[QuadmasterXLII]

Parents need to either control the internet, or control their children’s devices and screentime. The latter sounds like the obvious option, except that Google wants every second grader to have a school-mismanaged chromebook and Google wants to mediate control of the internet, and by pushing parents to the former they win on both fronts.

[benfortuna]

Requiring parents to police their child's every move is not going to end well.

[cdrnsf]

And having the state do it is better?

[palata]

The state mandates laws that say we cannot sell guns to kids. Is that a bad idea? Would you rather let the parents deal with that?

[cdrnsf]

I'd like parents to parent and develop a relationship with their kids. Comparing the internet to guns is a stretch.

[palata]

My point was that having the state regulate stuff is not always a bad idea.

The problem for many parents is that all the other kids have it. It's not always easy to develop a relationship with your kid to convince them that they don't need to conform and have friends.

So I can imagine that many parent would be relieved if access to social media was slightly more complicated, such that maybe it would be more normal to not have access to social media.

[cdrnsf]

We've encountered this with things like Minecraft and Roblox and had conversations and suggested alternatives to it. It hasn't proven to be an issue, but I'm holding out hope that these platforms continue to collapse as our kids get older.

[djaro]

Yes, because children deserve to simultaneously not be under constant surveillance by their parents but still be protected from bad actors. Hence we should collectively, as a society, protect them.

[palata]

What about this: go ask parents why they allowed their kid to get a smartphone and access to social media, and only then decide whether they are morons, fascists or just bad parents?

I have a simple example: when all the kids have a smartphone, it is very hard to tell your kid that they cannot have one. When all the kids have a shared culture built around social media, it is very hard to tell yours to not conform. "It's okay my son, you don't need friends. Anyway the parents of all those kids are bad parents".

I don't have children, but it doesn't sound completely weird that parents may say "we should prevent most kids from accessing social media, so that my kid wouldn't be the weirdo if I don't let them have access".

[QuadmasterXLII]

In many school districts, unless you can afford private school or homeschooling its hard to tell a kid they can't have an iPhone, but impossible to tell them they can't have an iPad- at age six!