[fivetenpen]

The internet was never a danger to children’s mental health until social media engagement algorithms. The real solution is to ban any and all engagement algorithms that are designed to get people addicted. Age checks, aka identity checks, are just another blatant attempt to siphon more personal data by linking your real identity to all of your web activity

[alt227]

> The internet was never a danger to children’s mental health

I dont think thats entirely true. There were always horror stories about kids getting seriously troubled by watching beheadings on rotten dot com, 4chan bullying and suicides have been happening for decades etc. It was just easier to ignore when it was a few young freaks that we could label as reclusive anyway. Now its just compounded more because its mainstream and the entire population engages.

[efreak]

What you're describing isn't a cancer to children but a danger to _people_, children or not. Children being children, they're sometimes less able to recognize danger ahead of time, and they're also more likely to get their kicks from sending each other there (I know I did). This is also not inherent to the Internet, however. "Stranger danger" warning exists for a reason. What we need to do is teach children that just like you wouldn't follow a random stranger into their house, you also shouldn't click random links. You also have to make the safe place dedicated for kids into a place that they actually _want_ to be (think neopets in the 00s), and then you don't have to put your resources into preventing them from leaving.