Comment by OroPla
2 days ago
I still don't understand why the simplest approach isn't used: ban kids from using the Internet unsupervised. There's really no good reason why a six year old should have internet access.
2 days ago
I still don't understand why the simplest approach isn't used: ban kids from using the Internet unsupervised. There's really no good reason why a six year old should have internet access.
The argument is that there are parents who are too stupid/lazy to enable parental controls on kids devices and society has a duty to protect kids even if their parents are negligent. Also, kids interact with other kids, so even if you do everything right your kids wind up with access/peer pressure through the kids with bad parents.
I dunno if I agree but I think that's the thrust of it.
There are systems in place dealing with negligent parents. They could be better, but they exist. If kids were banned, there couldn't be that much peer pressure.
Think about it, how many kids will get a gun just because some of the kids have access to guns through their negligent parents? If it's banned the path to getting it won't be straightforward.
Well I guess this begs the question how do you implement this ban without checking ids?
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I feel like if we can throw parents in jail for allowing their children to walk unsupervised, we can probably toss them in prison for giving them unrestricted access to the internet.
it's pretty easy to enforce that for 6 year olds. not as easy for 12 year olds.
I don't think I care as much for a twelve year old seeing age inappropriate things, as that is what I was seeking out and enjoying at that age. And that was before Internet was a thing people had in their homes. I was watching horror movies like Alien and Terminator uncut on VHS.
im not particularly concerned myself, but any ban like you propose would almost certainly go up to age 12 (at least), making it effectively impossible to enforce.
i see your other comment about guns, so just to preempt that a little bit: the internet is far more ubiquitously available than guns are.
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