On March 23, 2023 Utah governor Spencer Cox signed two new laws that ban the use of social media apps for people under the age of 18. The law enforces that minors need parent permission to use these apps and services. The state of Iowa is now considering imposing this law. The committee voted 14-9 sending it to the full House for consideration. Other states like Arkansas or Missouri are considering this law, but is this going to benefit or hurt minors? There are pros and cons on both sides of the argument.
To start with, there are some pros. The most important is protection of minors. Rep. John Will stated: “What we want to do is make sure that children are being protected from online bullying and from all of the other associated problems that go along with social media platforms.” Technologies can cause social problems and decrease productivity levels.
There are some cons too. Social media help teenagers get informed about recent news and many teenagers use it as a way to communicate with their friends and family. Some experts say that it will be easy for people to fake their parents' consent or their age and it will not be effective.
In my opinion Iowa shouldn’t ban social media for minors. It is the parents responsibility to decide whether they give their kid access to these apps or not and make sure they use it in a good way. I believe that banning them will lead to kids faking their parents' permission and their age and will not turn out to be as effective as they want to.
Do you think Iowa should impose this law? Why?
Do you think the law would turn out to be effective?
Sources:
https://secureteen.com/social-media/pros-and-cons-of-social-media
Replies
Although social media can sometimes be scary and unsafe, I don't think they should impose this law. I believe that this law would cause more problems than solve any. Many people use social media as a way to communicate. Also, many people's source of income is social media, which will cause people to lose money at younger ages.
I agree with you. I think they should not impose this law, people just have to be careful with social media.
I do think that Iowa should impose this law. Children and teens spend way to much time on social media already today, so by making a law for it, that can help decrease amount of time on it. I agree it is up to the parents but some parents aren't doing anything about the problem.
I do think that social media can be a scary place sometimes but I don't think that this law needs to be imposed. The way it is now should stay and I feel that it is the childs responsiblity to be respectful and smart on social media. More people would rebel against this law than follow it so it wouldn't be effective.
I agree that social media can be scary and we have to be careful. I agree that many people would rebel and it would not be effective.
although social media can be dangerous at times banning them is an extreme movement to make. i think that people should have the freedom to watch and see what they want, and its also a form of privacy that is taken away.
I don't think that Iowa should impose this law. I agree and will admit that social media has some problems associated with it, but it does a lot of good too. I use social media to communicate and I don't want that taken away.
I agree that Iowa shouln't impose this law. There is benefits of social media and it helps stay updated with news.
I don't think that Iowa shouls impose this law. I feel as if that they are going out of their way to "protect" their kids, but we still have bullying outside of social media. Kids get picked on without having to use a mask online because kids are mean. Also, kids will be secretive. They would hide their social media, and they would fight against this law.
I don't think Iowa should impose this exact law, instead I think they should just create harsher laws for social media companies and what they do with the data they're collecting. I think if more regulation in was pushed a lot of the privacy issues could be fixed.
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