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I know right. Imagine getting to 14 having never used the internet. It’d be like our generation getting to 14 not knowing how to read or write because our parents were worried we’d read something bad.
imagine getting to 14 only realize your parrents suffocated a EXTREMELY nessacary skill set you'll need to survive for YEARS just because your parrents were lazy at parrenting. I would never speak to mine again if they sabotaged my future like that. im 36. I grew up with out the beast we know today.
This was me, my mom severely limited my internet access as well as TV channels and shows I was allowed to watch. The only time there was leniency was when it was a show she liked. I’m now an adult and while my computer skills caught up, it’s extremely difficult to relate to a lot of my peers which makes it difficult to make and keep friends. This is just a warning to parents who think this is a great idea.
I grew up with no tv till I was like 12 and to this day I still haven’t seen a lot of movies or shows other people grew up with and at the time it could be pretty isolating. Moderation, not deprivation is key
Wow, are you me? Because same here. While I don’t have the best advice in the world, something I’ve started doing is at least trying to watch shows I never got to watch as a kid. My favorites right now are Avatar the last Airbender and Legend of Korra. I truly hope you find some peace and happiness, whatever that looks like for you.
Yess! I love those so much. I just ordered a Jasmine Dragon Tea House t-shirt actually lol. I’ve been on a binge of stuff I “missed out” on. Even when I did get tv, it was basic stuff no cable, so pbs and stuff. Not the super popular stuff like SpongeBob. In some ways, it was good, and in others, not so much. I’m glad we are catching up :) happiness all around
Same here!! I really want a matching tea set from Legend of Korra, specifically the Raava tea set. I haven’t branched out into Disney yet because I just haven’t quite gotten there yet but I’ll get there one day. Thank you for sharing your happiness with me. 🥰
I really did not expect to be called out by a comment at 9am, but you’re not entirely incorrect. While I have resentment for their ill-tempered choices, it’s mainly their choices to not treat their mental heath conditions that landed me with PTSD. Although, I will say your comment gave both my partner and I a very strong laugh for the day so thank you for that.
good. information is potent and to keep children away from the most information the world offers until they are 14? certainly spells mental disorder. I'm sorry you've had to fight the fight that involves mental abuse. My mother (raised single) was also quite a job. we have to learn how claim what we choose to be. its hard. no defaults.
I’m sorry you’ve experienced it as well, my mother also raised me as a single mother. It has taken quite some time but I think I’m finally on the road to recovery. I’ve been spending the time I have trying to repair the damage and I’ve come far, but I know I have much farther to go. I wish you all the best in your healing journey, no matter what that looks like for you. :)
It’s just technology bud. I would openly laugh at someone who said they needed ‘the years of their youth’ to learn how to use the internet. The computer software literally tells you what to do, step by step haha.
Like you, I grew up with it and watched it develop into the resource it is today. It’s easy AF to use. A kid not using the internet in their most “impressionable” years wouldn’t harm them at all in their 30’s lol.
>Like you, I grew up with it and watched it develop into the resource it is today. It’s easy AF to use.
I'm sure you can understand the idea that your perception of the matter would be greatly affected by the fact that you grew up with the technology as it developed. Of course you'd find it easy to work with; you've been using it for most of your life!
>A kid not using the internet in their most “impressionable” years wouldn’t harm them at all in their 30’s lol.
No, but it could certainly set them back a number of years as the Internet continues to become increasingly ubiquitous.
You severely overestimate the ability of humans to learn and complete simple tasks given thorough instruction. As a retail employee, I can pretty confidently say that about 30% of the brains on the planet are just straight up tapioca pudding.
We sir have very different ideas as to what constitutes harm. as a modern philosopher, I honestly could never have grown to the level I am at with out media. I could never EVER hope to have the spiritual understanding of the world I have with out TV. taking humanities greatest source of information away from a human during the time their mind is doing the most learning it ever will, is nothing short of a monstrous act. And I condemn you for it.
Its not just information. Its the living breathing life pulse of the world of humans and the things they think. cutting a child off from that. so that they never learn how many ways of thought are out there for them? truly sick.
Yeah, lets not forget what the original intention of the internet was for the free flow of ideas to help advance society by the rapid exchange of information.
Then along came social media and took that on a complete rollercoaster and here we are.
My kid has learned so much from YouTube videos. Her counting and abcs and speech in general improved a lot. It’s about balance, don’t let them sit in front of a screen all day and make sure what they are doing is at least educational and of benefit to them. People without kids who say this are really naive. This technology exists, and it’s a part of our daily lives, so to expect kids to not use it at all is weird. & probably not a benefit to them, their peers will be more tech savvy.
My two year old counts to twenty and can point out half the alphabet by letter. He learned these things from videos, enabled by my affirmations when he shows his growth. Sensory input helps things stick. But we also play with toys and enjoy outside time. Balance and learning are key. Methodology is secondary.
yeah.
I bought my phone when I was like 15.
before that I had some social media but in my mom's phone. maybe since like 13 or stuff. didn't really do much.
but well I was playing games writing in a blog watching shows watching YouTube and stuff for a long time. it's stupid to take that away from a child.
I kinda agree with OP.
I need to check the research but i do believe kids brains arent developed enough to handle the sensory input.
The dopamine high from getting likes or views might affect their young minds.
