There Are Dark Corners of the Internet. Then There's 764
wired.com
wired.com
Country wide ban on Internet access to minors is necessary to significantly mitigate the negative impact the internet is causing youth today, and the destruction of legitimate adult spaces on the net.
The solution is simple - any user interfaceable computing device expected to be sold to a minor must be child locked by default. This lock identifies the device as a minor, blocking most ads, "social media" apps, in app purchases, other maliciously sold apps, and filters the available domains in browser to a simple whitelist.
Remove any kind of parental "monitoring" and control nonsense that are so often abused. Don't make it necessary in the first place! It's only a scapegoat so they don't have to do the right thing.
The whitelist is simple, buy it off of one of a dozen existing commercial solutions.
Unlocking a phone is also simple and non invasive by showing ID during purchase. Same way you have to do any other kind of business with malicious business practices.
Kids aren't heading to the local Apple Store for their iphones. They're getting them from their parents. Parental controls exist today. The problem is the lack of willingness from parents to monitor their kids' behavior, not the fact that you can buy an unrestricted communications device without photo id.
It's a lot harder these days to teach kids that pretty much everything they see online and on TV, has a narrative and should be considered deceptive, even though you might not be sure why. It really takes the fun and natural interest away when you have to look at everything trough your Black Mirror glasses or filter.
But I think there might be another way. With refocusing on rehabilitation, a society could glean 'n' years of insight, understanding, and ideally: a changed human. The staunchest of advocates against what they used to practice.
I don't think this holds as a rule. I see as many counterexamples to it as examples, anyway. But it does seem true that there are certain things the private sector tends to do better at, and there are other things the private sector tends to do worse at.