![]() For instance, Instagram and TikTok could slow down all users’ ability to mindlessly scroll on their platforms for hours on end. Perry suggests that instead of age verification, there are steps tech companies could take to make their platforms less harmful, less addictive, across the board. But even if the laws clear the inevitable lawsuits from tech giants, it’s not clear how Utah will be able to enforce them. The rules could drastically transform how people in this conservative state access social media and the internet, and if successful, serve as a model for other states to enact similar legislation. This is especially true for LGBTQ+ kids whose parents are not accepting of their identity. They also require tech companies to give parents access to their kids’ accounts and private messages, which has raised alarms for child advocates who say this could further harm children’s mental health by depriving them of their right to privacy. The laws, which will go into effect in a year, impose a digital curfew on people under 18, require minors to get parental consent to sign up for social media apps and force companies to verify the ages of all their Utah users. “Children may be put at increased risk if these laws are enforced in such a way that they’re not allowed to some privacy, if they are not allowed some ability for freedom of speech or autonomy,” said Kris Perry, executive director of the nonprofit Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development. And while parental rights are a central theme of Utah’s new laws, experts point out that the rights of parents and the best interests of children are not always aligned.įor instance, allowing parents to read their kids’ private messages may be harmful to some children, and age verification requirements could give tech companies access to kids’ personal information, including biometric data, if they use tools such as facial recognition to check ages. What’s not clear is if - and how - the new rules can be enforced and whether they will create unintended consequences for kids and teens already coping with a mental health crisis. Directed by Andy Fickman.Utah’s sweeping social media legislation passed this week is an ambitious attempt to shield children and teens from the ill effects of social media and empower parents to decide whether their kids should be using apps like TikTok or Instagram. Written by Lisa Addario and Joe Syracuse. Behind the scenes: Produced by Billy Crystal, Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark.Cast: Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei, Tom Everett Scott, Bailee Madison, Joshua Rush, Kyle Harrison Breitkopf, Gedde Watanabe.If the filmmakers had similarly sparked, "Parental Guidance" would be more than a mildly diverting miscalculation. That said, Crystal and Midler make an appealing on-screen duo, and they spark beautifully with Tomei in a handful of heartwarming moments. Even when Artie puts his foot in it, his more authoritarian approach yields better dividends than Alice and Phil's wishy-washy, honey-use-your-words-please approach to parenting.Īnd the estrangement between Alice and her parents comes off as more of a convenient plot contrivance than a believable turn of events. Plus, there is no real competition when it comes to which parenting style is the better of the two. And the filmmakers can't decide if they want to make a feel-good family movie or a slapstick comedy with tired sight gags and rude humor of the potty-and-projectile variety. The problem with "Parental Guidance" is that no real-life parent would ever allow some of the behavior the kids exhibit in the film, no matter what their child-rearing beliefs happen to be. Artie, on the other hand, is more skeptical he's no fan of his daughter and son-in-law's indulgent parenting style. When work requires Alice and her husband, Phil (Tom Everett Scott), to both be away for nearly a week, and his parents aren't available to watch the kids, Phil nudges a reluctant Alice to ask her parents to help them out.ĭiane is happy to sign on for baby-sitting duties, since it's been nearly a year since she's last seen Alice and her grandchildren. The result is reminiscent of the 1989 movie "Parenthood" (which spawned the current NBC series) minus the consistency.īilly Crystal, who also is one of the movie's producers, and Bette Midler team up for the first time to play Artie and Diane, "the other grandparents" to their semi-estranged daughter Alice's (Marisa Tomei) trio of eccentric kids (Bailee Madison, Joshua Rush, Kyle Harrison Breitkopf). At first glance, the new generational comedy "Parental Guidance," opening in theaters Christmas Day, appears to be a shrewd bit of family-friendly counterprogramming.īut despite a talented cast, the film's promising premise - old-school parenting vs.
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