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Comment by rpmisms | Hacker News Reader

This is good. Seriously, the damage it does is massive, kids should not be on Instagram, Snapchat, or Tiktok.

I have a hunch that you're right, but there are a few other things that coincided with the rise of social media, so it's hard to tell what has driven the change in kids' psyches. Among them is the explosion of pharmaceuticals that are routinely prescribed to kids.

I think these things are linked. Either way, kids are having serious issues, so let's roll back the clock and see what innovation causes it. Kids were fine before social media, arguably better.

The pharmaceuticals thing is unique to the US, but every country has seen a simultaneous rise in kids mental health issues, so that rules out pharmaceuticals.

What about an Instagram for Kids type thing?

Like there is YouTube for kids,

Make it ad-free (I know this is a pipe dream, but at the very least it should have ads from companies that do not sell gambling apps), scrolling time limits (that actually work which should be a bare minimum), chronological time feed

No. I'm not talking about the content itself, I'm talking about the firehose of useless garbage, appropriate or not, that's frying their dopamine receptors.

Great idea. We could also give them clove cigarettes until they're old enough to smoke!

NO. The base concept of Social Networks by itself is harmful. It does not matter how much you "improve" those things.

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