Oh, I have to disagree strongly. Precisely because the internet has gotten worse, it’s even more important for children to learn how to navigate it effectively.

Okay, you have a point there. But in a way, that doesn’t refute my point - the opposite of “learning how to navigate it effectively” is letting children have access to it on their own. It would need to be taught in school, by qualified teachers (who don’t exist in sufficient quantity).

The internet is only going to become more relevant in the future.

I am not so sure about this - because I have seen it evolve over the past decades, and as I previously pointed out, it’s become mostly ads, propaganda and bullshit. The only reason people spend more time online is because of the addictive mechanisms in most modern smartphone apps. Me, not using those, I find myself spending less and less time on the internet.

All the things you’re saying that kids need to learn about are things that they do not and cannot and will not learn about in closed wall garden environments ran by corporations. Which constitutes an ever-growing majority of children’s “experience” with the internet. “The Internet” to many is “Instagram” or “Facebook” or “Tic Tok”. It doesn’t mean anything else other than a portal to access their addiction through.

They won’t learn about online threats or how to critically think or how to avoid being manipulated.

Young users funnel it into centralized corporate ran networks are abused for financial gain using carefully and intentionally crafted content designed over decades to take advantage of the human psyche algorithmically shoved down their throats until they are addicted.

This isn’t the internet children need to be on, it’s not the Internet, it’s just a corporate controlled environment that just so happen to exist along the same wires as the rest of the internet.

As such I don’t see where your argument has any room to stand.

Not teaching them these skills leaves them more vulnerable to online threats

Algorithmically & bot driven social media IS the “online threat” these days.

The only skills that they are learning are how to adapt to fit that corporate environment, which is a transitive state that often comes with the cost of actual life skills.

Kids need to be on the internet I agree with this but their use of the internet needs to be as romantically hued as you state it. Which is unfortunately not the reality we see today.

Side note.

Social media is now a theater of war, with adults and children alike being the weapons created by way of social media propaganda.

Children, who are the most likely to be affected and manipulated, who are also primary targets due to said vulnerabilities should be excluded from these platforms for this reason alone.

This is a problem that’s growing at a scale to affect entire countries. Countries with populations vulnerable to social media targeting propaganda, astroturfing, and manipulation are vulnerable on the world stage.

Making this a growing national security concern for any country.