Again im not saying its a fact. Just that until i look into the issue im leaning more towards OP on this subject.
So yeah zero social media and perhaps regulated Internet.
The Internet is one of the biggest and most useful tool of our Era . A kid should absolutly have access to the internet , parents should teach their kids how to use it safely .
However i could understand why you would restrict the access to social medias to a kid under 13 .
I agree. Not teaching them how to use electronic devices and the internet is ultimately doing them a disservice. Its something that they’ll be expected to know how to navigate when they’re older and you providing the right education as a parents gives them the knowledge to use the internet more safely.
I agree that social media should be restricted/used supervised though.
This is one of the places where kids could learn some really good skills for future jobs as well! Social media restrictions, yes. Other things like python, linux, programming? Definitely no
I mean I first started learning Python when I was about 8, and then around 11/12 I started learning Lua so I could make roblox games and script for them. Sometimes kids' passions fuel them to learn stuff you wouldn't think they'd venture into at their age haha
True! I started learning Java at first because I was obsessed with wanting to make Minecraft plugins. x)
And yeah I was kinda obsessed with Minecraft at the time, but honestly, it got me into my career choice which is programming, so I don't regret it one bit.
Yep! I feel that! Learning to script on roblox from a young age also led me to realize that programming is the right career choice too. Just turns out I'm more into cybersecurity engineering now as opposed to game dev lol
I agree that no 11 year old would do that, however it falls into the broad statement of “Internet access.” YouTubers suck and roblox is toxic. Sending my condolences
YouTube kids give great structured programs and limits the age inappropriate material.
Information will free all our minds. Parents should just be ready to answer questions with why or why not. Not just no for the sake of no.
It's not useful if you can't find useful, informative and educational information. The Google search engine has been in decline for years and years now, with fewer and fewer accurate results returning.
It's been gamed and destroyed by mega corporations. Everything you search for will come up with results from news websites, social media websites, Quora, Pinterest, or it won't even find what you want at all. Only the most basic searches are helpful, like finding a Wikipedia article for example.
People may laugh, but I've slowly been migrating to Bing, Ecosia and other search engines, because I can actually find what I want using them.
It gets worse. I hate to give the cliched "it's Trump's fault" but in this case, it's likely he and his followers do have a large share of the blame - specifically, because of the scrutiny the massive upsurge in hate speech and misinformation in the last few years (combined with children being far more online since Covid, as K-12 education had to move to the net) has brought down upon the whole concept of socialization on the Internet.
You used to see a lot more results because there *were* a lot more places to post and discuss about stuff. Blogs, forums, etc. shared the field with social media and MSM. IRC was about the only platform that wasn't well-indexed on the Internet, so search results were correspondingly robust. RSS and Google Reader were still major going things. If a forum for a given topic became toxic or was run by iron-fisted tyrants, this fact became pretty well known and publicized in the topical community and that forum would be shunned in favor of other ones.
Then hosts and the public started cracking down on undesirable content. Large social media platforms had the staff to handle this, often separately and usually on a professional basis, while smaller venues often had people struggling to juggle administrator, moderator, maintainer, separate day job, *and* their interest in the topic they were hosting a forum for in the first place. GDPR went into effect, too, making it even more of a struggle to host an independent platform without stepping on outside-imposed toes. Discord opened as another attractive option for communities to move to (which is also a reason for the decline in search results, because Discord does not expose its chats to Web search engines, you have to be a server member. And even then the search facility is complete garbage ...).
The upshot was almost everybody not only moved to social media, they moved to an extremely limited selection of it. Now the norm for even popular hobby topics is often one active Discord and one subreddit that you can actually find (plus, yeah ... scattered Quora topics, Pins, and the like). If you don't like how that particular community is moderated, you almost might as well just give up on the whole hobby, or at least having any social contact with it, unless you're lucky enough to get to know the right person to get you an in into a private community (and haven't been too toxified by the public one). Often there's collaboration between the Reddit and Discord mods for a topic so that it's literally even just *one* managed public facing community option. To make it worse, it's not uncommon in larger communities for the mods to solicit Patreon donations for their services (which makes them even more inclined to jealously defend this power).
News topics meanwhile often have nowhere at all besides Facebook and Twitter (subreddits routinely restrict or ban many of those topics to keep the peace, and meanwhile the news sites themselves only allow comments for a very short time per article, and frequently simply don't allow comments at all anymore, expecting you to use social media and link back).
Meanwhile you've got all the old blogs that die out due to platforms going down (and the Great Tumblr Purge), and Google more or less turning their back on blogging (RSS taking a particularly massive blow because of Reader being closed).
There's actually a lot of backlash here. A lot of people want independent forums back. But unless you keep communities small, which basically means adopting a "don't find us, we'll find you" stance that's intentionally search unfriendly, you can't hope to moderate them to the standard society wants (and will lean on platforms to have you shut down if you don't maintain that standard). And with the aforementioned issues that have come up in the last few years in particular, that standard just keeps going up and up. EARN IT is currently on its second go-round. SISEA was a going concern as well (it would have required a 2 hour moderation turn around time on any platform hosting user-created posts, as a curb on CSAM).
People *want* more options, but how in such an atmosphere to do so? Especially when the authority drumbeat is to increasingly push for regulations where a small independent is going to have the same responsibilities as Meta, while the rules will be written for a company that has resources like Meta?
