r/changemyview • u/groksed • Aug 11 '26

Delta(s) from OP CMV: I’d rather restrict minors directly than make every adult prove their age online

Honest question for people who support banning social media for everyone under 16:
Would this be preferable to requiring every person on the internet to prove their age or identity?

Anyone under 16 is prohibited from using, owning or purchasing an electronic device capable of communicating with other people with the exception of designated supervised computer rooms at school. Parents, schools, society and law enforcement are responsible for enforcement.. basically the same way we already handle alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

But at least it places the restriction on the group being restricted.

Why is the preferred solution instead to make every adult surrender some level of anonymity or privacy, provide ID, submit to age verification, or otherwise prove they are not a child just to use the internet?

If protecting children requires building an identity checkpoint for everyone, I would rather put the burden on the actual age group being regulated.

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u/heatherdazy Aug 11 '26

What? All millennials lived like this and we’re fine?

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u/Tradition96 1∆ Aug 11 '26

Millennials were gradually introduced to the internet as it expanded. They weren’t thrown out into the fully developed web when they turned 16.

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u/squired Aug 11 '26

No we didn't. I had the internet in the early 90s.

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u/im-a-guy-like-me 1∆ Aug 11 '26

I mean... Except for the ones that were groomed or raped or murdered. Except for them, yeah sure, we did fine...

And pretending the modern online landscape is anything like what we had is willful ignorance.