刊登日期：2021年5月14日
Are we doomed to a future where toddlers play not with fingerpaints but with photo editing and filters? This is what’s at stake as Facebook considers whether to build a version of Instagram for children.
我们是否注定会有这样一个未来：孩子们玩的不是手指画，而是照片编辑和滤镜？这正是Facebook考虑是否为儿童建立Instagram专用版本的问题所在。
Forty-four attorneys general asked chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Monday to cease the development of a product that would allow kids to use a spinoff of his company’s popular photo-sharing app, complete with parental controls designed to keep them safer. Right now, no one under 13 is allowed to create an Instagram account because of the risks of sexual exploitation, inappropriate content and bullying. Now, Facebook wants to open the door to all ages. That looks likelier to breed danger than to block it.
44个州的总检察长周一要求Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格停止开发一款产品，该产品是照片分享应用程序Instagram的衍生产品，允许孩子们使用，并配备家长控制系统，以确保孩子们的安全。目前，由于存在性剥削、内容不当和欺凌的风险，13岁以下的人不允许创建Instagram帐户。现在，Facebook想向所有年龄段的人敞开大门。这看起来更可能滋生危险，而不是阻止危险。
Facebook, naturally, has been charged with ill intentions, with critics suggesting this is a business tactic. The firm has replied with a pledge never to monetize Instagram Youth through advertisements. Though encouraging, the promise doesn’t mean an end to all data collection — some level of which is key to the functionality and personalization for which Facebook products are known. And there’s another strategic reason to usher the ever-fresher-faced into the Facebook family: These tools are habit-forming, and habits formed at tender ages are liable to stick. The day an Instagram Youth member turns 13 will probably be the day he becomes an Instagram member.
Facebook自然被指责有恶意，批评者认为这只是一种商业策略。该公司承诺永远不会通过在Instagram少年版上播放广告来赚钱。尽管这一承诺令人鼓舞，但并不意味着所有数据收集的终结——在某种程度上，这是Facebook产品已知的功能和个性化的关键。还有另一个战略原因是，要把这些新面孔引入Facebook全家桶：这些工具会让人养成习惯，而在年少时养成的习惯很容易被坚持下去。Instagram少年版用户的13岁生日可能就是他成为Instagram会员的那一天。
Facebook defends itself by saying that young people are already on social media in startling proportions, whether they’re supposed to be or not, and they’re already encountering all the risks skeptics fear. Better to recognize that and increase the involvement of adults, as well as set stricter standards for permissible data collection and acceptable content alike, than to ignore it and allow harms to run out of control. That’s a reasonable argument, though the devil is in the details of the expected parental controls. Facebook could also choose to devote itself to rooting out harmful material and verifying age more effectively, rather than surrender to today’s reality that its safety efforts are insufficient.
Facebook为自己辩护说，青少年已经在社交媒体上占据了惊人的比例，不管他们是否应该这样做，青少年都已经遇到了怀疑论者担心的所有风险。最好认识到这一点，增加成年人的参与，并为可允许的数据收集和可接受的内容设定更严格的标准，而不是忽视它，让危害失控。这是一个合理的论点，尽管魔鬼在于预期的父母控制的细节。Facebook也可以选择致力于根除有害内容，更有效地验证年龄，而不是屈服于当今的现实，即其安全措施还不够。
Indeed, focusing only on the most obvious abuses ignores the other harms that might come from social media — harms we still don’t fully understand. The attorneys general refer to research about the threat to the “physical, emotional and mental well-being of children”; the fear of device addiction that keeps kids glued to a screen instead of spending time outside with each other in person also looms large. Convincing evidence of these ill Internet effects remains lacking. As Instagram head Adam Mosseri said on Twitter this week, the question of whether social media is good for children under 13 in particular is still unanswered — true, in part, because children under 13 are barred from most social media. Inviting them on might offer those answers at long last. But at what cost?
事实上，只关注最明显的滥用，会使我们忽略社交媒体可能带来的其他危害——这些危害我们仍然无法完全理解。总检察长们提到了对"儿童的身体、情感和精神健康"的威胁的研究；怕孩子们对移动设备上瘾，一直盯着屏幕，而不是花时间和其他人在一起，这种担忧日益凸显。互联网的不良影响还缺乏令人信服的证据。正如Instagram的负责人亚当·莫塞里本周在推特上说的，社交媒体是否对13岁以下的儿童有益这个问题仍然没有答案——某种程度上是对的，原因是13岁以下的儿童被禁止使用大多数社交媒体。邀请他们加入可能最终会提供答案。但代价是什么呢？