It's 2025 now, and things look pretty bleak for youth rights in general. Not only is the 21 drinking age (and smoking age and toking age) not going away anytime soon, but now we have to deal with the latest social media bans and restrictions on young people. Florida's literally goes into effect today, for example. This law bans anyone under 14 from signing up for or maintaining a social media account at all, and for anyone over 14 but under 16 from doing so without verified parental consent. How they plan to do it without it backfiring on older youth and adults is not clear, but either way, it is very wrong-headed at best. And we know it won't stop there, as it won't be long before it gets raised to 18 and then 19 and then 21 and so on. That is, slopes are MUCH, MUCH slipperier than they appear!
Fortunately, it is being challenged in court, and pending the outcome of such challenges, enforcement is unlikely to begin until at least February at the earliest.
And then of course we have Trump coming back into the office of POTUS for a second term on January 20th. That alone will be a new dark age for America, especially with his puppet master Elon Muskrat pulling his strings. Trump has not exactly been a friend of youth rights, as evident in his raising the federal smoking age to 21 in late 2019. Just like DeSanctimonious did the same for Florida in 2021, after initially opposing it. And of course, Trump and MAGA Republicans and Talibangelicals seeking to systematically revoke women's rights will of course not bode well for youth rights either, if history is any indication.
So buckle up, as it will be a VERY wild ride!
