What happens when the kid eventually becomes an adult? They have to buy a new device? That seems like an really great way to create a bunch of unnecessary e-waste.

Also, letting Big Daddy Government control what we show the kids has got to be one of the worst ideas I've heard. Propaganda machines that parents have no power over? No thanks. That seems like the most likely outcome of this sort of measure. Next thing you know, every computer will also have a "activist" and "journalist" bit; once you normalize role-based access controls, the catgories will only ever expand.

Ehhh I’m more of a “hybrid model” guy myself. I do think the government should be more involved in regulating what these companies can do to us and how they can use our data, but I’m not really in to your vision of how involved they are in apps directly (imagine that kind of power with the Trump administration).

Meanwhile I do think parents should not be expected to literally handle every element of this because it’s just not possible to have eyes on every bit of media/entertainment/etc our kids can find. That being said it is our responsibility to educate our kids on some level, so we can’t just expect to pass the buck entirely to external systems. I do think it’s reasonable to expect some basic guardrails though.

Needs to be a little bit of effort and restriction across the board.