Mastodawn

iquanyin Feb 24, 2023

Mike Masnick ✅

I wrote (yet again) about the "protect the children" moral panic regarding the internet, and how we should focus on raising kids to be safe in the real world, rather than trying to force the internet to be perfectly safe. Reality is that not everyone is great. Pretending that everything is safe does not prepare people for real life. https://www.techdirt.com/2023/02/24/rather-than-making-the-internet-safe-for-kids-make-your-kids-safe-for-the-real-world/

Rather Than Making The Internet Safe For Kids, Make Your Kids Safe For The Real World

We’ve been talking a lot lately about the massive moral panic going on right now, claiming that the internet is somehow inherently dangerous for kids. As we’ve noted, the evidence simpl…

Techdirt

Sam Gross Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick It is so, so, so very hard to explain this to Gen X parents and elder millennials who grew up with ‘the internet = AOL walled garden.’

The world is inherently dangerous and it's a disservice to children to pretend otherwise. Let them fail safely!

Atz Feb 24, 2023

@SamTheGeek @mmasnick
AOL stopped being an ISP a *long* time ago...

Your agism aside this is not a new problem and this will not stop being a problem. Most people have very unsophisticated and simplistic views of the world and those people are parents.

The Magic Lemur (Eat The Rich)Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick I have a pretty strict policy of open honesty with my kid when he asks questions about the world or stuff he's heard, even if it means some REALLY uncomfortable conversations. I'd rather prep him with knowledge of how to navigate real dangers than pretend the dangers don't exist.

Mike Masnick ✅Feb 24, 2023

@TheMagicLemur same. though, of course, it's not always easy. parenting rarely is. but, more and more studies do seem to show that being (age appropriate) honest makes quite a lot of sense, and kids can understand a lot if we share with them.

H-ear-me-now Singh Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick but, but that would require us to do the hard work of actually raising our kids, instead of kicking that can down the road to anyone who just happens to be passing by Mike, like the government, or teachers, or video games, or 5G. And what kind of a world would that be, where we had to take some responsibility, face our challenges with our kids and actually👇🏽

Stop-the-MAGAss-Reich Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick "kid safe VPN" should be more of a thing with ala carte selection of features. Sure parents will be willing to pay for such third party service and devices makers should make it easier to do. Places filter between user and ISP.

AlexIgnatiev Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick In the early days of the internet, c. 1996, when I was studying abroad at Edinburgh, there was a UK-based website that made fun of the moral panic about kids and the internet called "Think of the Children." Some cheerless witch got them shutdown.

Musta dawned on me thusly Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick the social media web sites write algorithms that assure the user is lured to content that will keep them on the web site. A great babysitter!

What this causes is age-independent: a #propaganda #echochamber where we #brainwash ourselves.

The important lesson is to teach that we should not follow what any web site thinks we would like next, and instead look for competing points of view.

Too much of anything is addictive. #Addicts don’t understand they are addicted.

@mmasnick exactly.

I really hate this "avoidance of risks at all costs" as it prevents children from learning to face issues and critical situations.

DamnKimberlee Feb 24, 2023

@mmasnick wow!! What a great philosophy!

phi1997 Feb 25, 2023

@mmasnick Schools need courses on critical thinking and identifying misinformation starting from elementary school. These skills have become increasingly crucial for navigating the modern world.

Phil Regnauld ✅Feb 25, 2023

@mmasnick internet inherently: of course not, just like tv isn't a bad thing by itself, although it's been villified for decades (until the internet came along). But we can't claim that social media the way it's presented and meant to be consumed by large providers, isn't potentially harmful. Like Instagram who *rely* on people being addicted to the service so they can make money. There's tons of beneficial uses to social media, but terrible business models to make them profitable that prey on people's weaknesses. I've been online for the better part of 40 years, and while I'm not particularly worried for my kids when they're online, we have to make sure they know how to limit their use, with our help. Developing minds benefit greatly from the social interaction and sense of belonging that online communities bring, but the need for validation and the dopamine boost they get from feeling popular (the follower model) is not particularly healthy.
There's clearly data out there that points to possible harmful effects of overuse, and while we know correlation isn't causation, those trends can't be dismissed.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X19300880

Phil Regnauld ✅Feb 25, 2023

@mmasnick but otherwise yeah, dealing with weirdos and predators on the internet is pretty much the same when teaching your kids how to behave safely; it comes down to trust and talking with them and encouraging them to talk about their experiences. Nothing new there.

S★m V★rm★Feb 25, 2023

@mmasnick it was a lesson we all learned when we used to go outside

tripleman, a 🇨🇦 in 🇩🇪Feb 26, 2023

@mmasnick I remember, as a teenager (so, a looong time ago and before the www), telling adults, 'you can never build a wall high enough, all you can do is give your kids the right tools to make the right choices at the right time.'

What I didn't realize at the time was that a significant portion of adults have zero clue about good tools and good choices. They're too busy eating horse paste and freaking about about the latest satanic panic.