Urgh. This is a tough one. Social media has been a part of asymmetric warfare for at least the past ten years, and I don’t want my kids to be bombarded with propaganda from Russian and Chinese-funded far-right groups like the AfD.

At the same time, I understand how important it is for kids to explore the internet on their own.

If I had the choice, I would ban TikTok and Instagram.

But if that’s not possible – then honestly, ban everything. I will then work something out with my kids myself.

At the same time, I understand how important it is for kids to explore the internet on their own.

No more though. It’s more important that they spend time at the fresh air & play. The internet has become pretty useless outside of wikipedia & social media, and social media has become pretty toxic outside of a few spots (like we can hopefully keep lemmy).

• everything is ridden with ads
• news websites locked behind paywalls
• news websites reporting agenda-driven propaganda
• major email providers auto-classify emails from smaller providers as spam (despite correct SPF entries)
• every good service that is not decentralized, eventually gets hit by enshittification due reap profits

I would absolutely support a 100% social media ban for all centralized networks (corporation controlled). Because they are used not only to damage the brains of children, but those of adults as well (see Eastern German elections). Only federated chat systems / social media should be allowed. But that’s where our fascist overlords have a conflict of interest - they desperately want to see everything we communicate - and chat control (literally, fuck you EU) is not possible in federated networks.

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.

Take my former colleague as an example: a 45-year-old downloading a “better zip tool” from a Russian website full of awful spelling and dubious claims.

Kids need to learn about ad blockers, VPNs, and how to identify fake news. Not teaching them these skills leaves them far more vulnerable to online threats than if they were taught how to handle these issues from an early age. And as many people tell you, the best way to truly learn about something is by doing it yourself.

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

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.

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

Yes, you need to teach your kids these things. Not the schools, because they don’t have the manpower; not the corporations, because they won’t do it. No, you must teach them.

You can try to keep them off social media for as long as possible, but they’ll eventually find a way. Use that time to teach them about all these predatory mechanics, so when they do go on social media, they’ll understand what’s going on.

I’m not sure what argument you’re making here yes of course parents should be teaching their children these skills instead of letting them go on social media.

How is that relevant to the argument that I’m making though?

This is obviously not occurring today so how do you expect it to occur tomorrow when we make no changes today?

You do realize that the children of tomorrow will be raised by the children of today right? And as we let the children of today become addicted to social media and don’t provide them with the tools skills and safety to protect themselves from social media how do you expect them to teach their children how?

Sure I may be cognizant of this but again, as stated previously in these messages…, this is a systemic problem. You cannot solve a systemic problem by putting the burden of solution on each individual involved in the problem. Systemic problems require systematic solutions, this is largely an inarguable point.