As a parent, I don't think kids these days are any stupider. The tech has gotten easier for both good and nefarious purposes, and IMO the education around it ha

As a parent, I don't think kids these days are any stupider. The tech has gotten easier for both good and nefarious purposes, and IMO the education around it has kept up. I think it's FUD that's leveraged (deliberately or otherwise) to influence and gain authority, more than anything. I'm certainly biased as a more technical parent than most, but I don't think the average layperson knows that much less about the risks. If anything it's shouted from the news any time something remotely internet related happens, and people notice, because it plays on a pretty fundamental fear. I think awareness is up (not always in a good way) more than anything. There's a balance to strike between trying to make things safer and just teaching kids to navigate dangers that will always be there (and always be changing) and I tend to think these laws are a step or so too far into diminishing returns on making things safer. Even then, that's assuming we can even agree what safer means.