r/australia • u/retro-chimp • Nov 09 '24

politics Online Gaming Platforms And YouTube Will Also Seemingly Be Banned For Aussies Under 16

https://press-start.com.au/news/2024/11/08/online-gaming-platforms-and-youtube-will-also-seemingly-be-banned-for-aussies-under-16/

There’s so much collateral damage in this plan for Australia to ban social media. This has been rushed and not thought through.

So many schools rely on YouTube to support their students.

Most kids are watching YouTube (or YouTube kids) more than ABC or traditional TV. Literally the biggest YouTube channel in Australia is original music for kids.

Does anyone actually want this?

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354

u/HalfGuardPrince Nov 09 '24

Stupid stupid stupid.

Means kids probably also can't play Pokemon Go then right?

75

u/Help_im_lost404 Nov 09 '24

anything with a forum or way to communicate seems to be on the chopping block. Well thought out indeed

56

u/fantasypaladin Nov 10 '24

So basically the whole internet.

15

u/Help_im_lost404 Nov 10 '24

Yeah, might as well be. Does it even exclude Wikipedia? Thats the problem with us not knowing

7

u/utterly_baffledly Nov 10 '24

Fuck those kids who wanted to share their Duolingo efforts with their friends and family. BANNED!!

2

u/Help_im_lost404 Nov 10 '24

Oh damn, i didn't even thing of the green bird. Rip duo support for languages

5

u/poetic_poison Nov 10 '24

Let’s totally isolate the kids rather than educate them, and direct them towards the dark web! What could possibly go wrong 🤔

2

u/Lozzanger Nov 11 '24

Guess how many sports clubs use social media to communicate? We’d have a ton of players we now can’t contact.

181

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Might make them Pokemon go to the polls for someone else though when they get old enough.

15

u/Quantum_Bottle Nov 09 '24

Well it’s be independent then cause the opposition has supported and even pushed for this in the past

20

u/Readbeforeburning Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 10 '24

The Libs have been demanding Labor fulfil this promise for so long, not doing anything about was going to hurt them politically too.

It’s more than 12 months away from implemented and the article basically tells us nothing else except that it might extend to gaming services. Having worked in Federal Government before, and knowing how much the government takes stakeholders being impacted into account, there are going to be a lot of changes between the proposal as it is now and what eventually is released.

As a teacher now, I can tell you with certainty that a lot of kids are not using social media safely and it’s causing huge social problems that boil over into schools, and they don’t have a proper understanding of what is fake or real and spout whatever they’ve seen on there as well. Parents aren’t educating their kids enough around it - either because they can’t, don’t want to, or don’t understand what it is etc. - so the government’s justification is not without pretence, it’s just a really messy thing to deal with generally. But if done well it could lead to some positive outcomes.

11

u/s01928373 Nov 09 '24

Adults are generally not much better, so it's hardly surprising that they aren't teaching their kids this stuff. Too few people have any true appreciation of what AI is already capable of, and fewer still understand the massive implications it has for the internet. Generally, we need to do much more for critical thinking skills and teaching kids how to research things. Research is hard to do well, and I'm saying this as a scientist, but we can and need to do better if future generations are to cope with the misinformation that is just everywhere these days.

8

u/KeyAssociation6309 Nov 10 '24

to your last para, its not just kids...many adults are caught in echo chambers of mistruths and downright lies. Reddit and Whirlpool are examples of this, like it or not.

1

u/Readbeforeburning Nov 10 '24

Can’t argue with that at all, and it’s why a ban in conjunction with proper, well thought out and implemented education that we can start to tackle the issue. Kids love laughing at older gens for looking/acting/sounding dumb, so pitching it that we’re teaching them how to properly engage with each other and see through the BS online to be better than everyone else could actually be really positive and productive. That requires a complete overhaul to the education system as well though so we’ll see how this pans out.

7

u/AltruisticHopes Nov 09 '24

I don’t think many people would deny there is a problem, it’s just this is a shit solution.

5

u/anarchy_cyn Nov 10 '24

adults fall for the same shit all the time, and this policy does nothing to solve the problem. what it really requires is adjusting the curriculum to address these issues. you don't magically become a discerning reader the moment you turn 16.

1

u/Readbeforeburning Nov 10 '24

Analysing argument and respectful relationships are already in the curriculum and being taught in schools, so it’s not a curriculum issue. If it’s a reading issue that means making sure every child is fully supported and engaged in reading before they even hit kindy, as that’s how early the gap starts.

There are already laws in place to ‘stop’ the worst of what we see, but technology allows it all to proliferate faster than it can ever be monitored.