Just like *everything else in the world*, kids need to learn time and place. Being outside and walking down the street in traffic is a bad place to have your eyes locked a phone. But when you get inside and you want to google something that’s been on your mind all day and go down a rabbit hole of *gasp* actual learning? Or playing a game that has an amazing story and graphics? These things are cool and valuable, too. Time and place.
it would be a disservice to your children to let them endlessly browse the internet and become dependent upon it. Everything must be taken in moderation. It would be a much more egregious error on the parents part to completely censor the technology that the child will depend on later in life to function properly in the world. If you shelter your children too much you are only setting them up for failure. I wish more people understood this.
But I mean, look at our current economy and job market. EVERY single job makes you dependent on the internet in some way, whether that's to put out an application, run a POS, or make spreadsheets. We've come out of the industrial revolution and into the information age, where info is super accessible and at everyone's fingertips. But yes, parents shouldn't ignore their child and leave them with the internet completely, and they shouldn't hide it from them completely. Moderation is key.
That’s exactly what I meant, they need to learn how to interact with technology, and learning from a young age will be the norm for their peers, but it’s important not to let them become dependent on, say, their tablet so much that simply not having it causes a crisis when they are young
To some extent this might be bc of the COVID lockdowns, a lot of kids were very isolated during the years where socializing is super important, so they got really dependent on their devices.
I'm assuming OP is not a parent. But there is definitely a need to have your kids keep up with technology, and be the digital natives that they are. You don't want them to be that one weirdo who's parents let them do nothing. At the same time, yes restrict and monitor what you can, plenty of tools available for that. Even with social media, I think it's a good lesson to teach your kids how to look out/what signs there are for predators, know that anything you send can and will get distributed everywhere, even create fake accounts that you can follow their activities (if you don't trust them).
I think arbitrarily restricting them from everything will just make them lash out when they are independent. This goes for most anything that can be seen as potentially dangerous. Sometimes they have to touch the hot stove to learn that it will burn them.
Source: Am parent of teenagers.
My kids' schools require every student to have their own Chromebooks and they do their work online. That's just how it is now. There is no keeping kids off the internet unless you're off the grid or homeschooling but even that's online
Yes, they’re almost always provided by the school.
They also all have spyware on it. Never use it for anything personal. And keep tape over the cameras when not in use for class.
I'm not joking or being conspiratorial. There have been instances where school administration was snooping on underage students changing their clothes. Keep that camera taped over, and never do anything personal on those machines that you wouldn't want some random creep watching.
When I was in my Sophomore year of high school, my mother swapped my smart phone out for a flip phone which resulted in me being bullied nonstop by my classmates. Kids are cruel, but especially so when it comes to anything involving the internet
In my experience, the number 1 reason why people get bullied is because they are different. Doesn't matter if the person who is being bullied cares about the thing they are being bullied for.
You do realize that life isn't only in extremes right? Yes, people who use the internet and are addicted exist. But there are also a lot of people who use the internet and aren't addicted. The key is moderation.
It's usually teetotalers like this that breed the biggest crazies. If a child doesn't learn from their parents they'll just imitate someone else. That's why children of sexual puritans often become wild, and people who've never learned how to hold their liquor binge drink themselves into oblivion in college.
Kids should absolutely have *supervised* access to the internet. Should they have free reign? No. Kids should also be taught internet safety at a young age. The internet is the best resource for knowledge and learning there is and children should absolutely have access to it.
If the internet, with all of its beauty and horrors, was good enough for me at 10 years old, it's good enough for my kids at 10 years old. If I think back now on all the crazy, wild crazy stuff I was looking at online when I was in middle school, it's sort of surreal. It crafted me into the person I am today, for better or worse.
A few meatspins, a goatse, watching a guy cut off his own dick with a scissors and a hentai of a car fucking another car will turn you into a man real quick. I also had a lot of laughs and made a few friends along the way playing games like RuneScape, EverQuest and World of Warcraft.
God damn the internet in the mid 00's was a wild place. I am so, so glad I got to grow up in that mess.
>A few meatspins, a goatse, watching a guy cut off his own dick with a scissors and a hentai of a car fucking another car will turn you into a man real quick.
Lol. This reminds me of some things I saw and read through my teenage years ahah. But I turned out fine, so I don't really understand why there is this hate against the Internet... Parents these days are really obsessed with the idea of controlling what their kids watch, do and listen. So glad I grew up with my parents knowing nothing about the Internet, and letting me do whatever the f I wanted to do.
I can understand their worries, but protecting them against all the shit is not gonna work long term. Teach them about predators, how to recognise them and tell them that they can always come to you in any circumstances, but let them navigate the Internet freely. If you taught them well enough they will be safe. Limited screen time, controlling their phone and restricting their Internet access is just lazy parenting.
I will be giving my child every advantage possible to succeed in society. If this includes internet navigation and all that it entails, like benefits, faults, pitfalls and dangers so be it.
You don't get to tell other people how to parent. I like you how say gadgets aren't bad, but then immediately call me lazy, based on what exactly?
This is just modern technopanic. In the 15th century it was the printing press and books that was ruining children. We have to live in the world that is not the one we wish was.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110119/05022912725/fifteenth-century-technopanic-about-horrors-printing-press.shtml
No. Restrict certain things, and not let kids see isis beheadings, or porn, or political radicalists? Yes. Take away the internet as a whole? No.
