bullsh*t push back and evasion of responsibility.. expect even more.

It’s outrageous how social media and attendant devices have eluded proffering basic parental oversight and control. We have a perilous mental health dillema that could toxically magnify in 2 generations or so.

Which is why I find discussions of parental responsibility absent a discussion of the erosion of parental authority so deeply problematic. It’s time to regulate the sh*t out these devices and platforms.

Let’s revitalize the gravitas of parental oversight and technological authority in our own sacred homes.

Be well, stay kind, and Godspeed.