Norway to Raise Minimum Social Media Age to 15

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Norway to Raise Minimum Social Media Age to 15

NORWAY IS ABOUT TO RAISE THE MINIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO 15

Kids and social media isn’t something I’m able to fathom completely.  But not only am I not a kid, I barely use social media anymore.  In fact, it’s been years since the novelty of Facebook didn’t just wear off, it was killed outright by the monetization of pretty much everything by someone named Mark.  But many seem to believe that social media is really, really bad for kids.  And I can certainly see how some might think that social media companies both exploit and manipulates young minds.  So what’s the fix?  In America, it’s up to the constant vigilance of parents.  But in Norway, they’re about to raise the minimum age to use social media to 15 years old.

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OF COURSE, NORWAY ALREADY HAS A MINIMUM AGE, BUT IT HASN’T BEEN EFFECTIVE

Now at first, if you’re an American, this idea might seem to be too much.  But if you’re an American, you probably spend too much time on social media.  But after another moment’s thought, you’ll realize the title above and the sentence closing the previous paragraph mean that Norway already has a minimum age to use social media.  So the idea there isn’t new.  But it’s about to be updated from 13 years to 15 years of age.  But in some ways, this legal age requirement only exists in the judicial ether.

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MOST KIDS UNDER 13 ALREADY USE SOCIAL MEDIA, SO NORWAY PLANS TO MAKE STRONGER BARRIERS TILL 15

As it is now in Norway, over half of all 9-year-olds use social media; 58% of 10-year-olds; 72% of 11-year-olds.  That’s a pretty sizable majority of kids aged 9-11, and is already under the current 13 year minimum to use social media.  But the Norwegian government clearly knows this, and has plans to implement more deterrents to keep kids from getting on platforms despite the age restrictions.  They plan on amending their Personal Data Act so everyone has to be at least 15 in order for social media platforms to even be able to handle their personal data.  They also plan to institute a stronger age verification to access platforms.

As an American, and a somewhat jaded one at that, I’d have to say this is still going to be a process.  Kids tend to figure out how to access what they want.  But nailing the companies for marketing to them once they get on might work better.  Not to mention the exploitation and manipulation….

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