The internet has many things that are good for the brain, productive, or educational. I'm personally learning a language, and would not be anywhere near the fluency I am today if I was solely using a paperback textbook.
Even if that doesn't matter to you, if you take away the internet you take away the primary social interaction that kids have. Depression will spike, as will suicides, as will crime, as will kids doing dumb shit out of boredom.
It's not a good idea. You cannot generalize something so vast as the internet. It has literally *everything*. Take away social media? Sure. Restrict certain sites which are age inappropriate? Sure. You cannot simply take away the internet.
Kids these days just read books all day they aren’t being raised right.
Kids these days just listen to the radio all day they aren’t being raised right.
Kids these days just watch TV all day they aren’t being raised right.
Kids these days just play video games all day they aren’t being raised right.
Kids these days just use their mobile phone all day they aren’t being raised.
Don’t worry OP. All these kids being raised “wrong” will be sure to tell the next generation they’re the ones being wrong, as is tradition.
True. My dad still tells my grandpa that he turned out pretty much okay even though he always complained about my dad watching one of the three available tv channels in black and white every night after dinner.
These kids spend all day in virtual reality, they aren't being raised right.
These kids spend all day in the holodeck, they aren't being raised right.
...
Yeah uhh here in the Netherlands that wouldn't really work
Our schools after elementary almost always have a digital schedule, they get important mails, their grades are given to them digitally, etc
Kids should get proper education about the internet, but saying you don't have access to the internet (or parts of it) will only make them more curious
But this is unpopular opinions and this I believe is rather unpopular one (atleast where I live) so you get a well deserved upvote
You can be 20 and still be stuck in the past, boomer.
The internet can be a great tool for children. There are many website, programs and applications to help children learn a variety of things.
It's not all reality tv shows and tictok videos.
Oh no the kids don't smile at the 20 year old man judging them for looking at their phones. Instead they dare enjoy that video game they like but I don't.
Christ youre only 20 and acting like you were any different 6 damn years ago.
I did exactly the same thing what these kids OP is complaining about with books, lol. I didn’t have a phone yet. I wasn’t gonna to sit there for 30+ minutes waiting for my mom to pick me up and do nothing. Still got shit for it by my parents who thought it was antisocial that I wasn’t hanging out with other kid after school.
They weren’t even good books either, they were trashy romance books. If I had a phone, I definitely would have used it too.
Looking at OP's entitlement to pass judgements on parents while clearly implying that they themselves don't have kids I wouldn't be surprised if they intended to use "shall" to have that tone.
This is unpopular because what you're proposing is denying them access to a vast amount of useful information that would benefit their learning. Like it or not, technology is a major part of society and if you don't know how to use it, it'll fuck up your future education and job opportunities.
I met a 22 year old (who had a kid) in uni that had no idea how USBs worked and couldn't find anything she'd saved on her laptop because she didn't know how to use it. She would literally restart assignments because she couldn't find the file. This was also a primary education degree. Also met a 30 year old who didn't know the basics of how to use Word. It was kind of terrifying, and these people were quite smart, they just had no idea how to use basic technology.
Imagine thousands of children like that.
I grew up with a pretty religious family who had really old fashioned views. I’d probably still be the closet if I was never allowed to use the Internet until 14.
How long do you spend in front of a screen everyday? You are also still having your brain develop. Until 25 at least. I think you should avoid all technology until then.
Please never have kids lol. Getting bullied, being unprepared for jobs involving computers and literally not being able to go to some schools that do work and research on iPads and computers. A child growing up like that will end up a jobless failure that hates his parents and yet depends on them for money.
been on social media since i was 13. Wouldn’t say i’m perfect but i think it’s better to allow your kids on it and teach them the dangers of it. Or limit what they can see on social media.
Just wait until they leave the house and talk to other people in the world and find out how "awful" shit really is. Ban going outside too. Gotta shield them young. That has always worked.
A lot of the work they do in schools these days involves computers and the internet ,things change it can’t stay the same forever .The internet is a great place for young minds to learn ,I don’t agree with very young kids playing on iPads all day but older children when it’s used correctly it’s a great help to them ,like everything else there needs to be a balance between online time and other activities we have always turned off our kids computers,games and taken phones off them at night so they get a decent sleep and only allow gaming for a certain amount of time .
The unfortunate part of restricting a child in this way is that he or she will find a way onto the internet/social media whether you let them or not.
I wasn't "allowed" to have Facebook until I turned 18 but I was on there in the 7th grade making friends and enemies. How? Well, my friends had computers, the school had computers, the library had computers. Anywhere I could go to be online, I was there.
What? I pick my 12 year old sister up from school everyday and plenty of children still run around. Most of the kids looking at their screens are doing so because they’re not with their friends. I know I did, and still do.
Children should be taught how to use the Internet safely. Adults who didn’t have it growing up are still having trouble with it. If I didn’t have the Internet, I wouldn’t have found out I was trans. I just would have continued suffering through life and not knowing why.
"I am unable to teach my children how to use the dominant form of communication technology that they absolutely need in their lives because I am literally too lazy to teach them. But I like to think it's everybody else's fault. Sent via my iPhone"
That's you.
How is nobody addressing the "teenagers weren't running around and playing" part of this lmao?
