Is the inevitable conclusion of this vein of research some public health program akin to the one that shackled big tobacco?
The link between (early) smoking and cancer seems like it was about as difficult to measure as the link between (early) social media use and mental illness, but we have better tools for collecting and analyzing data in 2023.
There's many gradations between what we have today ("Hey! How old are you? Under 13? Try again later") and requiring new accounts to be linked to a government ID attesting a certain age, but it does feel like the norm today might hem too close to reckless abandonment.
The link between (early) smoking and cancer seems like it was about as difficult to measure as the link between (early) social media use and mental illness, but we have better tools for collecting and analyzing data in 2023.
There's many gradations between what we have today ("Hey! How old are you? Under 13? Try again later") and requiring new accounts to be linked to a government ID attesting a certain age, but it does feel like the norm today might hem too close to reckless abandonment.