Just because this keeps floating into my head (and also my timeline, meaning I should do some spring cleaning, I guess)... If you don't understand how things designed to control children can and will be used to control and abuse adults, I really need for you to stop and think about the ways in which abusive people try to control actions and access to information.

And it is not uncommon.

If you're scared of children running into material that is not appropriate for them, maybe fostering an environment where there is at least one whole trustworthy adult (preferably more, but at least one) who is open to discussing things is uh... more helpful.

You know, in the event they do meander into that thing you're afraid they'll see should you not be around.

But also so that you can discuss expectations, why you have those expectations (like actual reasons, not "because I said so"), and what to do if something they see is confusing to them or feels like it's not something they're comfortable seeing. Maybe being open about what you're worried they'll see and setting boundaries. And those boundaries should also be negotiated, especially if you're engaging with older children and teenagers.

I feel like a lot more things would be more meaningfully solved if people did this strange thing called communication and being available for it. Even if that availability takes place at a distance (voice notes and messages).

I also get that people have limited amounts of time because we live in capitalism, and we're forced to make choices about what we want to do during our freetime.

And if you literally cannot make that time to use and learn together, then I implore you to consider all the ways in which we could change the world to support learning and... actually support goals that make it possible. Not reformist school shit but actually stuff that changes the world around us, gives us time to learn things we want to learn and to be the people we want to be. Genuine and actual changes. (And I refuse to accept anyone who says "this isn't realistic." It is. It actually is. The world doesn't have to be this way.)

Because what we've got doesn't work... or at least it doesn't work for the overwhelming majority of people.

This ties into my perpetual frustration with people who just think that learning only happens in schools and services adjacent to schools.

Which is only true if you have an incredibly narrow and tedious definition of learning that overlooks the accidental lessons that most kids leave those spaces with and discounts the work that goes into learning things (even when we fucking like them).