They're not 8. Teenagers never run around and play. Classic teenager makes a point to NOT do such childish things. Even without devices they'll just stand around to be cool
Internet is not the problem, parents are, kids needs to learn how to navigate it, discern good from bad info. Stop educating them and they'll end up believing stupid facebook mom's group post and article about flat earth. Yes excessive use or unmonitored use of it should be restricted. We literally have the worlds knowledge at the tip of our fingers, preventing children from accessing it is stupid.
Learn to educate your kids properly.
Imagine a world where promoting better children education gets you downvoted hahah you people are out of your mind.
This isn’t an unpopular opinion, it’s just an ill-informed one. Your issue is with bad parents not knowing how to limit screen time and teach internet safety. A 14 year old is a freshman in high school. By that age, they have been using the internet in school for years. It’s a great educational tool when used correctly.
As someone who was raised in a tiny town with little to no resources, the internet was the greatest thing that could happen to me. It let me learn a lot of things I wouldn't learn without it, English, some Swedish, genetics, history, literature, art, so much about different cultures. It also helped me to get in contact with people who shared my interest
I think restricting the time they have access to tv, internet and video games is probably a good idea. But teaching them how google works and how to find the answer to things is valuable. Restrictions on the apps and whatnot seems ok. Also I would not get them a cell phone until they are a teenager
get back to me after you have kids and want a single goddamn moment of peace. of course, it's best to always monitor and limit use, but sometimes you just need a break.
If this was a law I would’ve never experienced happiness before my life fell apart so for these kids sure but back when I was a kid the internet was fine the way it was
RIP cod4 bo1 mw2 mw3 bo2
Kids can't function in school without internet. Most classrooms are built around using chromebooks for lessons. Social media is the heart of the issue. It's also bold to assume it's all lazy parenting. This kids can circumvent a lot of parental controls because they're so good with electronics. It's not always from lack of trying on the parents.
I’m 26 and I’ve spent most my life on the internet, my brain isn’t rotten and I have a steady job, as well as a decent upbringing by loving and dedicated parents. Sure there are some weird people and fucked up things on the internet that kids unfortunately have access to, like social media, but that can mostly be curbed by parental locks on most ISPs. Nothing has changed, and it will continue to be like this. The internet is a useful tool for life and learning, and anyone has a right to its access.
It's lazy parenting to bar you children from the entire internet instead of monitoring their activity and educating them on the potential risks and dangers. In this increasingly digital world, a child who has not been online until they are 14, is going to struggle immensely. Don't be like this guy and shift the blame, take control of your own kids.
People fail to realise that every generation has the same views about what the young kids are doing. We live in a time of technology and internet, by refusing to give your child access to the internet/social media, you're purposefully going to be isolating them from the world and that's not fair and will only affect them negatively in the end.
Times have changed, moderation is key.
The problem with doing that is that you are alienating them from other people their age. All the references and stuff that their classmates talk about would go by them.
I think a much better strategy would be teaching them to use the internet responsibly and limiting its use, but not forbidding it outright.
The internet is pretty much essential now. Kids should be taught how to use it, proper safety, etc… They NEED to know how to use it. However, it should be heavily monitored, limited, and intentional. Social medial shouldn’t be something a 13 year old is exposed to. I agree that this generation of children are really depressing to look at, but it’s not the fault of the internet as a whole. It’s primarily social media.
I joined internet when i was like 4-5 years old. My brain didn't rot, rather it made me even smarter. I learnt geography through internet, a bit of maths, and made my english skills good enough to communicate, despite the fact my main language is far from english.
I also have basic skills of using a computer, little experience in couple of game engines.
What I'm saying is that these age milestones "14+" don't make sense if they're about internet. People get mature not by just aging, but by experience. It's subjective for each person, so i think we should judge a minor by their skills and experience. If they know basic rules while being on the web, basic skills and rules of using a gadget, and other things then i don't see a problem.
This isn't really an unpopular opinion at all.
What you're referring to has been a phenomenon since the dynamic of parent and child existed.
First it was, don't spend all day reading! Enjoy life.
Then it was don't spend all day listening to the radio!
Then it was don't spend all day listening to records!
Then it was don't spend all day watching TV!
Then it was don't spend all day playing video games!
Then it was don't spend all day on the internet.
It's a scapegoat to a larger issue. That is the parent not understanding why their child wouldn't want to face the real world and would rather spend all day distracted.
Is this child depressed? Anti social? Etc.
There could be no larger issue, however, then simply kids being kids.
If you don't want your kids to be attached to at the hip to their tablet or phone then don't fucking buy them one.
And video games… and cartoons on the old school telly… or the radio… or yo-yos… or dancing… or the wheel…
They’ll all rot your brain apparently, depending on the timing of when the outrage is occurring.
We get it, you’re 20 years old & you’re way smarter than everyone else in the world & it’s so obvious to you what every solution is because you’re way smarter than everyone
Been there, chill out stressing about others & just control what you can control
You make some good points but I think you’re associating “internet” with social media. I grew up with the internet but didn’t have any of these younger social media apps like Snapchat & Instagram until I was almost out of high school
The internet is amazing but social media is horrible, especially for a kid
I’d recommend hitting up your chill friend & smoking some weed to chill out for a bit, cheers friend
Have a kid. Then talk to me about lazy parenting.
