Teenage CyberWastland

By Gordon Hopkins There is a great deal of concern about how badly social media is messing up kids. Nobody is suggesting social media is messing up kids. The question is just how badly. Some people think it is so bad that we need a law to keep kids off of social media.Last Friday, LB (legislative Bill) 383 was introduced by Senator Tanya Storer at the request of Governor Jim Pillen and would create the Parental Rights in Social Media Act.Didja ever notice how anything that deals with parents' rights seems ultimately to be about taking rights away from kids?Don't get me wrong. I don't think kids should be exposed to social media. I don't think adults should be exposed to social media. Most of all, I don't think I should be exposed to social media.The problem is, making something illegal just makes it even more appealing. That's how Prohibition became the coolest era for drinking ever. Hanging out in a bar today can never live up to the thrill of getting loaded at an illegal speakeasy.So, perhaps, the best route isn't to make social media illegal. Instead, perhaps we just need to make it really lame.Remember MySpace? At one time, it was THE place for kids to be seen in cyberspace. So, why did it die? Because kids' parents started hanging out there. The same thing is happening to Facebook as kids flee to other media accounts where their lame old people can't be found.So, we just need to flood ALL social media accounts with dad jokes and graduation photos and news about Aunt Mitzi's gout (she's doing so much better).Pretty soon, kids will be flocking to places in the real world where their parents can't find them.

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