2 weeks Ago
Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. The social media ban on under 16-year-olds is ill-conceived and undemocratic (“ Australia bans children from social media, world watches ”, November 30). Stripping rights from children that they have held since awareness of them is appalling and shameful, but the biggest affront is assuming that they won’t be able to beat the system.
Obtaining a VPN will circumvent any ban, and thank heavens. Why would anyone want to isolate children unnecessarily? Bullying will always occur and time will show that this ill-conceived measure will not stop it. I hope it will not cause increased harm but I doubt it.
Isolating and depriving children is not the way forward. This situation has developed because people who don’t understand technology or children are making decisions about both. Mike Keene, Mollymook Beach I understand the basic theory behind the government banning children from social media – “The internet has a lot of bad stuff and it will harm you.
” Undoubtedly, there is monstrous material on the internet, invasive, uninvited and increasingly frequent. But the genie was out of this bottle decades ago. If regulation of the internet had to happen, it should have occurred in the 1990s.
The federal government, in seeking to do good, is actually being stupid by allowing the coalition to umm-and-ahh in its position, while also allowing Peter Dutton and his lot to point fingers when it fails. Because it will fail, for the simple reason that children are likely smarter at using technology than anyone trying to introduce this legislation. Before anyone will be able to click “open” on their email, some 15-year-old will have a work-around.
Tony Doyle, Fairy Meadow Whose child will be the first to find a work-around for the new laws? Credit: Photo: Phil Carrick The Albanese government has rammed through its legislation banning social media engagement by those under the age of 16. This decision is entirely flawed and in my view could create a level of angst that could have been avoided. When I was CEO of Epilepsy WA, one of the issues that became abundantly clear was that often children with conditions such as epilepsy and other neurological conditions experienced a significant level of bullying at schools and in their peer groups.
This then manifested among that cohort in higher levels of self-harm and withdrawal from society into a self-defined and managed space. To communicate with these vulnerable children, we relied on social media groups where they could preserve a degree of anonymity. These Australian-based children no longer had friends here, but made new friends overseas, interacting with them without fear of bullying or angst of any sort.
Sadly, such a categorical Draconian ban does not accommodate children with such neurological vulnerabilities. Hopefully, the next 12 months will allow us to influence the final draft of this policy framework. Suresh Rajan, Stirling (WA) Children and adults learn from influential people and reactions to events.
Social media needs to filter postings before publication, not rely on post-publication reports. “Too much of a good thing” is real. We are swamped by so much free speech that many are confused and anxious.
Technology is exceeding our psychological capacity. We need some basic quality assurance before publication, just like newspaper classifieds ads, filtering for veracity (and checking spelling). Unregulated innovations add to the burden we inflict upon ourselves.
Some costs to participate in social media is no bad thing. Tim Coen, Ashfield Exciting times. Australia is about to repeat the US’s Prohibition experiment.
Virtual speakeasies are already being devised, illicit avatar stills concocted, black markets set up. Machine guns and the like probably won’t feature as much but the script of the first movie blockbuster must surely be in prep by now. Can’t wait! Brian Haisman, Winmalee Curbing adolescents’ access to Facebook etc is a great plan, but how can we get through to them that the world around them is much more interesting than a tiny illuminated screen? The first step could be by example, so that they do not constantly see adult eyes glued to phones while texting or reading news items.
Marjie Williamson, Blaxland I don’t know why we should stop at banning children only from social media. What about television and the playing of certain video games? They also can have harmful effects on children but no serious discussion about banning them has ever been discussed by politicians. Why stop at social media? Con Vaitsas, Ashbury The switch to ‘off’ Lucy Carroll writes about enlightened principals who are limiting screen times in the classroom (“ Top marks for classroom screen limits ”, November 30).
Well done, those principals. I despair at the amount of time my grandchildren and their peers spend on their devices. They certainly don’t need more time on these in the classroom.
As reported, there is little evidence that the digital revolution has enhanced learning. A sensible compromise must be the answer, including parents limiting home screen time. Denis Suttling, Newport Beach It’s reassuring to hear that schools are finally realising that the use of electronic devices is not always conducive to effective learning.
There is no question that these are an excellent source of information, but too often are used by some teachers as the sole source. Effective teaching requires personal engagement from teacher and student alike, with hands-on experience and without the aid of a device. Additionally, the distraction of a device is too much for many students when the lure of a website is only a swipe away from a maths text.
Teachers like myself who have questioned the rush to integrate technology at the expense of “old-fashioned” methods welcome the return of common sense to the application of devices in some schools. Max Redmayne, Drummoyne Leadership lacking Tanya Plibersek, in the wrong kind of wilderness Credit: Sydney Morning Herald It’s hard to understand why the government walked away from a “done deal” to create a decent environmental protection agency and fulfil an election promise (“ PM deserted Plibersek, and for what? ” November 30). Perhaps Albanese thought doing so would help him retain seats in Western Australia, but turning his back on a key commitment just puts other seats at risk, with no guarantee those in WA will be retained.
Far better would have been to show a bit of leadership, as Paul Keating and Bob Hawke did in the 1980s, and do what’s right for the country. It’s no coincidence that Labor was in government for 13 consecutive years back then, and at a time when the economy was a far more parlous state than now. It is leadership people crave, and when politicians give it to them, those same politicians are rewarded with power.
