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I don't get the hyperventilating about this. If you don't want your kids to use children's Instagram, then prohibit them from doing so. There's a lot of stuff o

I don't get the hyperventilating about this. If you don't want your kids to use children's Instagram, then prohibit them from doing so. There's a lot of stuff on the internet children shouldn't see or be involved with. If you think Instagram Kids is a member of that set then treat it that way.

smt88 6y ago
A lot of people allow their kids to do unhealthy or unsafe things out of ignorance. It's completely reasonable to advocate against the sellers of those things. People can always choose not to buy your unethical or unsafe product. That doesn't make it suddenly ethical and safe, nor does it exempt you from criticism.
glial 6y ago
Do you think it’s OK to market cigarettes to kids?
- AmericanChopper 6y ago
  Do you think cigarettes and Instagram are comparable products?
  - xnyan 6y ago
    Yes, in the sense that they are both products that should not be marketed to kids.
    - AmericanChopper 6y ago
      Your basis for claiming that these products are comparable seems to be an entirely arbitrary opinion of yours. If you think Instagram is harmful then feel free to do some parenting and keep your own children away from it. But if you think that Instagram and cigarettes are comparably harmful, then you have an incredibly niche opinion that you shouldn’t expect anybody else to give much consideration to.
      - danielrpa 6y ago
        I agree with his opinion. The analogy holds quite well if you don't try to stretch it. Both products are attractive to kids, in different ways, but ultimately harm them - also in different ways. Nonetheless, they are comparable in this regard.
        AmericanChopper 6y ago
        In that same sense cigarettes and bicycles are comparably harmful. Both products are attractive to kids, in different ways, but ultimately harm them - also in different ways. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to choose what risks your children are exposed to. The basis of the comparison is that use of either product entails a certain level of risk, just as every single thing you can possibly do entails a certain level of risk. However the risks associated with each of those products are not comparable at all, and neither is the reward side of the equation.
        na85 6y ago
        Bicycles are fitness toys that do not harm the user directly, unlike cigarettes and instagram.
        AmericanChopper 6y ago
        Of course they do. Children hurt themselves all the time on bicycles.
        na85 6y ago
        Children also hurt themselves running. That's not the same thing as a product that is designed to cause harm.
        AmericanChopper 6y ago
        Social media is not intentionally designed to cause harm. It simply has the potential to cause harm.
  - qotgalaxy 6y ago
    I think Instagram is worse, actually.
- winstonchecksin 6y ago
  Cigarettes destroy your mouth, lungs, and cause cancer. And they’re so bad we passed laws that you cannot sell them to minors. I’m no fan of Instagram, but if you don’t want your kid on social media, don’t let them go on social media. Should we also ban porn sites, Internet forums? Since search engines can be used to find inappropriate websites or set the wrong expectation about body image, sex, etc - should that all be banned? I don’t care for social media but I certainly can’t get behind all this unnecessary cancel culture.
- tracer4201 6y ago
  You’re arguing a strawman. This is like when someone has an opinion against war and the war hawks ask, “Why do you hate America?” I don’t think there’s any equivalence between tobacco products and social media. I personally use social media to stay connected with family and some college friends. Do some people have a toxic relationship with social media and pretend to be the Jones’? Absolutely. Some people also have an unhealthy relationship with food. Should we prevent McDonalds from selling happy meals? Should we prevent companies from selling sugary cereals?
endisneigh 6y ago
How can parents prevent their kids from using Instagram? Even if you block it on your router and phone they’ll get around it. I see this argument a lot and people never give an exhaustive way to stop their children from doing so called bad things. It’s not that simple lol. Parenting™ is not a cure all nor is it even a specific technique to be employed... Anyways, can’t your logic be extended to everything? Agree or disagree it’s pretty easy to see why some parents would disagree with the decision
- HDMI_Cable 6y ago
  I guess one could just not give their kid a phone, or if they do, make it a BlackBerry.
disabled 6y ago
It is way worse than cigarettes, on so many levels. It is much more profound than one would initially assume. Social media and modern micro targeting advertising, which plays strongly into your individual hopes and fears (to maximize the likelihood of getting a response from you—which is abusive), creates a validation feedback loop commonly seen in Cluster B Personality Disorders. Young people (as in developing minds that have not mentally reached adulthood—occurs around age 25) have been primed and trained to make fake, empty, and unthoughtful posts needlessly (i.e. daily or several times per day) just to gain “likes” (also known as approval) from their peers. They also post to social media so that the algorithm treats them nicer, even if they are unaware of this on an explicit level. Psychologists have been warning about this: how an entire generation of currently developing minds is going to be a lot more narcissistic and a lot less empathetic than previous generations due to this invasive and traumatic long-term exposure. I am luckier than most: as an adult (with a print-related disability) I almost never have to go on websites that serve ads, as I have access to special libraries and news repositories (with breaking news sources) that legitimately keep me endlessly entertained (see this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829865). I also use the paid audio apps Blinkist, Audm, and Curio to augment those databases. I probably have not used YouTube in 6 months, due to the above and I am no Luddite! The only social media account that I have is HN.
- ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
  It's already way too late to hyperventilate about insta for kids. Most of my friend's and colleagues kids are on tiktok and they are around 9-12. You can't take away phones from them else they feel peer pressure. People over here are blaming facebook but video apps like tiktok should carry a heavier burden for a lot of the personality disorders in kids
  - sneak 6y ago
    > You can't take away phones from them else they feel peer pressure. I don't think that this is sufficient justification for abdicating parental responsibility to moderate and limit phone usage.
winstonchecksin 6y ago
Why prohibit my kid from doing something when I can abdicate my responsibility to the child completely and rely on mass hysteria or government intervention to do my job for me? That’s basically the argument against what you’re saying.

smt88 6y ago

A lot of people allow their kids to do unhealthy or unsafe things out of ignorance. It's completely reasonable to advocate against the sellers of those things. People can always choose not to buy your unethical or unsafe product. That doesn't make it suddenly ethical and safe, nor does it exempt you from criticism.

glial 6y ago

Do you think it’s OK to market cigarettes to kids?

