I’m against protected class laws and I am for accepting reality and making public policy based on that reality. It is just my view that social media is unhealthy at any age.

> There's nothing keeping you here on a social media website

There’s nothing keeping you here in a casino, gambling your wages away.

There’s nothing keeping you here in a bar drinking yourself to oblivion.

There’s nothing keeping you here smoking three packs a day until you’re shitting tar.

The age old advice to “just stop” doesn’t quite work for those most at risk. Harm minimisation is a reasonable thing. We don’t think it’s a good idea for young kids to smoke, drink, drive, vote or have sex. Since we know that social media can be specifically harmful to the youngest demographic, why wouldn’t we want to regulate it based on age?

EDIT: I should point out that in general what happens to other people does impact me so I do have a stake in the behavior of others. No man is an island.

I’m not a social media addict, I only use HN occasionally and really only to remind myself what other people are like. Without this I would forget and assume things about people that are just not true. I treat social media like the dangerous drug that it is and intentionally limit my exposure. But not everyone can do that. I personally know many people who have let social media ruin their lives and their minds to the point I’m not even sure they are rehabilitatable.

I wasn’t proposing a ban, I don’t trust the government with that much power and regulation would be difficult- at what point does a social club become social media. I guess my appeal to time travel did not properly reflect this perceived futility.

I think the only way would be as an Amish like intentional community with a religious level of enforcement. E.g. You can use social media but only in the shed, not in the house. But that’s not realistic so I just have to accept that X% of the population are not going to make it unscathed. These people will become a burden on the state at a time when the state is increasingly reaching to voluntary euthanasia for solutions. Perhaps in time people will socially and genetically evolve in ways that’ll be able to deal with it.

"There's nothing keeping you here on a social media website."

The people for instance, when everyone is on social media, you won't find people in the streets anymore, except for the homeless and junkies.

(but luckily it is still possible to find people in the real world, but it did became hard to find real undistracted people)

Seems like a strawman, I can think of plenty of reasons people want to control others' time. It's the literal job of every CEO for starters.