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00:00:01
Social Media Age Restrictions, and an Exciting Announcement.
102 Plays1 month ago
Andrew discussed the proposals for age restrictions on social media that would aim to stop U16s accessing social media, and makes an exciting announcement for https://thedopamineslotmachine.co.uk/.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:11
Andrew Wilmot
Good morning, good day, good evening. Wherever you are, welcome to the Dopamine Slot Machine, the podcast that discusses what you need to know about the video games your children are playing. How are they designed to get to your kids hooked? How to make money from your children? and What can you do to make sure your child's relationship with video games is a positive one?
Episode Highlights and Announcements
00:00:28
Andrew Wilmot
My name is Andrew. I'm a dad of two and a lifelong gamer. And this week's not really specifically about video games. In fact, it's not really specifically about anything at all. It's just a bit of a roundup on some thoughts of recent events, as well as an exciting announcement for yourselves.
00:00:43
Andrew Wilmot
So...
Legislation on Social Media Age Restrictions
00:00:44
Andrew Wilmot
If you've been living under a rock, you might have missed that there was vote in the House of Lords recently on legislation to introduce age restrictions on social media.
00:00:54
Andrew Wilmot
So requiring social media to make sure that everybody above the age of So legislation requiring social media companies to make sure that...
00:01:03
Andrew Wilmot
Nobody under the age of 16 is able to access their platforms. This is similar to the ban in Australia. I shouldn't say ban, really, because it's not a ban. we don't ban we We don't refer to age restrictions on alcohol as banning children from beer or age restrictions on learning to drive as banning children from getting on the motorway. It's just setting an appropriate age.
00:01:25
Andrew Wilmot
Now, I've got my own initial thoughts on this. So firstly, social media, absolutely not a good thing for kids. Children should not be on social media. I'm not going to argue about that. Where I do have some concerns about legislation like this is on the implementation and enforcement and potential unintended consequences and costs here.
00:01:45
Andrew Wilmot
So... From my perspective, as a technologist, as somebody who is very immersed in this space, my initial thoughts go to our own Online Safety Act and how trivial that is to evade, be it through VPNs or through the use of even like chat GPT to generate ah an ID that passes.
00:02:04
Andrew Wilmot
I also look at services like Wikipedia, which does include, by definition, it is user-to-user generated content, but you I'm hardly going to be talking about the risks of Wikipedia to children.
Critique of Charities' Opposition to Age Restrictions
00:02:16
Andrew Wilmot
So there is some risk that if a social media age restriction bit of legislation goes through that there are unintended consequences that could cause harm elsewhere in society.
00:02:29
Andrew Wilmot
That said, there's been a really interesting pushback from a number of charities. So there's been a joint statement letter issued by the Molly Rose Foundation, the NSPCC Five Rights Foundation,
00:02:43
Andrew Wilmot
Full fact, internet matters, along with dozens and dozens of other organisations and a number of academics. And basically saying that they are against a social media ban, as they call it, for under-16s. And there's a couple of bits I want to quote from here, and then i um I'm going to be honest. The...
00:03:03
Andrew Wilmot
what they're talking about here is is nonsense. the The arguments that they're putting forward are ill thought out and we'll get into a little bit why just shortly. So they say that blanket bans on social media would fail to deliver the improvement in children's safety and wellbeing that they so urgently need. They are a blunt response that fails to address the successive shortcomings of tech companies and governments to act decisively
Comparing Social Media Risks
00:03:26
Andrew Wilmot
and sooner. So is this not decisive action?
00:03:30
Andrew Wilmot
um really understand this paragraph here. um I mean, they're saying that there's other things they could do, and that's true. ah that There are other things that we could do to tackle the use of addictive design by these companies. um Introducing age restrictions doesn't preclude that.
00:03:46
Andrew Wilmot
You can do both. Probably should do both and in some way.
00:03:50
Andrew Wilmot
They say that banning children from social media risks an array of unintended consequences. Ah, so they going to start talking about the difficulty of implementation and risks to perfectly safe businesses and additional costs for that? No! It says it would create a false sense of safety that would see children, but also the threats to them, migrate to other areas online. Children aged 16 would face a dangerous cliffhedge when they start to use high-risk platforms with girls, particularly being exposed to a range of threats from misogyny to sexual abuse. Let's talk about that... um You know, the the argument that if you block children from using Facebook, Snapchat, et cetera, et cetera, that they'll shift to riskier platforms. Well, firstly, Snapchat is about as risky a platform as you can make up for a child when when we're talking risks of of grooming, risks of addictive design. There's some of the pioneers in use of addiction.
00:04:41
Andrew Wilmot
It is peer-to-peer photo-focused technology. photo-focused messaging with disappearing messages. Go speak with any police force in the country about how many difficulties they have with Snapchat. Children are on the most dangerous platforms at the moment.
