Iowa banning social media

[5Maria]

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://wbuf.com/ixp/11/p/bans-social-media-new-york/#:~:text=On%20March%2023%2C%202023%2C%20Utah,age%20of%2018%20years%20old.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/11/iowa-house-pushes-bill-requiring-parent-consent-for-kids-social-media/70099843007/

https://secureteen.com/social-media/pros-and-cons-of-social-media

[3Reichan]

I have not heard anything yet on this news or Iowa talking about social media at all, but if this is true it would not be fair to all Iowans, reasoning is that some people do not particpate in the basd things on social media or do not doing anything bad enough to make it a law.

[5Maria]

I agree that I would not be fair for al Iowans because there is a lot of people that use social media the way it is supposed to.