[throwaway48540]

I didn't say it was Apple's fault, and it's not the parents' fault either. Sometimes kids playing on the street get run over by a car. It's very unfortunate, but no protection is 100% effective. Closeted kids of overprotective parents that never leave them out of sight usually have much worse outcomes than others.

From my personal experience - my parents didn't try to limit or control my online behavior and usage of a computer at all normally, which got me into few weird situations but also allowed me to learn how to recognize and deal with them. When they tried restrictions as a punishment, they never succeeded in any way. At one point when I was around 12-13 years old I simply bought an older laptop they didn't know about.

Today's smartphones are much cheaper, more powerful and widely available - practically every older classmate has one in a drawer somewhere and will happily sell for a few bucks. Let kids learn how to behave online while unattended, because they will be online unattended.

[unlisted7347]

Why would kids be playing on the street? What the hell.

You're implying a 9 year old is mature to be online. Or that you're never too young for certain things. As if children know what they're doing.

Also, seems like you don't know a difference between sheltered life and raising your children responsibly.

[throwaway48540]

Why wouldn't kids play on the street? What the hell. Should they never leave the boundaries of a building and its garden? I was running and biking all around local forests by myself when I was 10, and my children will do the same. They have a phone, so I am not worried they will hurt themselves without the ability to call me. And they keep posting nice photos to our Telegram group, so I even roughly know what's happening.

Yes, I'm implying that a 9 year old is mature enough to be online - if they have guidance and trust their parent. And yes, children are never too young to start trying out things - again, with guidance and a trusted parent, but that doesn't mean constant oversight. You teach children to look both ways before crossing a road, watch them do it for some time, and then you let them go to school by themselves. I don't understand how are they supposed to develop responsibility and self reliance if there's constantly someone watching.

Seems like your idea of responsible is my idea of sheltered.

[unlisted7347]

Ah, and you'll trust your 9 year old to not talk to strangers online. Many such cases.

Internet is a wild west, without parental control where your 9 yo can go your kid is a click away from something that may disturb them for life. And it's your responsibility to protect them before at least they hit puberty. Don't fuckin trust your 9 yo to not go places on the internet, that's insane. That's just taking off the responsibility off your shoulders.

[throwaway48540]

I trust them not to talk to strangers on the internet much more than I trust them not to talk to strangers in real life, and yet they go to school and outside unattended.