- Joined
- Aug 16, 2019
I mean...I think most parents are too internet-dependent themselves to do what would be necessary, but I am always baffled by this attitude that parents are helpless to stop their kids from doing anything they like on the internet. Did you know, parents out there, that in fact your children don’t have to have phones or other devices that can access it? Did you know that if you don’t buy them they won’t have them? Did you know you can keep the family PC in a shared living space?
By the time a kid is old enough to figure out how to score his own devices and secretly obtain the WiFi password, the danger is largely over. We’re not trying to keep 16-yos from watching porn. We’re trying to keep 8-yos from doing so.
Might he go over to some feral friend‘s house where his feral family has been letting him watch porn since elementary school? Sure he might. He might also end up raiding the liquor cabinet over there, but that doesn’t mean you should make sure he has open access to yours. He *should* have to sneak around to do questionable shit.
Anyway, the reason parents usually can’t manage this is because they don’t want to spend time with their kids, and that is what it would take. If the parents are going be zoned out on their phone all the time, they’re going to let the kid be as well, so he doesn’t interrupt them. But if the parents take the kids outside, go out and about as a family, are involved in sports and community stuff, etc, then the available time for everyone to vegetate is greatly reduced. That is the sacrifice most parents are unwilling to make, which is why they pretend they’re helpless.
By the time a kid is old enough to figure out how to score his own devices and secretly obtain the WiFi password, the danger is largely over. We’re not trying to keep 16-yos from watching porn. We’re trying to keep 8-yos from doing so.
Might he go over to some feral friend‘s house where his feral family has been letting him watch porn since elementary school? Sure he might. He might also end up raiding the liquor cabinet over there, but that doesn’t mean you should make sure he has open access to yours. He *should* have to sneak around to do questionable shit.
Anyway, the reason parents usually can’t manage this is because they don’t want to spend time with their kids, and that is what it would take. If the parents are going be zoned out on their phone all the time, they’re going to let the kid be as well, so he doesn’t interrupt them. But if the parents take the kids outside, go out and about as a family, are involved in sports and community stuff, etc, then the available time for everyone to vegetate is greatly reduced. That is the sacrifice most parents are unwilling to make, which is why they pretend they’re helpless.