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Hmm. So, I can vividly remember being young. 13, probably back to 10 or so. I did all this stuff. Looked for porn, played online games, chatted on IRC with 'o

Hmm. So, I can vividly remember being young. 13, probably back to 10 or so. I did all this stuff. Looked for porn, played online games, chatted on IRC with 'old people'. Etc. There never was an issue. The weird fears people seem to have like video chat with pedophiles didn't happen because, well, it was just as odd to me then as it would be now. This was with little guidance from parents... in the early days of the Internet I think they just didn't know how to use it as well as I did. I have the vague sense that barring some sort of learning disability, the idea of 'protecting' kids from most stuff is silly. Sure, I look at a 13 year old now, and see their immaturity, but part of me feels as if that's mostly just that they don't have the pressures adults do to be respectable, to act in predictable ways, to not burn money and so on. I acted out on purpose then because society was broken for me; it still is, but as an adult we must conform to not starve and die. Am I just weird and special or do other people feel this way too? I have the same attitude about e.g. violent video games... it doesn't really matter how much I played them when I was younger. I am not violent because a) it's not ethical and b) it has negative EV.

ohitsdom 11y ago
Are you a parent? Not trying to dismiss your opinion, just want to make a counterpoint. Sure, pedophile interactions mostly never happen. But as a parent, I agonize over the awful (although rare) events that my kids could go through. So I'm going to setup age appropriate restrictions, but I also realize I can't protect my kids from everything so ultimately need to keep talking with my kids about issues and have good lines of communication.
- stegosaurus 11y ago
  I'm not, but I'm not talking about parenting here, really. I am asking whether it is unusual for me to remember my youth. If it is, then my story is just an anecdote. If not, then I would be interested in knowing whether others had reasonable thought processes. The basic idea that a 10+ year old needs to be protected from themselves or they'll just develop neuroses/be abducted/whatever seems weird to me based on my own experience of being that age. I was just as rational as I am now - with different data points to draw from, but not self damaging. I guess I would compare it to funerals. They are not for the benefit of the deceased. Whether or not individuals continue to do these things is kind of a different debate.
TEMPLEOS_DEV 11y ago
I chatted on #hackphreak on undernet as a young teen and was contacted by a known paedorist named Rloxley.
mike_hearn 11y ago
I used IRC, chat rooms, did open source coding etc all the time when I was between I think 12 and 16. I used adult tools and resources and that's one reason I was able to get a great job right out of university. There were no issues. I even used the ICQ "chat to a totally random person" feature and made some friends in real life that way. My parents were mostly clueless, though obviously once I started getting on a train to go visit my internet friends they had to be told. I do worry that American attempts to make a totally safe internet for every single child simply result in the thermonuking of vast amounts of greatness that children can massively benefit from. The Minecraft vs Lego Universe story is very apt.

ohitsdom 11y ago

Are you a parent? Not trying to dismiss your opinion, just want to make a counterpoint. Sure, pedophile interactions mostly never happen. But as a parent, I agonize over the awful (although rare) events that my kids could go through. So I'm going to setup age appropriate restrictions, but I also realize I can't protect my kids from everything so ultimately need to keep talking with my kids about issues and have good lines of communication.

stegosaurus 11y ago
I'm not, but I'm not talking about parenting here, really. I am asking whether it is unusual for me to remember my youth. If it is, then my story is just an anecdote. If not, then I would be interested in knowing whether others had reasonable thought processes. The basic idea that a 10+ year old needs to be protected from themselves or they'll just develop neuroses/be abducted/whatever seems weird to me based on my own experience of being that age. I was just as rational as I am now - with different data points to draw from, but not self damaging. I guess I would compare it to funerals. They are not for the benefit of the deceased. Whether or not individuals continue to do these things is kind of a different debate.

TEMPLEOS_DEV 11y ago

I chatted on #hackphreak on undernet as a young teen and was contacted by a known paedorist named Rloxley.

mike_hearn 11y ago

I used IRC, chat rooms, did open source coding etc all the time when I was between I think 12 and 16. I used adult tools and resources and that's one reason I was able to get a great job right out of university. There were no issues. I even used the ICQ "chat to a totally random person" feature and made some friends in real life that way. My parents were mostly clueless, though obviously once I started getting on a train to go visit my internet friends they had to be told. I do worry that American attempts to make a totally safe internet for every single child simply result in the thermonuking of vast amounts of greatness that children can massively benefit from. The Minecraft vs Lego Universe story is very apt.