The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

by Jonathan Haidt

So I’m not saying that the virtual world in its present form, with no guardrails, is safe for 16-year-olds. I’m just saying that if we’re going to write a minimum age into law and make it an enforceable national standard, then 13 is way too low and 16 is a more reasonable and achievable compromise. It would gain more political and social support than an effort to raise the age to 18. I would just add that 16- and 17-year-olds are still minors, and the protections in any version of an Age Appropriate Design Code should still apply to them. I therefore believe that the U.S. Congress should fix the mistakes it made in 1998 and raise the age of internet adulthood from 13 back to 16, as it was in the original draft of the bill, and then require companies to enforce it.