First-order effects

• The survey gives lawmakers and child-safety advocates a clear signal that these first-time Gen Z voters resist parental-consent requirements for under-16s and notification time limits.
• Instagram and TikTok gain evidence that a politically relevant cohort may view product restrictions as limits on young people’s autonomy, even as lawmakers criticize the platforms over child safety.

Second-order effects

• Proposals built around parental authorization or time-based notifications may face a harder political messaging task: proponents will need to distinguish protections for children from restrictions that young voters oppose.
• Platforms may emphasize parental tools and user choice over rigid notification limits when responding to child-safety scrutiny, though the survey does not establish how they will change products or policy positions.

Third-order effects

• The result points to a durable tension in access-control regulation: policymakers may seek stronger protections for minors while the generation most accustomed to social platforms resists controls that shape online access and engagement.
• If that divide persists as Gen Z becomes a larger voting bloc, social-media policy could increasingly turn on which safeguards are framed as protective support versus compulsory limits.