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Too Much Control

Entry 2422, on 2025-12-11 at 12:21:40 (Rating 3, Politics)

What sort of person wants someone else to control their lives? This isn't necessarily a rhetorical question because there are people who actually do want to relinquish control to someone else, whether it is a partner, boss, or politician. Another question is this: what sort of person wants to control another person's life or wants the government to do that? Again, this is a real question, and the control they want isn't always bad.

I'm presenting this subject because of the social media ban implemented today in Australia, and which might soon spread elsewhere, including New Zealand. The ban is for young people less than 16 years old and there are numerous restrictions already for what that age group, most of them fairly well justified, so surely this is another good move to protect them from harm?

Well maybe, but protection always involves limitations on freedom, and as Benjamin Franklin famously said: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety". Of course, like all quotes of this type, it is debatable, and it really depends on how much security is gained for what level of lost liberty.

The particular case for social media can be reasonably argued both ways, but my bigger philosophical opinion in this is that we should be striving for less government regulations and control rather than more. So I am against this new law for philosophical reasons, as well as issues of practicality.

Already, a day after the ban, there are piles of young people continuing to use the same services they always have as if nothing had changed. It has taken minutes for them to bypass the restrictions, often with the help of the parents who allegedly wanted this law enacted. They're breaking the law, but is that so bad when the law isn't a good one?

I understand that there are negative aspects to social media, including bullying, time wasting, and misinformation, but there are a lot of positives too, including support, time saving, and good information. So it depends on which aspects of these services you want to concentrate on whether you might see the ban as a good or bad thing.

Many people in government love control, which is a great reason we should resist new laws like this as much as possible. If we genuinely want to reduce the negative aspects of social media, why not do that, while maintaining the good parts.

If it is possible to monitor a social media account looking for signs the user is young (as they claim to ba able to do now) then why not use that to filter what they can see rather than preventing them from using the service completely? I know that sort of censorship is also bad in some ways, but at least it's a step up from a complete ban, and in the case of young people it is easier to justify, although even then I am uncomfortable with the idea.

Or maybe there should be a "help" button somewhere which notifies a person in some sort of authority (maybe a parent) about bullying or other issues. AI could even monitor the person's feed and activate the notification automatically. Again, this is far from perfect, but a less extreme step than a total ban.

Finally, it's not too difficult to place time limits on use so that the user doesn't waste too much time, and might use the time they do have (maybe an hour a day) more productively.

At a press conference in 1986, US president Ronald Reagan said, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help". I think that most government actions really are done with good intentions, but the people making the rules are so totally out of touch with reality, and so lacking in reasonable criticism of their ideas, that they will almost always make the wrong decision.

Regrettably, we need some government control to protect the weaker groups in society (including children and young people) and to limit the actions of the more harmful members, but we don't need to be so enthusiastic about it. Let's have protective laws, but if we need them, make them as lightweight was possible. The last thing we need is a government with too much control.

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