Age Restrictions and 'Cliff Edge' Risks
00:05:00
Andrew Wilmot
Now, to use an example of the sort of website which they might be talking about, ah there's 4chan. Now, 4chan, it's not appropriate for children. And they are actually just flouting the Online Safety Act restrictions at the moment. you can You can access it without proving your age in the UK or without having a VPN or anything like that.
00:05:23
Andrew Wilmot
But what 4chan has is deeply inappropriate content, sexual content, politically extreme content. It's got a history of basically cyberbullying people,
00:05:36
Andrew Wilmot
um They've even got a term for it, an awful term, a lol cow. you You milk the lol cow for lols. So basically bully somebody for laughs. But 4chan doesn't have private messaging. 4chan doesn't have much in the way of addictive design. You're never going to get notifications from 4chan. It's never going to be trying to maximise your use of the platform.
00:06:00
Andrew Wilmot
So in many ways... comparing 4chan, this a darker, riskier part of the internet to mainstream internet, there are ways in which it's safer than Snapchat.
00:06:10
Andrew Wilmot
Snapchat gives criminals and
Online Spaces for Marginalized Children
00:06:14
Andrew Wilmot
people who would want to sexually abuse children a direct line to your child. 4chan is not direct. You'd have to move off to another platform to have that conversation. With everybody being anonymous, it's quite difficult to do that.
00:06:29
Andrew Wilmot
This cliff edge argument, they suddenly get access. Isn't this the same with suddenly being able to buy alcohol at 18? Now, we do have alcohol education and most families will have gradually introduced their children to alcohol at ah an age appropriate time. So in an age appropriate way, like maybe having a first beer when you're about 14, that sort of thing.
00:06:56
Andrew Wilmot
So, again, this cliff-edge argument falls over in reality when you compared to to other, similar restrictions. It goes on. Citation needed. None of there's no evidence for this. But...
00:07:09
Andrew Wilmot
citation needed but children including lgbt q and neurodiverse children also require platforms for connection self-identity peer support and access to trusted sources of advice and help citation needed none of this is cited because there's no evidence for this but and i was i grew up in the sort of Tumblr era, and my friendship group was quite alternative, quite neurodiverse, quite LGBTQ heavy. And the idea that marginalised children need online spaces for their own self-expression is fraught, I think.
00:07:49
Andrew Wilmot
There's very much marginalised children who are most at risk, and these online spaces are very far from healthy. Again, they were a Tumblr, which very LGBTQ friendly, also extremely toxic, famous at the time for spreading self-harm and anorexic type viewpoints, encouraging children to engage in self-harm and restricted eating.
00:08:14
Andrew Wilmot
So these these these platforms that they say marginalized children need are placing marginalized children at
Charities' Financial Ties and Policy Influence
00:08:22
Andrew Wilmot
risk. And what you've effectively got with these online platforms is unregulated groups which is why you so often hear of things like grooming within these groups. Like, you know, just go look up how many YouTubers have been found guilty or or had controversies over the way they message younger followers of theirs. And this is particularly true in the same sort of alternative spaces this letter is saying is required.
00:08:51
Andrew Wilmot
Now, it mentions child line here. ah Childline, you don't need a smartphone to access. You don't need social media to access. In fact, being able to get resources and advice has nothing to do with Facebook. has nothing to do with TikTok. You can Google it.
00:09:13
Andrew Wilmot
Are we saying that our children are now so incapable of using technology that they can't Google something? Because for me, that's indicative that they shouldn't be on social media at all, that we've so removed any friction between what children want to do, what they can do, that they're left unable to build any sort of digital literacy.
00:09:33
Andrew Wilmot
It goes on. A social media ban is not the answer. Instead, an approach which is both broader and more targeted is needed. Personalised services like social media, but also games and AI chatbots, by the way, agree on that, should not be accessible to children under 13. Existing law to this end should be robustly enforced.
00:09:51
Andrew Wilmot
Look, it's debatable whether existing law... ah would address that. not going to go into that. But I find it really interesting that these charities, who up until it became obvious that it was no longer politically feasible to avoid any sort of age restrictions, they were saying no age restrictions at all. And I was saying, oh, no, it should be 13 rather than 16. Now, from a social media company perspective, this is brilliant, because then you are still getting most of that market.
00:10:19
Andrew Wilmot
But you're also making it harder for up and coming social media companies to compete. Regulations like this are disproportionately burdensome on smaller companies than big ones.
00:10:30
Andrew Wilmot
It will not be difficult for Facebook to to abide by this policy. It would not be difficult for Snapchat or TikTok to do the same. It would be extremely difficult if we were to try and launch one to compete ah to to abide by this policy. And so this effectively locks out the competition. It These social media restrictions, whilst they will end up hurting the bottom line of these companies in the short term, also prevent ah the next Facebook, make it harder for the next Facebook to grow.