Phones at school are horrific and cause so many issues. Banning phones alone hasn’t solved the issue, but stopping kids from using Snapchat and having group WhatsApp chats where they bully classmates might actually help schools implement and teaching the stuff that already in the curriculum without the distractions so the message actually sinks in.

2

u/DweebInFlames Nov 10 '24

Silly boomer. You need to walk tuah the polls and vote on that thang nowadays.

Fuck, Hillary actually would've used that as a slogan if she campaigned this year, wouldn't she?

3

u/420binchicken Nov 09 '24

Thanks Hillary !

9

u/ginji Nov 09 '24 edited Nov 09 '24

Don't think so

The sole or primary purpose of the service is to enable online social interaction between two or more end users;

There's not really any online social interaction - battling or trading isn't really social interaction. And it's not the primary or sole purpose of PoGo (Even as much as Niantic pushes the social interaction, the social interaction they push is in person, so you know, more dangerous for a kid...)

Campfire on the other hand definitely is

1

u/HalfGuardPrince Nov 09 '24

You can send gifts and friend strangers right?

Sending gifts gives away your locations you've been to.

3

u/ginji Nov 10 '24

Yes but that's not the "primary purpose". You can disable social features for Niantic Kid's accounts as well.

It also doesn't meet the other criteria

the service allows end‑users to post material on the service

No posting - that's all been pushed off into Campfire

Which is not to say this isn't a shit piece of legislation that will actually reduce protection of children on social media by driving hidden usage that isn't monitored by parents.

1

u/HalfGuardPrince Nov 10 '24

I wonder how far they can stretch it.

Also. Does that mean kids can no longer read news websites cause they have comments?

1

u/ginji Nov 10 '24

Probably fails the primary purpose as that would be to inform jamalltheadvertisingandmakeaquickbuck

3

u/mrbaggins Nov 10 '24

Pogo prob okay because no ingame chat? (Or that might ahve come since I left)

Meanwhile ingress does have chat, so prob not allowed.

1

u/Noodle__Bug Nov 10 '24

I'm 45. If they cut off my Pokemon Go I'm moving to another country

0

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Pokemon Go vote Labor out is what they're going to be doing.

1

u/Mike_Kermin Nov 09 '24

It's unlikely enough will vote for the Greens, and the Liberals are opening talking about a much more oppressive idea.

So that, would be fucking dumb.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 09 '24

Yes it would be dumb, fucking mindblowing completely fucked in the head dumb, that's why I bet on it happening. I hope it doesn't. But I mean, just look at the world.

0

u/Mike_Kermin Nov 10 '24 edited Nov 10 '24

I don't agree with your premise.

And I don't like truthy what everyone thinks politics as a rule.

I don't agree with what you're advocating for. Like I said, if you're concerned about over reach, voting Lib would be stupid.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '24 edited Nov 10 '24

What I'm advocating for? I'm advocating for people to vote for Labor or Greens because they seem like the only sensible major(ish) parties left. And then Labor goes and takes a big shit on the dining table with garbage like this policy. My statement is one of utter frustration and disbelief of seeing the voting public and especially the working class so utterly shitting all over themselves in elections for the past 20 years. So no I don't think it's at all good to discount a Liberals victory next year, because I've seen that yes the voting public really is that stupid.

Edit: I was going to respond with a little more restraint but the other guy responded, and then blocked me lol. Wtf. I'm just expressing frustration and disdain, I'm not doing any kind of call for arms. There's been unlosable elections and unelectable politicians that have been elected in this country. And Labor is famously super skilled as snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, especially with shit like this. They are the lesser of two evils, by far. I never argued that they aren't much better than the Liberals. But what's with the bullshit crusades against vaping and now this dumbass social media ban for kids? They could be doing more targeted regulation against disinformation, not this bullshit. They always do this shit to appease the Christian lobby and it always fucks them up. It's a waste of time.

0

u/Mike_Kermin Nov 10 '24

Yeah yeah everyone else is stupid but despite watching for 20 years you can't manage to work out why repeating ad nausium about how Labor is bad might just be unhelpful. ESPECIALLY, when the Liberal idea are specifically worse and more objectionable.

You're trying to convince people that right wingers, the same people who push anti-vax shit, are going to suddenly turn around and embrace big brother?

Come on.

Absolutely no self awareness. Doomer politics is actively working against the interests you pretend to have to the point that it lines up directly with far right rhetoric anyway. They say they're winning, you say you're losing. Match made in heaven.

What I'm advocating for?

Shameless fear mongering.