Australia Social Media Ban - Robert Griffin III

Australia goes bold by banning social media for all kids under 16. This is not only necessary, it's imperative for all kids everywhere. All of the studies show that social media is damaging our kids. It is no different from cigarettes or alcohol.

 Raw Transcript

In this episode, Australia bans all
social media for kids under 16 years
old. What are your thoughts on this? Is
this the role of the state? Should they
be inserting themselves here in this
type of decision-m kind of over the
parents? I believe they should. I'm
going to go over why. Are they the first
domino to fall internationally? Will
other countries begin doing the same
thing? They should. and we're going to
talk about Robert Griffith III's expost
from a few days ago saying Mormons are
Christians. I want to go through some of
the replies from that tweet. First, this
episode is brought to you by Go and Do
Travel. I am the official spokesperson
for them. I want to talk about the
Gospel on the Nile Cruise. There are
still some openings for the cruises in
March. We're going to cruise down the
Nile, see several temples. You're going
to see the temple, our temple, all over
the walls of these temples. You'll visit
some colorful tombs, go to what I
believe is the best museum anywhere, and
of course, hit the pyramids on your
bucket list. You can check that one off.
Would love to see you there. Let's do
this.
All right, let's go to the first story
here. Australia banning social media for
kids under 16 years old. I think that
this is a huge deal. I'm hoping that
this spreads. I think that it will. I
think it's going to go well. I mean,
we're going to start seeing reports
about the changes, I think, in kids
psychology and their level of depression
and anxiety, the ability to connect
again with human beings.
Very important thing to do. We're going
to talk about Jonathan Height, who I
think does the best work on this, and
Elder Bednar, who talked about this
almost a decade ago. Let's check out
this clip.
So, Australia taking the lead on
protecting their kids with study after
study showing how social media can be
harmful to the mental health of
children. The Aussie government has
enacted a firstofits-kind ban on social
media use for anyone under the age of
16. As of midnight, more than a million
accounts have already gone dark. 10
major social media companies in
including YouTube, Meta, and Axe, have
agreed to comply and will use age in
right there's going to be up to $33
million in bans. It says parents won't
be fined. I think that's an important
thing to put in place there, but they're
going to put the onus on the social
media companies. Look, the social media
companies are the ones that are putting
the algorithm together trying to attract
the kids as young as they can, get them
stuck onto their phones. That's what
this is all about. It's the exact same
thing as trying to pedal cigarettes to
kids, except it's it could be even worse
in the short term than what you're
getting with cigarettes. And a lot of
people are going to say, "Well, come on.
You're talking about their physical
health." Well, you're talking about
their mental, spiritual
health. This is something that can
affect them for the rest of their lives
where they're making bad decisions,
where they are isolated, where they're
living in a virtual world essentially as
their brains are trying to form and
they're losing contact with other human
beings. Elder Bednar says something
really important about this back in his
talk from 2009 at BYU,
which if you recall, it's the one that
was called things as they really are,
right? Truth. things as they really are.
And he goes into social media. This is
way back then, seeing what was coming, I
think. And of course, you already had
gaming and the internet scrolling and
things like that, but this is really
important to see. And then we're going
to go over Jonathan Hyde a little bit as
he adds to this and I believe is the the
foremost expert and and biggest name in
trying to influence the world on h the
dangers of social media for kids
especially under 16 years old. I don't
think it's a mistake that Australia has
picked that age be. I think it's because
of Jonathan height. Now let's go to the
stock here by Elder Bednar. things as
they really are. Uh you can see this is
a a CES system fireside. This was at
Brigham Y Young University Idaho on May
3rd, 2009. It was reprinted in the
enzenyme back in 2010 I think in the
June edition. This is really really
fascinating the way that he goes through
this and I think it's important to
understand this virtual digital world
that we are all entering into because it
is as he points out against the plan of
God and goes right along with the plan
of the adversary. Here's how he's
starting off here. He talks about how
important this is and the impressions
that he's getting to talk about these
things. He says, "I have come to better
understand the strong feelings of Jacob,
the brother of Nephi." He said, "I this
day am weighed down with much desire and
anxiety for the welfare of your souls."
He he he's weighed down on what is
coming in this digital world. This is
back in 2009.
