00:01:24.080i you're running around and you know it's interesting because i was getting ready for
00:01:29.840the show this morning and uh we had a huge storm did you guys have a storm out scarborough way
00:01:35.120last night we had a massive uh lightning storm last night i don't recall very foggy here though
00:01:41.360i'm right on the lake so very foggy very foggy i get up and i get up in the morning early because
00:01:46.560i have all this lightning and thunder and i start watching the news and as soon as i start watching
00:01:52.320the news i see the announcement that today at four o'clock they're going to announce the safe social
00:01:58.400media act which proposes barring children under the age of 16 from us accessing social media
00:02:07.680platforms and i was like wow is this good because i got steve on the show today we couldn't have
00:02:13.120caught this any better timing wise i know it's you know you got you're trying to work around
00:02:17.600some other schedule at him so thank you um but you know this is interesting because government
00:02:24.560now is looking for large tech companies uh social media operators and ai developers to hold them
00:02:31.520responsible for uh i guess a code of conduct it's not a criminal offense that they're talking about
00:02:39.680but they are talking about a regulatory process and some boards to deal with these high-tech
00:02:45.600companies and to start to put some safety guardrails in place for people under the age of 16.
00:02:52.560And you and I talked, you know, a few weeks ago and we were chatting about the fact that other
00:02:59.120countries like Australia have already started to put those in. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think
00:03:07.680this is us starting like we kind of just let technology go crazy and we did very little to
00:03:14.560regulate you know what the companies could do or or what their children could do for that matter
00:03:18.960and we're starting to see the impacts of that for sure now we're seeing anxiety and depression
00:03:24.480levels that are at the roof we're seeing young people having real difficulties talking in real
00:03:30.480time to one another and a lot of this we know does connect with technology use social media
00:03:36.720certainly a big part of that so you know i see this as over i see a reflective moment as overdue
00:03:43.280i think we as as humans have to sit back and say we need a more healthy relationship with
00:03:48.880our technology we've allowed it's kind of like we've been eating junk food like it's been going
00:03:52.800out of style uh and now we're all getting fat and dying and then we're saying hey we cannot
00:03:57.360sustain this way of living and so yeah i think change is needed this is probably part of that
00:04:03.200um i think it's it's a an interesting first step i hope it's a first step to get the reflection
00:04:08.720going and what I mean by that is just I'll give you this example one of the most critical human
00:04:14.800needs is what we call autonomy we want to feel like we are in control of our own lives we don't
00:04:20.240like it at all when other people tell us what we can and cannot do we saw some evidence of that
00:04:25.120during the pandemic and we push back if someone tells us we must do something or must not and so
00:04:31.840now we're going to tell our children you must not touch social media which is all well and good
00:04:37.680except what are the rest of us going to be doing what are they going to be seeing of these kids
00:04:41.760that turn 16 and suddenly jump onto social media while their parents are continually on social
00:04:46.480media well whatever so i think this is part of the problem but we really have to look at ourselves
00:04:52.560as parents as older people too what are we modeling how are we behaving um and i think
00:04:57.440this is sort of a first step in in what's going to have to be a much more complex reflection
00:05:02.000and yeah reconnection with how how we interact with technology what we use it for but how we
00:05:07.920prevent it from actually causing the harms and it is causing very real harms now yeah well you know
00:05:14.320it's interesting because i was talking to one of the produce show producers on the way in i was
00:05:19.520telling him the story about my kids um and basically going through the fact that i didn't
00:05:25.360give them uh well i gave them phones but i gave them flip phones until they were all 16 and
00:05:32.480there's no science to honestly intuitively i did it because what i was seeing with my friends kids
00:05:40.880uh i just i just noticed their behavior when they were using pads when they were using their
00:05:48.480parents phones and as as i was going to dinner parties and lunches and swim events and things
00:05:54.560i'd watch these kids misbehaving with this technology and i was looking at my own boys
00:06:00.080and i said man you know i just don't see this right now and so intuitively i just said okay
00:06:05.120i'm going to make this rule i'm going to give them flip phones um they hated it it was actually it's
00:06:10.160funny steve because uh the one the one boy i have the the youngest one he intentionally used to break
00:06:17.280his flip phone every year trying to get an iphone and i just buy another flip phone they're only 20
00:06:22.720bucks or something so i just go and i get another one and i give it back to him say keep this in
00:06:27.120your knapsack and only use it if you need to call me um and he hated it because all his friends
00:06:33.120were already on iphones and this was in middle school you know and i look at what's happening
00:06:38.800in the u.s i lived i think i mentioned to you i lived in the u.s for 12 years and i actually did
00:06:44.720a project in new mexico uh just outside of albuquerque new mexico i built a a building and
00:06:52.320a project it was a very interesting place but i found it interesting that one of the first lawsuits
00:06:59.120that actually went through against meta was in new mexico and it was the the trial um for child
00:07:07.040safety they lost and it was a 375 million dollar uh settlement or or uh was uh awarded and now
00:07:16.880quite frankly they're chasing meta for 3.7 billion in new mexico um and it's growing you know uh
00:07:24.800australia at the same time they got active i think australia was the first one as we mentioned
00:07:29.920they went on and they've blocked to date 4.7 million under 16 accounts have been deactivated
00:07:39.280and they continue I think they're up to 49.5 million in platform fines that they've levied
00:07:49.600already so there's you know they've taken a very aggressive approach right on the heels of that
00:07:55.360The UK, the US, 12 other countries, 14 European countries followed, and they're in banning. And the US is just lining up right now. I took a look before the show. They took some stats.
00:08:11.420There's 2,664 cases pending in the U.S. federal court for addiction. And there's 1,200 school district lawsuits nationwide in 41 states. And the AGs are active against Meta and TikTok in 41 plus states.
00:08:32.720Yeah, I mean, so they're coming. Right. U.S. very litigations. They're they're lining up now. Right. They see the.
00:08:40.620Yeah. And that's I think that is sort of where the rubber is going to hit the road on some of this stuff, because it is absolutely true.
00:08:47.160These are addictive platforms and they're addictive platforms to some extent aimed at children.
00:08:52.900And these. So just maybe maybe let's just talk that through a little bit so that everybody understands.
00:08:57.360So what why is you know what's so addictive about it? Why does it grab them the way it does?
00:09:01.860we all know it does you know we can see kids at restaurants as as young as three or four or five
00:09:06.540the parent wants them to be quiet they give them a device uh and the kid is you know quiet and we
00:09:11.460see that and it's like wow that young age they're already attracted to it uh and what the real power
00:09:17.400is is something we call random rewards any anything that you engage in and and those of you
00:09:22.840who are golf fans will will know this from a golf analogy if now and then something really good
00:09:28.700happens and you never really know when that now and then is it can start to feel like it's always
00:09:34.060just about to happen and so you start to chase it so that great golf shot you know maybe you had
00:09:39.740six bad ones in a row but you feel like oh yeah but if i hit this next one it'll be great
00:09:44.060and you're going after it that's what they're doing when they're doing their death scrolls
00:09:47.900every now and then there's something that really grabs them or every now and then somebody
00:09:51.980responds to something they posted or shares something but it's this randomness and the brain