Social media is unlike any other problem parents are facing. It is not enough to stop your own children from accessing it or educating your own children. It needs collective action from _all_ parents or else your child will be an outcast. And what is regulation if not enforced collective action. The corporations had 15 years to figure it out themselves and they decided to make it as worst as possible for everyone, and now parents are turning to their elected officials for help.
My point is not to forbid access, but to educate, train and prepare my kids for what's really there (well, everything).
As I said, my kid already has access to the internet through his laptop. I don't particularly micromanage his access, but I do talk to him about things like online gaming communities and such. I run a Minecraft server for him to play games with his friends too.
Obviously, asking every parent to go to these lengths won't work, so ultimately, I need to ensure he is making good decisions, and I need to do that along the way. Do I need government support? Yes, they need to react to reports of shitty behaviour, and schools and kids communities need to be strict about the worst stuff kids tend to do before they develop sufficient empathy. But banning outright I don't want them to do, because I need to be able to support my kids through these experiences during the ages they are less likely to be rebellious and contrarian (so, I guess before they turn 12-14 :)).
You can still educate? Nothing about banning the physical access outside prevents you from educating. They can still have accounts, the platforms can continue what they have been doing for years. Not too different from educating a child about responsible alcohol consumption.
Ban on the smartphone device itself. Like banning kids from access to alcohol. They can still use dumb phones. Or laptops. Or even tablets. Just not smartphones.
In my mind, that will be enough to short circuit the network effects of social media enough for kids and parents to voluntarily wean off them and regulate their own personal use.
