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by sam-cop-vimes 199 days ago
I don't know if you are a parent, but this is a ridiculous question. The unrestricted Internet is a cesspool. For the same reason you wouldn't allow a child to go play in an open sewer, you cannot allow them access to the unrestricted Internet.
2 comments
brainwad 199 days ago
How old are you? Most millennials grew up with unfettered access to the internet, including porn, because our non-digital-native parents were easily outsmarted. We were fine. This seems like the same helicopter parenting fallacy that has already destroyed kids' in-person lives.
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sam-cop-vimes 199 days ago
My kids are millenials. They are fine too, but that is only because my wife and I worked really hard to regulate their access. We caught our 7 year old son searching for some offensive stuff on the internet and when asked, his answer was "my friends are looking for it".

In his teen years, we started hearing some stuff you'd typically associate with the toxic manosphere. A number of discussions later it turned out he was picking this off the internet.

Parents who talk about the difficulty of dealing with all this are labelled as hysterical, emotional, helicopter parents...the list goes on. My only response to that is what I tell most people - don't judge parents too harshly until you've had the opportunity to be one.

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squeefers 199 days ago
> For the same reason you wouldn't allow a child to go play in an open sewer, you cannot allow them access to the unrestricted Internet.

fair enough, but legislate this? why cant you just stop your own kid going on the internet? Id argue youre overblowing it but you cant ever remove the emotional/hysterical aspect when dealing with a parent

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sam-cop-vimes 199 days ago
> why cant you just stop your own kid going on the internet?

May I ask if you are a parent? Because every parent knows that kids will try to cross any boundary set (which is how they learn, not a problem). If there is additional friction at each step before they access something which is harmful for them, chances are they would have matured well enough to prepare them before they are exposed to harmful content.

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