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
Personally, I don’t think this law should be passed in Iowa. Social media does have negative effects and can potentially be dangerous, but I believe rules for how to handle social media should be between the parent and child. I also don’t think this law is fair to the children who are in foster care or do not have a legal guardian as they have nobody to even give them permission to be on social media.
I don't think that Iowa should ban social media for minors because there are so many restrictions that paretns can put on apps and the whole phone if they don't want their kids on them. I don't think the law would be effective because like you said it's so easy to just say you are over 18.
I agree that there is other apps provided to restrict phone time and apps and that would be a better solution.
I think Iowa shouldn't impose this law because social media is already one of the most extremely used things every day in the lives of everyone including minors under 18. So, this will cause more people to struggle to use social media or give it up all together. I think this law won't do anything at all but annoy people under 18.
In my opion Iowa shouldn't ban social media, because social media is a way for friends and family to share memories from long distance. For example I have cousins in South Dakota that I only talk to through social media. If they ever try to ban it, its going to be hard.
I agree with you. Social media helps many people communicate and provides updated information for teens.
I don't see how affective it would be because most parents would just let their kids use social media either way. I don't think their needs to be a law on it, and if parents don't want their kids using social media, just don't let them use it. I probably wouldn't find it too hard considering I don't use social media too much.
In my opinion parents should be the ones deciding instead of the government and imposing a law.
I don't think that Iowa should impose this law because social media is a way where people can communicate people and give different updates to family and friends by showing them a picture or video. I believe that the law won't get passed because a lot of people will turn it down and I think that it won't be effective in any sorts of way.
I do not think that Iowa should impose this law. Social media is a great way of communicating and giving updates to your friends and family. If this law did go threw many people would be upset. I do not think this law will get passed and would not be effective or successful in any way.
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