Social media has been around for more than a decade, and we have already seen both the negative and positive aspects of the connections it has made possible. Utah, while still acknowledging its importance, believes that there should be limits when it comes to minors.
Teen Disagrees With Regulation Act
Utah plans to put a restriction in effect by March 1st called the Social Media Regulation Act, wherein users under 18 will not have access to certain social media features between 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. This includes search results and ad displays.
A high school student, Hannah Zoulek, believes that this would be an unfair policy, given that she used it to communicate with other members of her school's club, as well as friends and communities that they could not access otherwise.
Zoulek expressed in a statement that the policy might make it harder to talk with people who have similar experiences, and that it would just make it even more difficult for teens to access essential and beneficial resources online, as reported by Ars Technica.
With the Social Media Regulation Act, the state can penalize social media companies if they do not comply. Should a minor become addicted, they can pay up to $250,000 for each case, and about $2,500 for minor harms found.
The lawsuit states that the policy is also flawed, considering how vague it is. It "fails to define what constitutes 'physical, mental, emotional, developmental, or material harms,' or what degree of harm gives rise to liability."
This means that the state will have a large array of situations they can call a violation. "The vagueness means state officials possess unlimited subjective discretion to decide whether a provider's content publication practices cross the line."
With this, social media companies might just restrict minor access completely for the sake of avoiding the huge fees that come with violations. While the law was "well-intentioned," the complaint said that it was "misguided."
Why Restricting Social Media Might Be Worse
Social media has been an integral part of the lives of millions if not billions of people around the world, minors included. With social networking, they can have access to vast resources and information, along with connections with people around the world.
Places like Reddit or Facebook have groups and forums where people can talk about certain issues and topics, and they don't exactly stop being relevant by the time the curfew begins. This might limit a user's access at a time when they might need it most.
This could lead to minors resorting to other forms of communication, one that might even be unsafe, just so they could reconnect with others online. Instead of avoiding "addiction" to social media as well as its other negative effects, it might push teens to explore unsafe channels instead.
That's not to say that social media does not have its downsides, but there are better ways to prevent younger users from overusing the platforms, and the law could certainly have more specific scenarios and rules that social media companies can abide by.