That quote is from the Book of Mormon in
Jacob 2:3. When we come down a little
bit further here, he says here, speaking
of truth,
sadly, some young men and young women in
the church today ignore things as they
really are. So, I want you to stop and
think about that. Things as they really
are, right? He's drawing this from the
scriptures, right? Things the truth, you
know, things as they were, things as
they are, things as they will be. So,
it's things as they really are. And he's
contrasting that with with this digital
world which are not the way things
really are. Whether it's things that are
made up on social media, everybody
putting forward their best face um not
being in a physical world. He spends a
lot of time on this in this talk trying
to get this point across. You are
leaving a physical world
and this is a problem.
He says, "Things as they really are and
neglect eternal relationships for
digital distractions, diversions, and
detours that have no lasting value.
My heart aches when a young couple
sealed together in the house of the Lord
for time and for all eternity by the
power of the Holy Priesthood experiences
marital difficulties because of the
addicting effect of excess excessive
video gaming or online socializing." We
talked a little bit yesterday about
people, you know, men that are addicted
to gaming and the socializing. I think
you're going to get that a lot more with
the women. A young man or woman may
waste countless hours, postpone or
forfeit vocational or academic
achievement, and ultimately sacrifice
cherished human relationships
because of mind and spiritnumbing video
and online games.
Right? So, he's putting us in a in in a
in a picture here of saying, "Okay,
we're we're immersing ourselves in a
digital world and getting away from
things as they really are."
Saying that a physical world is what is
is showing the way that things really
are.
And he spends all of this time up to
this point talking about the importance
of having a body and being here on
Earth.
So we're put down in this mortal
probation with a body which is essential
for us to have in a physical world going
through the temple as an example with a
physical body. We we go through for
ourselves we get baptized for ourselves
get the gift of the Holy Ghost for
ourselves and then we do this for others
because we have a body to do it. So this
physical world is crucial. And as he
states it, he st says that the adversary
is working on us to pull us out of that
physical world into a digital sphere
that we're not made for.
Right? And and and it causes many,
right? It's it's a it's uh it changes
our frequency, so to speak, our
spiritual frequency.
And for kids especially that have not
developed their brains. In fact, you
know, guys don't even develop their
brains fully until about 25 years old.
This is a disaster.
And and we're seeing this happen quite a
bit throughout the country and
throughout the West and everywhere where
where social media is becoming so
prominent. He says, "But brother Bednar,
you began
today by talking about the importance of
a physical body in our eternal
progression. Are you suggesting that
video gaming and various types of
computer mediated communication can play
a role in minimizing the importance of
our physical bodies? Yes, absolutely.
He's you're being drawn out from
things as they really are in a physical
body. He goes on here, I raise an
apostolic voice of warning about the
potentially stifling, suffocating,
suppressing, and constraining impact of
some kinds of cyberspace interactions
and experiences upon our souls. I plead
with you to beware of the sensed dulling
and spiritually destructive influence of
cyberspace technologies that are used to
produce highfidelity and that promote
degrading and evil purposes.
So he's looking at this in a way that is
like look this is a warning
be very careful about the amount of time
that you are online and especially for
youth kids even college-aged students
the amount of time that you're you're
putting online is going to have a
dramatic effect on you on your
well-being now I don't know if you've
ever thought about that in that sense
that we're being pulled out of a
physical world which is what we were
meant to be in and immersing ourselves
into a digital world and that we are
losing truth. Essentially, there is a
truth, an experiential tr experiential
truth that we lose because we're pulling
ourselves out of a physical world that
we are meant to be in. And we are losing
to a great degree the function and
purpose of having our bodies
living in our real world. And we're only
looking at things getting worse with AI
and virtual worlds, virtual boyfriends,
virtual girlfriends,
virtual therapists,
virtual teachers, virtual everything.
It's there there can be some wonderful
things from technology and a even AI,
but there are some warnings that need to
be put out there. And I think that what
Australia is doing here is very smart.
Let's go to Jonathan Height here. He has
done some amazing work on tracking all
of this. I remember finding him in the
early 2000s about 2012 when I read his
book, The Righteous Mind, and I started
following him and he started tracking
all of this right about that time cuz he
was seeing this massive change in his
own university. He was at NYU and he saw
this change in all the students. All of
a sudden, what is going on? And these
were the first students that came in
really who had gone through high school
all the way through high school with an
iPhone which came out in 2008. And then
later on they added you had the social
media had MySpace that was being on
there and then and then Facebook. They
started adding the like button I think
on Facebook around 200 I want to say
2011 to 2012 maybe 2010. And this had a
dramatic effect on everybody because
it's like how many likes can I get? Why
aren't I getting more? they still had
the thumbs down also at that point. So,
it was really it was traumatic for a lot
of kids who were going through high
school trying to fit in and and finding
out who was following them and who
wasn't and it had a a pretty large
effect on everyone that was coming into
the university and he tracks all this
and writes about it, etc. But this is
what he says here on this post about
Australia putting this ban in for kids
under 16. It says it's happening.
