Do you support or oppose Texas’ new state law requiring age verification and parental consent for users under 18 to download most apps?

Support (67%) – "Since the onset of the smartphone era, mental health issues with young children and adults has risen dramatically, enough that the excessive usage of cellphone apps can be correlated with the mental health issues in youth, to the extent that it has led to suicide in some instances. Companies, just like parents, need to be held accountable for the mental well-being of the youth."

• "There's far too much shady stuff going on on the web. We should be protecting minors as much as we can. That is one of the most important jobs of being a parent."

"Currently I'm voting with hesitant support. I do think the constitutionality of such things needs to be considered, but if we find it constitutionally allowed to have age restrictions for other things that are considered American rights (guns, alcohol, certain movies), then I think this law would be consistent. On top of that, we know that unrestricted access to the internet and social media is very dangerous for mental health, critical thinking, etc., so if done right I think this *could* be a beneficial law."

• "Parents/gradians need to be in charge of their children online activities. It’s sad that we have to have such things like this to get parents involved. There needs to be a way to also protect children from predators and to protect adults from predators as well. Hopefully we as a society can come up with solutions"

"While I don't support many laws that require parents to actually parent, this is one that makes sense because there are zero controls to enable a parent to be a parent. The only other option is to only provide children with a flip phone or no phone. This isn't about free speech or access to information - it is purely protecting children from preditors of all sorts."

• "I think this program sounds like it will make it more difficult for people to access apps that are not age appropriate."

Oppose (18%) – "I’m worried about privacy and how companies can “reasonably” determine a person’s age. They already steal enough of our data as is. Plus having the parents connected is concerning because kids still deserve privacy and they may not want or trust their parents to be aware of all the apps they are using (thinking for example of LGBTQ kids). Lastly this once again puts the onus on the user to protect themselves when really big tech companies should be doing more to make social media and other apps safe"

• "Parents don't need the extra help, parental controls already exist, 18 is too old a threshold even if it was needed, and it feels like more government overreach to control what we do. Oh, and kids will find a way."

Unsure/other (15%) – "Not enough info about what and how age verification would be handled. As a parent/grandparent/great-grandparent and teacher, I do believe there should be some form of protection for children. We all know there is violent content and profane language in many of today's video games. That is not healthy or appropriate for children."

• "I’m not sure how I feel about the legality and pros and cons to requiring adult guardian access to apps, but I do think the US in general should follow suit with other countries like Australia and completely ban access to social media apps/sites for children under 18 years old."