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Children do have rights to free expression. They're not property and honestly some of us would not have survived to adults without the ability to explore our id

by ottah 1y ago

Children do have rights to free expression. They're not property and honestly some of us would not have survived to adults without the ability to explore our identity independent of parental supervision. Plus you're just setting kids up for failure by keeping them from understanding the adult world. You can't keep them ignorant and then drop them in the deep end when they turn 18, and expect good outcomes.

BatteryMountain 1y ago
It's not to deprive them of understanding the adult world or free expression, it about the protecting them from the cesspool that is the internet. The pace at which kids are consuming information and maturing too early. Many of their "firsts" experiences being online. Your child being blackmailed by some online troll is not teaching them to understand the online world - they are actively being traumatised. It is parents responsibility to teach their children about the adult world - not the internet's (being other kids, companies, trolls, predators, propaganda machines, ads...). You can explore your identity independently of parental supervision just fine without the internet. I'd much rather have my kids have 5 good friends in real life and spend time together offline, than 500 online (10 of which are predators) while they are spending all their time in their bedrooms or in front of screens. How would you not have survived to adulthood without the internet? You know how that sounds right? Billions of kids have grown up without the internet just fine (and hello poverty?).
- ottah 1y ago
  Man, just no. You not getting it is absolutely the reason children need independent access to knowledge. Growing up as a gay kid in the 90s was not easy, and I seriously doubt I would have managed it without finding community online. Life can be very isolating if you don't have the machinery to fit in, and you can't rely on parents to understand. People like me tend to find their own exit, the internet was a life line.

by ottah 1y ago

BatteryMountain 1y ago

It's not to deprive them of understanding the adult world or free expression, it about the protecting them from the cesspool that is the internet. The pace at which kids are consuming information and maturing too early. Many of their "firsts" experiences being online. Your child being blackmailed by some online troll is not teaching them to understand the online world - they are actively being traumatised. It is parents responsibility to teach their children about the adult world - not the internet's (being other kids, companies, trolls, predators, propaganda machines, ads...). You can explore your identity independently of parental supervision just fine without the internet. I'd much rather have my kids have 5 good friends in real life and spend time together offline, than 500 online (10 of which are predators) while they are spending all their time in their bedrooms or in front of screens. How would you not have survived to adulthood without the internet? You know how that sounds right? Billions of kids have grown up without the internet just fine (and hello poverty?).

ottah 1y ago
Man, just no. You not getting it is absolutely the reason children need independent access to knowledge. Growing up as a gay kid in the 90s was not easy, and I seriously doubt I would have managed it without finding community online. Life can be very isolating if you don't have the machinery to fit in, and you can't rely on parents to understand. People like me tend to find their own exit, the internet was a life line.