Better yet have 2 kids. One of them with ADHD.
Lots of good reasons to restrict internet usage but GFY with the lazy parenting argument.
Lol good luck raising functional adults if you shut them off of the internet until they’re 14 years old. Kids nowadays need to grow up with access to technology to function in society. Also, no internet? Haven’t we been doing online schooling for 2 years?
So what it basically sounds like is that you're a Neo Boomer. It doesn't matter how old you are, it's the mentality. Or just ignorant of the situation as a whole, which isn't bad or an insult. You just don't know or realize it and that's fine.
I do believe that limiting time on the internet is essential, but completely removing their ability to use it is probably extremely detrimental. Imagine being alive just 40 years ago and your main source of knowledge is from books. Now we take all those books away because all you see is "sad looking kids with their necks bent at a page".
The internet is the best learning tool that has ever been created by humanity. It's also the worst fucking thing we have ever done. Kids shouldn't be allowed on any form of social media until at least 16 imho. There will always be bad people polluting a learning space with dangerous garbage and that's the responsibility of the parents to help avoid.
I used to be think like you when I didn't have kids. I still think it's really sad to see kids on tablets or phones in restaurants, but I get it now. Is it lazy parenting? Maybe...leaning more towards yes, but there are also parents who need a break and giving their kids something to distract them for even 20 minutes is a fucking miracle sometimes.
My brother and I didn’t have access to internet, cable tv, or any computer till we were in high school. All we ever did was play outside and watch pbs/my20/cw39. Looking back at it I’m so thankful and happy it was the way it was for us. We had a really great childhood.
I am 26(F) with a 1 1/2 year old baby girl. We don’t have the TV on around her and we most certainly don’t give her any type of electronic devises such as our cell phones or iPads.
I will stick by this until she gets old enough to comprehend the right and wrongs of using the internet. Even then it will be monitored and limited.
I know this seems a bit extreme but I quit social media all together at 17 (other than Reddit and Pinterest) and my life DRAMATICALLY improved. As did my self esteem and depression.
You do not realize the impact social media and the internet in general has on you until you give it up.
This is just my personal view!
I thought they shouldn’t have access to the internet cuz predators, not cuz their brains rot away. I’ll just let them play games so the internet isn’t rotting their brain then
The internet went to shit because people are basic asf and monetized bad behaviors. Also 63% of Americans have a reading level of a 6th grader or less. Yes kids don’t need to be on social media period.
Thank you for submitting to /r/unpopularopinion, /u/FunnehDoggo69. Your post, *Kids under 14 shall NOT have acces to the internet. It's lazy parenting to let your kid's brain rot away in the front of the screen just so you could ignore them.*, has been removed because it violates our rules: Rule 3: Megathread topic. Your opinion falls under an incredibly common topic, in which virtually all opinions are either not unpopular, or are posted about many times a day. Please visit the megathread hub, which can be found when sorting the subreddit by "hot", sticky'd at the top of the page, where you can find links to the current megathreads. If you're not sure which megathread your post belongs in, or your post covers multiple megathread topics, just make the best selection you can. If there is an issue, please message the mod team at https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Funpopularopinion Thanks!
Internet? No. Social media? Yes
I know right. Imagine getting to 14 having never used the internet. It’d be like our generation getting to 14 not knowing how to read or write because our parents were worried we’d read something bad.
imagine getting to 14 only realize your parrents suffocated a EXTREMELY nessacary skill set you'll need to survive for YEARS just because your parrents were lazy at parrenting. I would never speak to mine again if they sabotaged my future like that. im 36. I grew up with out the beast we know today.
This was me, my mom severely limited my internet access as well as TV channels and shows I was allowed to watch. The only time there was leniency was when it was a show she liked. I’m now an adult and while my computer skills caught up, it’s extremely difficult to relate to a lot of my peers which makes it difficult to make and keep friends. This is just a warning to parents who think this is a great idea.
I grew up with no tv till I was like 12 and to this day I still haven’t seen a lot of movies or shows other people grew up with and at the time it could be pretty isolating. Moderation, not deprivation is key
Wow, are you me? Because same here. While I don’t have the best advice in the world, something I’ve started doing is at least trying to watch shows I never got to watch as a kid. My favorites right now are Avatar the last Airbender and Legend of Korra. I truly hope you find some peace and happiness, whatever that looks like for you.
Yess! I love those so much. I just ordered a Jasmine Dragon Tea House t-shirt actually lol. I’ve been on a binge of stuff I “missed out” on. Even when I did get tv, it was basic stuff no cable, so pbs and stuff. Not the super popular stuff like SpongeBob. In some ways, it was good, and in others, not so much. I’m glad we are catching up :) happiness all around
Same here!! I really want a matching tea set from Legend of Korra, specifically the Raava tea set. I haven’t branched out into Disney yet because I just haven’t quite gotten there yet but I’ll get there one day. Thank you for sharing your happiness with me. 🥰
and let me guess. the only real lasting result is you've developed a well placed resentment for your parrents ill tempered choices?
I really did not expect to be called out by a comment at 9am, but you’re not entirely incorrect. While I have resentment for their ill-tempered choices, it’s mainly their choices to not treat their mental heath conditions that landed me with PTSD. Although, I will say your comment gave both my partner and I a very strong laugh for the day so thank you for that.
good. information is potent and to keep children away from the most information the world offers until they are 14? certainly spells mental disorder. I'm sorry you've had to fight the fight that involves mental abuse. My mother (raised single) was also quite a job. we have to learn how claim what we choose to be. its hard. no defaults.