Australia is freeing kids under 16 from
the social media trap where all kids
feel they must be on it because all
other kids are on it. Praise to and he
it's me Milanoscus I think is his name
the prime minister of uh Australia who
got it started and to prime minister
Albo MP who took it national. The key as
both men have emphasized is that we all
want kids to have fun exciting
childhoods. We're taking that away. How
many times have you seen or done
yourself? I'll ask. No one's raising
their hand here. Seen a 2-year-old or a
three-year-old even in a stroller
or sitting on a couch at someone's house
with an iPad in front of them. And it's
not for a minute. It's not like, okay,
I'm going to give you this for a few
minutes to take care of you. It's I want
you to be quiet and and stay engaged
with this because it makes everything
easier for me. Right? I get it.
But what is it doing to that kid's
brain?
And Jonathan Height does not like what
he sees with this. He's a he's a social
psychologist and talks about all the
dangers of this and how the brains are
forming with being immersed into these
digital worlds.
The key as both men have emphasized is
that we all want kids to have fun
exciting childhoods doing things with
friends in the real world, right? In our
physical real world like Elder Benar
says, that's the childhood we older
people remember fondly. That's the
childhood that Gen Z has seen only in
movies. Isn't that interesting? And they
long for it. They look back. How many I
haven't How many times have you heard
kids say, "God, I wish I would have
grown up in the 80s or the 90s or the
70s or whatever it is that looks so much
different, so much fun. Everybody's
engaged with each other. It's a totally
different world."
And he says to to the parents, I urge
Australian parents to make this
transition one that their kids will look
back on fondly as the summer when their
lives opened up. Right? For them down
there, it's summertime now. The summer
when they were given more freedom and
they began to have more unsupervised fun
and adventure and togetherness. He's
very into not being too much of a
helicopter parent. They began to have
childhoods worth remembering. What kind
of childhood is someone going to have if
they've spent an average of six or eight
hours in front of a screen, an iPad, a
phone, a television set every day?
That's that's pretty concerning, right?
So, he's very very much for this. I'm
for it. What are your thoughts on this?
Do you think that this is the right
place for the state to intervene? I see
it very similarly to to drugs and
alcohol and and cigarettes.
It is a a support. I believe I think
it's a support for the parents or should
be. I know a lot of parents are not
going to be happy with it because it
makes their job a little bit harder
sometimes,
but think about the downside and what
this does. And I think that we have a
responsibility as a society, you know,
obviously not for adults, but for to
watch out for the kids and keep them
away from dangerous things. The studies
are so powerful and so uh corroborative
over and over and over again on on what
these this social media does to the
kids,
especially to young women. It is
disastrous. And so I think that with
with what they're doing, I give it a
full thumbs up. I think it is definitely
the right move. All right. So Robert
Griffin the third, the Heisman Trophy
winner. He calls a lot of the Big 12
games. So, he follows BYU very closely.
Loves BYU, supports BYU a lot, loves
Kehani Sitake, the head coach for
Brigham Young University, and is very
Christian. You know, he's from Baylor.
He uh talks about God all the time on on
his on X. He's very public about that.
Has no problem in sharing all of that.
This is what he says here as he's
hearing all of this f the Mormons in in
the in the
uh stadiums and and arenas where BYU is
playing. And this is what he says just
very plainly and matters of fact
matterof factly. Mormons are Christians.
Right? So this is a guy who is an
evangelical Christian. He has no problem
with this. He knows probably quite a few
Latter-day Saints. uh Mormons are
Christians. That is really nice to have
as a great support from a high
high-profile figure and someone who is
unabashedly Christian, right? To say
that. And I think it's important to see
this. And I know for us, we don't care
sometimes necessarily that people other
people might think that we're Christian,
but to some degree, we should, right?
Not not because we're trying to be
accepted into a a club that is very
tightly gatekeeped, especially here in
the US by uh certain Protestants,
but because we want people who don't are
not familiar with the church to at least
have that first step already in place.
Okay, they do believe in Christ. I mean,
I can't tell you how many times in the
videos over the last 8 years that people
have commented on videos all the way
back to come follow me and said, "Well,
not only are you not Christians, but you
don't even believe in Jesus."
And that's that's the myths of darkness
that are out there for a lot of people.
So, to have that first step in
understanding, okay, they're Christian.
I I I believe in Christianity. I want to
find a Christian church.