AmericanChopper 6y ago
Do you think cigarettes and Instagram are comparable products?
- xnyan 6y ago
  Yes, in the sense that they are both products that should not be marketed to kids.
  - AmericanChopper 6y ago
    Your basis for claiming that these products are comparable seems to be an entirely arbitrary opinion of yours. If you think Instagram is harmful then feel free to do some parenting and keep your own children away from it. But if you think that Instagram and cigarettes are comparably harmful, then you have an incredibly niche opinion that you shouldn’t expect anybody else to give much consideration to.
    - danielrpa 6y ago
      I agree with his opinion. The analogy holds quite well if you don't try to stretch it. Both products are attractive to kids, in different ways, but ultimately harm them - also in different ways. Nonetheless, they are comparable in this regard.
      - AmericanChopper 6y ago
        In that same sense cigarettes and bicycles are comparably harmful. Both products are attractive to kids, in different ways, but ultimately harm them - also in different ways. As a parent, it’s your responsibility to choose what risks your children are exposed to. The basis of the comparison is that use of either product entails a certain level of risk, just as every single thing you can possibly do entails a certain level of risk. However the risks associated with each of those products are not comparable at all, and neither is the reward side of the equation.
        na85 6y ago
        Bicycles are fitness toys that do not harm the user directly, unlike cigarettes and instagram.
        AmericanChopper 6y ago
        Of course they do. Children hurt themselves all the time on bicycles.
        na85 6y ago
        Children also hurt themselves running. That's not the same thing as a product that is designed to cause harm.
        AmericanChopper 6y ago
        Social media is not intentionally designed to cause harm. It simply has the potential to cause harm.
- qotgalaxy 6y ago
  I think Instagram is worse, actually.
winstonchecksin 6y ago
Cigarettes destroy your mouth, lungs, and cause cancer. And they’re so bad we passed laws that you cannot sell them to minors. I’m no fan of Instagram, but if you don’t want your kid on social media, don’t let them go on social media. Should we also ban porn sites, Internet forums? Since search engines can be used to find inappropriate websites or set the wrong expectation about body image, sex, etc - should that all be banned? I don’t care for social media but I certainly can’t get behind all this unnecessary cancel culture.
tracer4201 6y ago
You’re arguing a strawman. This is like when someone has an opinion against war and the war hawks ask, “Why do you hate America?” I don’t think there’s any equivalence between tobacco products and social media. I personally use social media to stay connected with family and some college friends. Do some people have a toxic relationship with social media and pretend to be the Jones’? Absolutely. Some people also have an unhealthy relationship with food. Should we prevent McDonalds from selling happy meals? Should we prevent companies from selling sugary cereals?

endisneigh 6y ago

How can parents prevent their kids from using Instagram? Even if you block it on your router and phone they’ll get around it. I see this argument a lot and people never give an exhaustive way to stop their children from doing so called bad things. It’s not that simple lol. Parenting™ is not a cure all nor is it even a specific technique to be employed... Anyways, can’t your logic be extended to everything? Agree or disagree it’s pretty easy to see why some parents would disagree with the decision

HDMI_Cable 6y ago
I guess one could just not give their kid a phone, or if they do, make it a BlackBerry.

disabled 6y ago

It is way worse than cigarettes, on so many levels. It is much more profound than one would initially assume. Social media and modern micro targeting advertising, which plays strongly into your individual hopes and fears (to maximize the likelihood of getting a response from you—which is abusive), creates a validation feedback loop commonly seen in Cluster B Personality Disorders. Young people (as in developing minds that have not mentally reached adulthood—occurs around age 25) have been primed and trained to make fake, empty, and unthoughtful posts needlessly (i.e. daily or several times per day) just to gain “likes” (also known as approval) from their peers. They also post to social media so that the algorithm treats them nicer, even if they are unaware of this on an explicit level. Psychologists have been warning about this: how an entire generation of currently developing minds is going to be a lot more narcissistic and a lot less empathetic than previous generations due to this invasive and traumatic long-term exposure. I am luckier than most: as an adult (with a print-related disability) I almost never have to go on websites that serve ads, as I have access to special libraries and news repositories (with breaking news sources) that legitimately keep me endlessly entertained (see this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26829865). I also use the paid audio apps Blinkist, Audm, and Curio to augment those databases. I probably have not used YouTube in 6 months, due to the above and I am no Luddite! The only social media account that I have is HN.

ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
It's already way too late to hyperventilate about insta for kids. Most of my friend's and colleagues kids are on tiktok and they are around 9-12. You can't take away phones from them else they feel peer pressure. People over here are blaming facebook but video apps like tiktok should carry a heavier burden for a lot of the personality disorders in kids
- sneak 6y ago
  > You can't take away phones from them else they feel peer pressure. I don't think that this is sufficient justification for abdicating parental responsibility to moderate and limit phone usage.

winstonchecksin 6y ago

Why prohibit my kid from doing something when I can abdicate my responsibility to the child completely and rely on mass hysteria or government intervention to do my job for me? That’s basically the argument against what you’re saying.