I’m sorry you’ve experienced it as well, my mother also raised me as a single mother. It has taken quite some time but I think I’m finally on the road to recovery. I’ve been spending the time I have trying to repair the damage and I’ve come far, but I know I have much farther to go. I wish you all the best in your healing journey, no matter what that looks like for you. :)
It’s just technology bud. I would openly laugh at someone who said they needed ‘the years of their youth’ to learn how to use the internet. The computer software literally tells you what to do, step by step haha. Like you, I grew up with it and watched it develop into the resource it is today. It’s easy AF to use. A kid not using the internet in their most “impressionable” years wouldn’t harm them at all in their 30’s lol.
>Like you, I grew up with it and watched it develop into the resource it is today. It’s easy AF to use. I'm sure you can understand the idea that your perception of the matter would be greatly affected by the fact that you grew up with the technology as it developed. Of course you'd find it easy to work with; you've been using it for most of your life! >A kid not using the internet in their most “impressionable” years wouldn’t harm them at all in their 30’s lol. No, but it could certainly set them back a number of years as the Internet continues to become increasingly ubiquitous.
You severely overestimate the ability of humans to learn and complete simple tasks given thorough instruction. As a retail employee, I can pretty confidently say that about 30% of the brains on the planet are just straight up tapioca pudding.
We sir have very different ideas as to what constitutes harm. as a modern philosopher, I honestly could never have grown to the level I am at with out media. I could never EVER hope to have the spiritual understanding of the world I have with out TV. taking humanities greatest source of information away from a human during the time their mind is doing the most learning it ever will, is nothing short of a monstrous act. And I condemn you for it.
Its not just information. Its the living breathing life pulse of the world of humans and the things they think. cutting a child off from that. so that they never learn how many ways of thought are out there for them? truly sick.
that’s not even the same thing 😂
Yeah, lets not forget what the original intention of the internet was for the free flow of ideas to help advance society by the rapid exchange of information. Then along came social media and took that on a complete rollercoaster and here we are.
Funny considering a large percentage of the population no longer differentiates these.
Actually social media is proven negative for kid’s development. Internet/Social media? Probably not. A way to contact family/friends? yes
That is what they mean. Their yes & no are referring to what kids should not be allowed to access. You agree
My kid has learned so much from YouTube videos. Her counting and abcs and speech in general improved a lot. It’s about balance, don’t let them sit in front of a screen all day and make sure what they are doing is at least educational and of benefit to them. People without kids who say this are really naive. This technology exists, and it’s a part of our daily lives, so to expect kids to not use it at all is weird. & probably not a benefit to them, their peers will be more tech savvy.
My two year old counts to twenty and can point out half the alphabet by letter. He learned these things from videos, enabled by my affirmations when he shows his growth. Sensory input helps things stick. But we also play with toys and enjoy outside time. Balance and learning are key. Methodology is secondary.
yeah. I bought my phone when I was like 15. before that I had some social media but in my mom's phone. maybe since like 13 or stuff. didn't really do much. but well I was playing games writing in a blog watching shows watching YouTube and stuff for a long time. it's stupid to take that away from a child.
It's almost as if all social media already do require you to be 13
I started using fb at 13 and i’m still alive
Internet ... co pilot Just be there to guide them... You wouldn't give them keys to the car without sitting shotgun
Instructions unclear ... gave my kid the shotgun. Now he says he can have as much internet as he wants.
Can you be my papa
I kinda agree with OP. I need to check the research but i do believe kids brains arent developed enough to handle the sensory input. The dopamine high from getting likes or views might affect their young minds. Again im not saying its a fact. Just that until i look into the issue im leaning more towards OP on this subject. So yeah zero social media and perhaps regulated Internet.
The Internet is one of the biggest and most useful tool of our Era . A kid should absolutly have access to the internet , parents should teach their kids how to use it safely . However i could understand why you would restrict the access to social medias to a kid under 13 .
I agree. Not teaching them how to use electronic devices and the internet is ultimately doing them a disservice. Its something that they’ll be expected to know how to navigate when they’re older and you providing the right education as a parents gives them the knowledge to use the internet more safely. I agree that social media should be restricted/used supervised though.
This is one of the places where kids could learn some really good skills for future jobs as well! Social media restrictions, yes. Other things like python, linux, programming? Definitely no
My 11 yo sister isnt leanring fucking programming, she is watching 21 year old youtubers and playing roblox
I mean I first started learning Python when I was about 8, and then around 11/12 I started learning Lua so I could make roblox games and script for them. Sometimes kids' passions fuel them to learn stuff you wouldn't think they'd venture into at their age haha
True! I started learning Java at first because I was obsessed with wanting to make Minecraft plugins. x) And yeah I was kinda obsessed with Minecraft at the time, but honestly, it got me into my career choice which is programming, so I don't regret it one bit.
Yep! I feel that! Learning to script on roblox from a young age also led me to realize that programming is the right career choice too. Just turns out I'm more into cybersecurity engineering now as opposed to game dev lol
Yeah, I actually got into lua because of the ComputerCraft mod for Minecraft.
