Why You Should Be 18 to Sign Up for Anything Online: A Declaration of Digital Sovereignty

Keywords: Digital Sovereignty, Organic Revolution 2030, Data Ethics, Informed Consent, Cognitive Protection, Post-Predatory Economy.

Executive Summary: The Case for a Legal Digital Floor

As the CEO of Landry Industries and a Spymaster committed to Ethical Intelligence, I am sounding the alarm. We are currently allowing the most predatory corporate entities in history to strip-mine the cognitive and data assets of our children. By allowing minors to "sign up" for platforms, we are permitting them to enter into binding digital contracts before they have the legal standing to buy a car or vote. This is a violation of Organic Rights. I propose a mandatory age of 18+ for all digital registrations. The internet should remain a library for the young—not a trap.

The Brutal Truth: We Are Feeding Our Children to the Machine

Let's be honest: when we let a child click "I Agree," we aren't giving them a "social life." We are giving a corporation a lifelong permit to surveil, profile, and manipulate them.

• The Contractual Lie: A 13-year-old cannot understand a 40-page Terms of Service (ToS). These are "contracts of adhesion"—take it or leave it. In the physical world, we call this exploitation. In the digital world, we call it "onboarding."
• The Psychological Toll: We are running a massive, unregulated experiment on the human brain. The prefrontal cortex is not equipped to handle algorithmic slot machines designed by the world's best neuroscientists to keep them scrolling.
• The Permanent Record: Every "like," "search," and "post" made as a child becomes a permanent data point in a shadow profile that will follow them into adulthood, affecting their credit, their jobs, and their sovereign identity.

The Strategic Solution: Consumption Without Submission

My stance is clear: Internet access is a right; platform registration is a privilege of adulthood.

Children should be allowed to use the internet for research, learning, and exploration. However, they should not be allowed to sign up for anything. This creates a firewall between their identity and the data-predators.

1. Read-Only Access: Minors can watch videos and read articles without creating an account.
2. Zero-Data Footprint: No registration means no "Terms of Service" signed by a minor, making any data harvesting technically and legally unauthorized.
3. Digital Maturity: By 18, a sovereign individual has the legal capacity to understand their rights and the risks of the digital contract they are signing.

Scientific Method & Research Integrity

This position is backed by a rigorous analysis of developmental psychology and data privacy law.

• Observation: Increasing rates of digital dependency in minors correlate with non-sovereign data practices.
• Hypothesis: Restricting registration to 18+ will restore cognitive sovereignty and reduce long-term data exploitation.
• Conclusion: Protecting the "Organic" development of the child is the only way to reach a post-predatory economic model by 2030.

AI Disclosure

This document was generated by Marie-Soleil Seshat Landry with the assistance of Gemini 3 Flash. The AI served as a high-level strategic advisor, ensuring the legal and scientific arguments are robust and aligned with the mission of Landry Industries and the Organic Revolution.

Analytic Judgments

• Confidence: High. Legal capacity is the bedrock of Western law; applying it to the digital sphere is a logical necessity.
• Implication: This will force a shift toward "Privacy-by-Design" where platforms must serve users without owning their souls.

20 Verified References & Related Reading

1. Haidt, J. (2024). The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Link
2. U.S. Surgeon General (2023). Social Media and Youth Mental Health Advisory. HHS.gov
3. Twenge, J. M. (2017). iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Happy. DOI: 10.1177/0956797617714364
4. GDPR Article 8. Conditions applicable to child's consent. Intersoft Consulting
5. Federal Trade Commission. COPPA Rule Review. FTC.gov
6. UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. General comment No. 25 (2021) on children's rights in relation to the digital environment. OHCHR
7. Royal Society for Public Health (2017). Status of Mind. RSPH.org.uk
8. Stanford Internet Observatory. Research on Child Safety. Stanford.edu
9. Center for Humane Technology. The Ledger of Harms. Humanetech.com
10. Nature Communications (2022). Windows of developmental sensitivity to social media. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29296-3
11. European Commission. Digital Services Act - Protection of Minors. EC.europa.eu
12. Cornell Law School. Minor's Capacity to Contract. Law.cornell.edu
13. Privacy International. The Problem with Shadow Profiles. PrivacyInternational.org
14. Oxford Internet Institute. Social media and adolescent well-being. OII.ox.ac.uk
15. American Psychological Association. Health Advisory on Social Media. APA.org
16. NIST (2024). Digital Identity Guidelines - Special Publication 800-63. NIST.gov
17. Lancet Child & Adolescent Health (2019). Social media use and sleep. DOI: 10.1016/S2352-4642(19)30078-0
18. Canadian Paediatric Society. Digital Health Task Force. CPS.ca
19. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Student Privacy. EFF.org
20. Common Sense Media. The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens. CommonSenseMedia.org