Ban the Algorithm, Not Social Media

I think instead of banning social media for kids, we should ban the use of algorithmic content feeds for kids (and mandate it be opt-out for adults.) Hear me out.

First, putting age verification rules in front of social media sites means social media sites now potentially start having access to government records you’ve uploaded for verification. What could go wrong? Maybe data breaches exposing PII like we’ve already seen happening with age verified sites, but on a much larger scale.

Second, how do you even define social media? Sure Facebook and Instagram are. What about Discord, a chat community? WhatsApp? iMessage? I’ve heard of kids essentially using Google Docs as an ad hoc social network at schools where social media sites are locked down.

And for good reason! Like it or not, the internet is here to stay. This is how we communicate in the world now. Kids, like adults, are social animals and want to connect with each other. In some cases, it can literally be lifesaving. Suicide rates amongst trans kids remain unacceptably high. Think of the trans kid in a non trans-friendly environment who finds acceptance in a trans community they found online. Are we okay just cutting that off?

And when it comes down to it, what is the thing that’s really ruined social media? Algorithmic content recommendations. This is the reason your LinkedIn feed now sucks. This is the reason you see a barrage of clickbait videos in Instagram from people you don’t follow instead of, you know, pictures from your friends. Algorithmic content recommendations have been shown to push the most engaging and therefore often harmful content and are literally designed to and shown to be addictive.

Imagine a world where your feeds, and your kids’ (and your) social media feeds just showed posts only from people they chose to follow in the order in which they were posted? And if there were no more updates that’s all they saw? This is the world I think we should give our kids (and honestly it’s a world I’ve chosen for myself by shifting my social media to non algorithmic content, like message groups, Mastodon and Bluesky.)

In the 50s there was a big push to ban comic books because of their supposedly ruinous nature for kids. There was also a push to curb and tightly regulate cigarettes and keep them out of kids’ hands. One was a stupid idea that thankfully never took off. The other was literally life saving and the right call.

At the risk of mixing metaphors here, banning social media is like banning comics. Banning the algorithm is like banning cigarettes. I think it’s well past time.