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Comment by cedws | Hacker News Reader

Why 16 specifically? Apparently the brain doesn't stop developing until much later, around 25.

He explains the details in his book, https://jonathanhaidt.com/anxious-generation/, but I think the gist of it is that his recommendations are reasonable and actionable. Below age 16 it seems quite possible, policy-wise and parent-wise, to keep kids off social media. But the older they get the more they would push back (being teenagers after all).

Saying something like "no social media until 25" would immediately have people discount Haidt's rational policy solutions as something not practically achievable, never mind probably not legal either.

The brain never stops developing, why 25? Where does everyone get this darn 25 is when you're grown number from?

The commonly cited number refers to when the brain structures stop/slow development, not the halting of skills or knowledge growth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_brain_development_timeli...

Literally from that wiki article:

> There is no actual evidence suggesting that impulse control only finishes developing in humans in the twenties. It is a common misconception in popular psychology that the brain only fully develops by 25.[13] This may stem from a misinterpretation or oversimplification of studies which determined that development of the prefrontal cortex continues into the mid-twenties

Yes, I read it. The sentence before seems to imply that there is some change of rate of development around that age:

>Human brain maturation continues to around 20[10] to 25[11] and even up to 30[12] years of age and beyond.

I dunno, I don't think it implies that at all. It seems to imply that scientists have confirmed that growth is still occurring at that point, and not the other way around, especially given the rest of the article.

Until recently, most people had kids by the time they were 25 and it's hard to tell people who are in charge of raising other people, that they can't do something. You have to pick a cut off date somewhere. The chasm between 21 and 25 is vast, though.

It's a pop sci myth that has been repeated enough times that it has a life of its own. It's a meme.

i read today in Peter Sterling's - What is Health?... that the brain doesnt stop maturing until 45...i dont think social media is good for anyone - at any time.

while it may be structurally true, that doesn't say anything about the development of impulse control

https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/brain-development-25-ye...

I mean it's a standard age for allowing privileges (driving) to start in the US at least.

So you want to ban smart phones for young adults? Good luck with that.

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