00:11:02
Andrew Wilmot
So pushing for 13 instead of 16 means that the demographics which are he the heaviest users of social media, and also the most profitable users of social media, still get access.
00:11:13
Andrew Wilmot
But the restrictions still have to be put in place. It's it's no additional cost to have it at 16 rather than 13 for these companies. This seems a very pro-social media viewpoint.
00:11:26
Andrew Wilmot
Do we think that potentially some of these charities are backed by social media companies? that's because they are. The Molly Rose Foundation is heavily funded by Pinterest and Meta. The NSPCC heavily found funded by Vodafone and O2.
00:11:41
Andrew Wilmot
Internet Matters is partnered with BT, Sky, Virgin Media, Amazon, Electronic Arts, Roblox, Samsung, Tesco Mobile. The Internet Watch Foundation partnered with Google, Disney, Meta, ChildNet International sponsored by Disney partnered with Facebook, BT, Microsoft.
00:11:58
Andrew Wilmot
I don't want to write off everything these charities do. But when it comes to policy, and giving advice on policy, there's a very clear conflict of interest. And
Effectiveness of Age Restrictions
00:12:08
Andrew Wilmot
I am not wholly in support of these age restrictions. I've got my own reservations and concerns. But the arguments being delivered by these charities and their corporate backers is dishonest. It is it it is fundamentally
00:12:24
Andrew Wilmot
of poor rigor without evidence and self-contradictory.
00:12:30
Andrew Wilmot
Now, I'm not accusing... ah people involved in these charities are being corrupt. I'm not saying that they're getting kickbacks and and gilded payments or anything like that.
00:12:42
Andrew Wilmot
But it is very clear that if they did not hold these views, they would not get this funding by Big Tech.
Resources for Parents and Educators
00:12:47
Andrew Wilmot
Now want to talk a little bit about some exciting developments my side. So since the vote in the House of Lords, I have been inundated with requests to speak, requests to give advice and requests for resources.
00:13:00
Andrew Wilmot
So don't say it too loudly, now that I'm starting to be referred to as an expert on children's video games, I have started to put together these resources.
00:13:12
Andrew Wilmot
So the dopamineslopmachine.co.uk website has had a massive refresh, and right on the front are set of platform guides, including Roblox, Fortnite, TikTok, Snapchat, Minecraft, Instagram, YouTube, YouTube Kids, and Telegram, with more to come.
00:13:29
Andrew Wilmot
It also direct links to the podcast, And these are one pages. They're not designed to be comprehensive guides on these platforms, but the basics that parents and educators need to know about these platforms.
00:13:46
Andrew Wilmot
I'm putting these all out for free. They do not cost a penny to download. They're licensed under Creative Commons BYND, and so you can... share it freely. You can copy and redistribute it in any medium or format. You can use it for educational and non-commercial purposes.
00:14:05
Andrew Wilmot
As long as you give appropriate credit to the dopamine slot machine, and that is included in the one pages anyway, and you include a link to the website as the original source, which is also included in the one pages.
00:14:17
Andrew Wilmot
You can't modify, adapt, remix, or alter it, create derivative works, or present modified versions as endorsed by myself, but This licensing will allow you to give it to schools and for schools to share it to parents without having to ask me permission, without having to ah check in with me about the use of it, without having to pay me a penny.
00:14:40
Andrew Wilmot
Though highly detailed, are fromman they are from an expert. This isn't somebody who is putting together a parenting website and trying to harvest subscriptions off
Invitation for Talks and Webinars
00:14:50
Andrew Wilmot
you.
00:14:51
Andrew Wilmot
but it is still highly, highly detailed. I'm very proud of it and more are coming. So check out the revamped DopamineSlockMachine.co.uk website, check out the platform guides.
00:15:03
Andrew Wilmot
Now, I'm looking to expand where I'm doing talks at this time. So I'm engaged with a number of schools locally to myself who want me to come and to deliver talks, but I'm also engaged in with a number of planned webinars and even some travel to go do some talks. So if you do want me to speak with your school or to speak at an event, either at your school or virtually, please do get in touch.
00:15:31
Andrew Wilmot
These are super exciting times and with the renewed focus from legislators, from schools and from parents on social media and tangentially video games, this is the perfect time to strike up a conversation.
00:15:45
Andrew Wilmot
And that's it for me today. This has ended up going on a little bit longer than I first ah intended. I thought this would be a very quick recording. So don't forget, if you've got some questions for me or if you of your children have been impacted by the issues we've discussed today, perhaps you've got strong opinions on social media restrictions yourself, please get in touch with me at ah at my email, thedopamineslopmachine.gmail.co.uk, or you can find all contact details on the website.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:16:10
Andrew Wilmot
That's all I have time for today. Thank you so much for joining me and see you soon.