I think that for that reason it's
important to see that. Now, I wanted to
go over a few, you know, it's too bad. I
I see here that it's a response to
another post which was deleted
unfortunately. Would love to see exactly
what that response was. Maybe you know
what it was. I I don't know what that
was, but I want to show some of the
replies. We do find a little Here's a
cameo from In Defense of Family. She's
great. Does a great job in here. Yes, we
are. Thank you. Right. So again, it's an
argument that we do want to win, I
think, but but it's not because we want
to be accepted. It's not because we're
the same. We are not creedle Christians.
And when people say you're not Christian
as a Latter-day Saint, what they're
really saying is you're not a creedle
Christian. And we unabashedly should say
that's right. We are not.
So again, you've got different
information, different talking points
here. We we talking like Catholic
Christian situation here because what
I've read and heard from Mormons does
not align biblically with is depicted to
be a Christian. Correct me if I'm wrong.
See, at least that opens up something
for this guy here, right? Of course,
you've got Senator Mike Lee. RG3 is a
hero. Uh RG3 is a peacemaker. Blessed
are the peacemakers.
And no, they're not. Here's another one
here. No, they're not. See, it's
gatekeeping. That's all that matters.
Why would anybody care what someone
says? It's gatekeeping. And of course,
they have this graphic here that is put
out. I've seen this so many times,
right? Jesus is Satan's brother.
Out of context. That's completely listed
as something that's out of context. I
remember um the governor Huckabe saying
this when Mitt Romney, he was running
against Mitt Romney in I think it was
the 2008 race. God lives near a planet
called Collab. Really? I I is that
symbolism? Is that real? I I I don't
know. But all they're doing is they're
bringing up something that's not in the
Bible. And see, for them, if it's not in
the Bible, it's not Christian.
And yet the most important thing that
they're using as a litmus test for being
a Christian
is trinitarianism is are the creeds
which are not in the Bible. Those creeds
supersede the Bible for them in their in
their their definition of what a
Christian is. Jesus is married to a
goddess wife. I I don't know who that
is. Jesus has children from his wives. I
I I don't know that. The Garden of Eden
was in Missouri. Okay. Why Why would
that be said? That would be interesting
to go back and look at Joseph Smith and
his statement on this. Mormons are the
real Christians.
We believe that we are res the restored
gospel from the original church that
Jesus instituted in his mortal life.
That that's what we believe. But we
unlike most others have no problem
calling others Christians,
right? We don't have a problem with
that. We believe that if you believe in
Christ, the Christ of the Bible, that
you are that you are a Christian. Before
1978, blacks could not get into heaven.
Uh that's not true at all. Right? That
that's taken completely out of context.
These are people that are trying to
straw man the church and the gospel and
members of the church without really
having much knowledge of what they're
talking about. Mormons baptize dead
people. Come on. Mormons believe they
will become gods. Okay. Why do we
believe that? What are the scriptures
behind it? Mormons will get their own
planet after death. I I Okay, I don't
know. Mormons wear magic underwear and
never take them off except to bathe.
False. And magic underwear is of course
a representation of Christ for us. It is
a sin to drink caffeine. False. Right?
So there's just again my my point here
in going through this is just saying
I do think for these reasons it's
important for people to see that we're
Christian. And so I do fight for that.
I'm not a credle Christian and I'll push
back on that completely.
Right. For for Latter-day Saints, the
Lord told Joseph Smith that the creeds
were an abomination
because they distorted so many things
and removed so many plain and precious
uh uh understandings and knowledge from
the scriptures. And so we're not looking
for those that want to be gatekeepers to
try and get into their club. We don't
need to try to do that.
But it is important for them to
understand what we believe in. And and
one of the great things about today that
is great about technology
is all of these these podcasters and
influencers that are getting out there
that are faithful voices where we have
been and still are completely drowning
in anti-material and and bad information
on what Latter-day Saints believe and
what the church is all about. This is a
a a a burgeoning area where where so
many faithful influencers now are are
starting to get online and starting to
put out more information and showing
yes, we are Christian and here's what
our beliefs are and oh no that's not
true and that's not true and that's not
true and that's a battle we should be
feel very good about and should be
engaged in and not participating in the
spiral of silence. We are Christian
and we have the most plain and precious
jewels of knowledge
that exist anywhere.
And I believe we should be leaning into
those things,
explaining them, but but leaning into
the uniqueness of what it is to be a
Latter-day Saint and to have a knowledge
of the restored gospel. Talk to you
tomorrow.
Wat.