The UK government’s “consultation” on social media harm is over, and – brace yourselves – it turns out they’re going to have to do something about it.
I know, I was shocked too.
The main talking point is that “social media is like cigarettes”. Everyone is saying that, it’s the meme of the day.
It’s a sentiment originally taken from a new report submitted to the consultation by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges.
Titled “Growing up in an online world”, it contains this hilarious line in the foreword:
…there is, I think, an overwhelming consensus that excessive screen time can harm children and young people and we need to call this out unflinchingly rather than passively wait for someone else to prove causation”.
Which is a pretty neat summary of how our political system works in general, and certainly in this case: We don’t know if there’s even a problem yet, but by God we’re gonna do something about it.
That the something they end up doing makes them rich and powerful is just one of the curious coincidences tyrants can always rely on.
{Sidenote: This morning the BBC had “Overwhelimg consensus” in their headline on this story, but at some point the absurdity of that quote was realised, and the headline changed. Now there’s this disclaimer near the end: “There is no consensus among the wider scientific community that screen time overall is harmful to children.” Funny stuff.}
Elsewhere, the report wails about “a wave of radicalized children” who pose “a real risk to society”, and calls social media “an incredibly powerful and uncontrolled commercial detriment to health”.
In a similar vein, The Guardian is warning of a “tsunami of harm”, and has assembled an all-star cast of interested parties to talk up the scariness of social media meanness.
After meeting with “bereaved parents” earlier today, Keir Starmer has “vowed to take action”.
Hellbound and Down 