Ken Enderby, Concord The Thorpe dilemma Senator Thorpe’s recent behaviour suggests she is feeling disillusionment and powerless, even as an elected member of the Senate of Australia (“ Whether raising a fist or the finger, Thorpe has an appetite for disruption ”, November 30). Think generational disaffection, loss of Voice, denial of Truth, Treaty and Makarrata, and recognition dead-end. Her behaviour needs discipline, yet Thorpe deserves to be offered genuine and constructive listening.
And she needs to be given assurance that the Albanese government will get back on track with its avowed intention to deliver justice for Indigenous Australians. Meredith Williams, Baulkham Hills Labor lagging on wars, climate Peter Hartcher’s analysis of Labor’s chances in the coming election (“ Electable Dutton still the outsider ”, November 30) examines domestic problems but not foreign policy issues. Politicians must have noticed the weekly rallies supporting Palestinians in Gaza, and the recent Rising Tide rally in Newcastle against fossil fuel exports.
Though younger people protesting about these major issues may have already defected to the Greens, my guess is that most older ones have always been Labor voters but would now be too disappointed to support a party that has lost its mojo regarding war crimes and climate change. Caroline Graham, Cromer Is everything possible these days? Credit: Alex Ellinghausen Peter Hartcher writes of Labor’s “startling failure of communication and messaging”. Labor does identify, now and then, the massive hole in the Coalition’s self-presentation to voters: the Coalition’s almost total absence of policies and/or costings.
Labor’s failure is to drive this home, preferably with a “powerful punchline”. What about: “If you don’t know, vote no!” . E.
Mark Latham, Croydon Park Writers’ block Your correspondent ( Letters , November 30) lumps writers to this paper in with those who depend on social media (which he describes as a “symptom of boredom or loneliness”) and further suggests that a few of us who contribute regularly “need treatment”. Ouch! After recently hearing the ABC being referred to as the “Australian Boomers Corporation”, I am now left pondering whether SMH stands for Seriously Miserable Hacks. Alicia Dawson, Balmain I am an elderly widow who has never belonged to any social media platforms, unless you count a family group chat.
Age denies me many things: walking, competitive sport (I still swim daily, though), uncaptioned movies, trips to the opera house, over-indulgence in Tim Tams and sex. Now your correspondent wants me to give up writing to the Herald . One word, sir: Shan’t.
Coral Button, North Epping Your correspondent has identified a malaise among compulsive letter writers. The cure is not to get published. Vicky Marquis, Glebe Give cops a break As with other correspondents ( Letters , November 30), I am concerned about the judgment passed on police officer Kristian White in the case of Clare Nowland.
Having experienced occasional fear in the presence of a dementia sufferer (my husband, for whom I was caring), I can understand the officer’s unpremeditated reaction. I must also query the expectations we place on police officers who have no training in dealing with dementia sufferers to respond “appropriately” when the nursing staff were unable to deal with the situation “appropriately”. Kathryn Lai, Heathcote Your correspondent correctly says police officers “are often confronted with situations where they have to make instant judgments”.
But so are many other workers in transport, construction, mining and other industries, which have higher rates of dying on the job than police. Police are issued with dangerous weapons: firearms, capsicum spray and Tasers. They undertake significant training.
The evidence in the recent case was evaluated by a judge and jury. I suggest we respect the court’s decision. The law applies to everyone, including those meant to enforce it.
Al Svirskis, Mount Druitt Tax the bludgers Millie Muroi’s article (“ Reality check for billion-dollar companies dodging the taxman ”, November 30) warranted a front page appearance. Australia applying a top-up tax of 15 per cent on multinationals that pay less than a 15 per cent tax rate wherever they do business globally is overdue. Corporations that bludge and sponge, taking advantage of different tax rates across the world, should be outed.
Col Shephard, Yamba Dump and run Find them if you’re lucky Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto As more shopping is done online and more packages are sent around, there appears to be an endemic problem. Last week, an expensive package was delivered to my door. Despite it requiring “signature on delivery”, the driver dumped the package on my porch, rang the doorbell, then hot-footed it back to his truck.
I’d be interested to see what signature was recorded against my delivery, because it won’t be mine. That, surely, is fraud. And it’s not the first time this has happened.
Drivers actually waiting for a householder’s signature appear to be the exception, not the rule. Do Australia Post and the courier companies ever audit this? Do they even care? Is any driver ever fired for fraudulently recording fake signatures? Senders pay more for a “signature on delivery” service, but it appears to be extremely poorly enforced. Brendan Jones, Annandale Failure by degrees The experience your correspondent describes in university group work with a large cohort of international students ( Letters, November 30) does not surprise me.
As a former examiner of overseas students’ English proficiency, I have seen students who did not meet the published admission requirements still granted entry by the universities. In some cases where students redid the test after graduation, they still had not reached that entry-level score. An international education is a lofty ideal, but if selling it to unqualified candidates is used to redress a funding shortfall, the inevitable decline in the quality of degrees will disadvantage all students.
Gail Dengate, Dee Why Teachers’ pest Yes, Lauren Ironmonger (′′′ It’s a really unhealthy culture’: Have Christmas gifts for teachers gone too far? ” November 30), it has gone too far. I believe it is inappropriate for individuals to give presents. I still have lovely cards, letters and poems from students after over 40 years of teaching.
Kind words and lovely memories mean more than gold. Judy Archer, Nelson Bay How many is too many? Credit: Getty Images I used to have a teacher neighbour who had a cupboard filled with gifts she had received over the years. This was her handy little shop for recycling gifts to friends.
Good to see recycling in action, but as teacher Alice Ju says, the cards made by the students are the gifts most valued. Judith Rostron, Killarney Heights.
