I despise smart phones and what they're doing to society - particularly to our children. But I blame the technology itself more than I do social media. The meat of the bill that defines social media reads as follows:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2 ... ext/er/PDF"Social media platform" means an online forum, website, or application that satisfies each of the following criteria:
1. Allows users to upload content or view the content or activity of other users;
2. Ten percent or more of the daily active users who are younger than 16 years of age spend on average 2 hours per day or longer on the online forum, website, or application on the days when using the online forum, website, or application during the previous 12 months or, if the online forum, website, or application did not exist during the previous 12 months, during the previous month;
3. Employs algorithms that analyze user data or information on users to select content for users; and
4. Has any of the following addictive features:
a. Infinite scrolling, which means either:
(I) Continuously loading content, or content that loads as the user scrolls down the page without the need to open a separate page; or
(II) Seamless content, or the use of pages with no visible or apparent end or page breaks.
b. Push notifications or alerts sent by the online forum, website, or application to inform a user about specific activities or events related to the user's account.
c. Displays personal interactive metrics that indicate the number of times other users have clicked a button to indicate their reaction to content or have shared or reposted the content.
d. Auto-play video or video that begins to play without the user first clicking on the video or on a play button for that video.
e. Live-streaming or a function that allows a user or advertiser to broadcast live video content in real-time.
As much as parents today suck at being parents, this is absolutely not the role of government at any level to regulate. Also, that list of things that constitutes "social media" seems rather arbitrary and could easily be outdated in 5-10 years as technology advances.
Not to mention, having restrictions like this at the state level is a nightmare for a website owner who has to cater to the laws of 50 individual states. Youtube, for example, will now have to ban 14 year-olds who live in Florida from having a youtube account.
