(Radio Iowa) – Rob Sand, the Democrat running for governor, says it’s time to ban social media accounts for children under the age of 16 — and to require parental consent before 16 and 17 year olds may have their own social media account. Sand said study after study has linked social media use among children to higher rates of anxiety, depression and sleep loss.
Sand is proposing legislation that would prohibit companies from selling the data about a minor’s online activity — data that’s often used to target minors with online advertising. He’s also calling for social media apps to have the option of turning off “infinite scroll.” That’s a common web design that keeps adding content as a user scrolls down the page.
Sand uses a smart phone app that limits his own social media use to 10 minutes a day. Sand says his over-arching goal with this set of proposals is to get kids off-line and focused on just being kids — and that includes his own nine- and 12-year-old sons.
Sand admits some kids may find ways to work around these obstacles he suggests, but he says that’s not an excuse to do nothing. France has just moved to ban tech companies from letting French children under the age of 15 have access to social media apps.
