British Columbia is moving to restrict the use of cellphones in schools as part of measures Premier David Eby says will help protect young people from online threats.

Eby said the government will also launch a service to remove intimate images from the internet and “pursue predators,” as well as introduce legislation to hold social media companies accountable for harms they have caused.

  • xmunk
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    10 months ago

    It’s perfectly doable to hold social media companies accountable - EU regulations are quite capable of removing content from major platforms. Is it possible to completely remove images? No, but you can knock them off the major platforms and AI technology us making this even easier.

    Limiting phone use is likely to significantly improve mental health and young people are a population that we’re all pretty aware are more susceptible to advertising, radicalization, and addiction - I honestly think it’d probably be pretty healthy for humans to avoid cellphones outside of texting/calling until they’re better prepared to face the constant torrent of shit that is social media… it’s probably not a bad idea for the rest of us but that’s a separate issue.

    Will this measure be effective and suddenly solve all the problems? Nah, it’ll probably be deeply flawed in implementation and hit fierce pushback - but I think it’s good to move in this direction.

    • skeptomatic@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      You are absolutely right, no real harm can come from limiting use of devices in schools, and most likely, a big improvement. Anyone who says otherwise likely was born later than 2000 and has an addiction they’re not willing to admit. Hell I was born 70s and despite not growing up with a cell (most people survived, btw…), even I’m now addicted. Step one is admission.

      • Rediphile@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        It seems like neither of you read my comment. Like, at all.

        I literally agreed with limiting cell phone use, but said why it’s not going to be implemented in a meaningful way. And I also walked to school alone and stayed there all day without a phone and survived just fine.

        But all it takes is one parent to say they don’t like it, which will happen with certainty. And at that point it just becomes up to the individual parents, which of course it always has been anyway since parents can just take a kids phone literally whenever they want (such as while at school)…it’s the parents property after all.

        • skeptomatic@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          I can’t think of one parent that I know that would not be totally happy for somebody to get their kid off of her phone for a little while, while not having to play the bad guy themselves. lol.

        • xmunk
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          10 months ago

          I think you also missed mine, I agree this measure is underwhelming and I’m almost certain there will be pushback. I still think it’s a good move because it’s opening up the dialog around the negative effects of phones especially if there’s a legal debate on the topic. I think it’s unlikely they’ll fold without a fight since it’s obvious there will be pushback and they wouldn’t go down this path without being willing to fight for it.

            • skeptomatic@lemmy.ca
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              10 months ago

              You know how News works, right?
              There will always be one. Or two. Maybe even three.
              And in this case, as the FIRST line of the article indicates, only one. LOL!
              It’s the “News” organizations job to make it sound like the sky is falling.
              Most people know how to look past that, but probably the lemmings will all show up soon.
              Bandwagon whiners on their Xitter soap boxes… the Karen-ification of society.