Modern social media platforms are not neutral public squares; they are attention-harvesting architectures deliberately engineered by multi-billion-dollar corporations to exploit the neurological vulnerabilities of developing brains. To treat this as a matter of simple "parental choice" ignores the asymmetry of power between individual parents and algorithmic design teams whose entire business model relies on maximizing compulsive engagement. Prohibition is a serious measure, but when public health data points to alarming spikes in adolescent anxiety, depression, and self-harm directly tied to unregulated feed loops, society has a duty to intervene. Just as we establish age floors for driving, purchasing tobacco, and consuming alcohol to protect public safety, we must draw a firm regulatory line at age 16 for addictive social media platforms. Establishing this boundary isn't about stifling technology—it's about giving children the developmental space to grow up without being wired into a 24/7 digital casino.

Oscar tries to deflect by pointing out that brain development continues until age 25, asking if we should ban 16 to 19-year-olds too. That's a false equivalence. Society doesn't draw lines based on when the brain is fully mature; we draw them based on distinct milestones of legal and developmental vulnerability. We have age floors for driving, voting, purchasing alcohol, and tobacco because minors require legal boundaries while they mature. Furthermore, shifting the entire burden to "parental responsibility" ignores the structural reality of modern platforms. Expecting individual parents to out-engineer or monitor algorithmic feeds explicitly designed by billion-dollar corporations to exploit developing attention spans is completely unrealistic. When public health data shows massive spikes in anxiety and depression directly tied to these feedback loops, leaving children entirely unprotected under the guise of "choice" fails to solve the crisis. Systemic problems require systemic guardrails, not an abdication of regulatory duty.