> But at the same time parental concern is real

... only to the degree it hasn't been manufactured by tabloid media and Russian propaganda warfare, that is.

With every little news about local shootings, robberies, rapes, beatings, thefts, whatever not just making national, but in the worst case international headlines, one might think that Western countries are unsafe hellholes of the likes of actually legitimately failed states - despite criminality rates often being on record lows. Of course parents are going to be afraid for their children, and it's made worse by many Western countries financially only allowing for one, maximum two children.

On top of that, a lot of the panic is simply moral outrage. Porn and "trans grooming" it seems to be these days, I 'member growing up with the "Killerspiele" bullshit after some nutjob shot up a school in the early '00s. My parents grew up with the manufactured fear of reading too much as it was supposed to make you myopic. Again, all manufactured fear by organized groups aiming to rip our rights to pieces.

Parents should relax and rather teach their children about what can expect them on the Internet, how people might want to take advantage of them, and most importantly, that their children can always come to them when they feel something is going bad, without repercussions. When children think that they cannot show something to their parents, that is where the actual do-bad people have an in.

▲

jasonfarnon 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

"Parents should relax and ... "

"everyone should just adopt my values and then all these political problems would just disappear. voila!"

▲

mschuster91 2 days ago | parent [-]

> all these political problems

The problems I mentioned aren't real, that's the point.

It hasn't just never been proven that Counter Strike et al cause amok runs, it's been disproven [1]. Consuming porn doesn't make people rapists (although I do concede: the ethical aspects particularly around studio-produced porn do require discussions), and consuming LGBT content doesn't make children LGBT. People are, to the extent that we reasonably know, born LGBT.

The fact that some organizations (particularly religious) have framed these issues as "political" doesn't make them political either.

[1] https://www.mimikama.org/mythos-killerspiele/

	▲	pksebben 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Very much this. The research points to hours spent on social media - not 'I saw something adult and now my fragile little mind is le bork'. If you want kids to be healthier you're gonna have to deal with it on the device level at worst, and the healthcare level at best. Include mental health services and counseling as part of a single-payer preventative care plan if you really, really want to save the kids.
	▲	ynab6 2 days ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		> consuming LGBT content doesn't make children LGBT Spoken like a true groomer. Have some gold, kind stranger!
	▲	jasonfarnon 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		"The problems I mentioned aren't real, that's the point." Can you possibly think that determining what is and is not a valid problem isn't a subjective evaluation? Even looking at your examples, which are not chosen well for your argument. In each of these you're just shifting the burden of proof to reflect what your values. "No one has proven counter strike causes violent behavior, consuming porn makes people rapists or people can become gay." All wide-open empirical questions. Maybe none of these gets resolved in the near future; they aren't even well-formed questions. Meanwhile parents, governments, policy-makers need to make decisions. If you are very concerned about your kid being violent, you will avoid videogames even as a precautionary measure. "The fact that some organizations (particularly religious) " Ah you found an even easier way to resolve the issue, just ignore religious values.

▲

lijok 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You've clearly never been on Discord

▲

mschuster91 2 days ago | parent [-]

Maybe go after Discord then for doing nothing meaningful against abusive, should we not?

And if that means that Discord has to shut down... well, okay, if that's the price? An organisation that doesn't care about the impact on its host society is nothing more than a parasite or cancer and should be treated as such.

(Besides: if you're aiming at stuff like groups of kids bullying other kids into suicide or self harm - guess what: that existed in times where there was no Internet. It just wasn't widely reported, other than maybe holding a vigil for a classmate who had "passed away")

▲

lijok 2 days ago | parent [-]

I'm not debating whether they should ban VPNs for minors with you. I'm providing a counter statement to your ill-conceived thought that this is "all manufactured fear by organized groups aiming to rip our rights to pieces".

▲

mschuster91 2 days ago | parent [-]

> I'm providing a counter statement to your ill-conceived thought that this is "all manufactured fear by organized groups aiming to rip our rights to pieces".

What is making Discord different from the real world? Do we ban kids from going to school because they could get bullied there?

Yes, sure, some content we decide to age-gate in real life... but hell. Our parents perused the VHS porn stash of their parents. Their parents wanked off to Playboy magazines. It has all been bullshit from the start.

	▲	lijok a day ago \| parent [-]
		Like I said - you've clearly never been on Discord.