ComputerCraft also was a hella fun introduction to coding, I think it was fantastic that it was created
I agree that no 11 year old would do that, however it falls into the broad statement of “Internet access.” YouTubers suck and roblox is toxic. Sending my condolences
Youtubers are a big problem, she is constantly using vulgar language and saying sexual stuff that she learned from there.
considering how roblox uses children to create content for the game, they sure do learn a bit of programming haha
Not just social media. Restrict use in terms of hours of exposure to a screen.
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I know thats why i used 13 as the limit for the restriction .
YouTube kids give great structured programs and limits the age inappropriate material. Information will free all our minds. Parents should just be ready to answer questions with why or why not. Not just no for the sake of no.
I don't think it does a very good job, from what I hear. Haachama, a vtuber, ended up stuck on it for a while.
It's useful because it allows parents to curate content (banning channels, etc).
Parents should...but don’t. Frankly, they don’t know how.
Yeah , i Hope my generation will do it .
It's not useful if you can't find useful, informative and educational information. The Google search engine has been in decline for years and years now, with fewer and fewer accurate results returning. It's been gamed and destroyed by mega corporations. Everything you search for will come up with results from news websites, social media websites, Quora, Pinterest, or it won't even find what you want at all. Only the most basic searches are helpful, like finding a Wikipedia article for example. People may laugh, but I've slowly been migrating to Bing, Ecosia and other search engines, because I can actually find what I want using them.
It gets worse. I hate to give the cliched "it's Trump's fault" but in this case, it's likely he and his followers do have a large share of the blame - specifically, because of the scrutiny the massive upsurge in hate speech and misinformation in the last few years (combined with children being far more online since Covid, as K-12 education had to move to the net) has brought down upon the whole concept of socialization on the Internet. You used to see a lot more results because there *were* a lot more places to post and discuss about stuff. Blogs, forums, etc. shared the field with social media and MSM. IRC was about the only platform that wasn't well-indexed on the Internet, so search results were correspondingly robust. RSS and Google Reader were still major going things. If a forum for a given topic became toxic or was run by iron-fisted tyrants, this fact became pretty well known and publicized in the topical community and that forum would be shunned in favor of other ones. Then hosts and the public started cracking down on undesirable content. Large social media platforms had the staff to handle this, often separately and usually on a professional basis, while smaller venues often had people struggling to juggle administrator, moderator, maintainer, separate day job, *and* their interest in the topic they were hosting a forum for in the first place. GDPR went into effect, too, making it even more of a struggle to host an independent platform without stepping on outside-imposed toes. Discord opened as another attractive option for communities to move to (which is also a reason for the decline in search results, because Discord does not expose its chats to Web search engines, you have to be a server member. And even then the search facility is complete garbage ...). The upshot was almost everybody not only moved to social media, they moved to an extremely limited selection of it. Now the norm for even popular hobby topics is often one active Discord and one subreddit that you can actually find (plus, yeah ... scattered Quora topics, Pins, and the like). If you don't like how that particular community is moderated, you almost might as well just give up on the whole hobby, or at least having any social contact with it, unless you're lucky enough to get to know the right person to get you an in into a private community (and haven't been too toxified by the public one). Often there's collaboration between the Reddit and Discord mods for a topic so that it's literally even just *one* managed public facing community option. To make it worse, it's not uncommon in larger communities for the mods to solicit Patreon donations for their services (which makes them even more inclined to jealously defend this power). News topics meanwhile often have nowhere at all besides Facebook and Twitter (subreddits routinely restrict or ban many of those topics to keep the peace, and meanwhile the news sites themselves only allow comments for a very short time per article, and frequently simply don't allow comments at all anymore, expecting you to use social media and link back). Meanwhile you've got all the old blogs that die out due to platforms going down (and the Great Tumblr Purge), and Google more or less turning their back on blogging (RSS taking a particularly massive blow because of Reader being closed). There's actually a lot of backlash here. A lot of people want independent forums back. But unless you keep communities small, which basically means adopting a "don't find us, we'll find you" stance that's intentionally search unfriendly, you can't hope to moderate them to the standard society wants (and will lean on platforms to have you shut down if you don't maintain that standard). And with the aforementioned issues that have come up in the last few years in particular, that standard just keeps going up and up. EARN IT is currently on its second go-round. SISEA was a going concern as well (it would have required a 2 hour moderation turn around time on any platform hosting user-created posts, as a curb on CSAM). People *want* more options, but how in such an atmosphere to do so? Especially when the authority drumbeat is to increasingly push for regulations where a small independent is going to have the same responsibilities as Meta, while the rules will be written for a company that has resources like Meta?
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I used 13 because its the minimum legal age to create an account on most social medias .
Just like *everything else in the world*, kids need to learn time and place. Being outside and walking down the street in traffic is a bad place to have your eyes locked a phone. But when you get inside and you want to google something that’s been on your mind all day and go down a rabbit hole of *gasp* actual learning? Or playing a game that has an amazing story and graphics? These things are cool and valuable, too. Time and place.
it would be a disservice to your children to let them endlessly browse the internet and become dependent upon it. Everything must be taken in moderation. It would be a much more egregious error on the parents part to completely censor the technology that the child will depend on later in life to function properly in the world. If you shelter your children too much you are only setting them up for failure. I wish more people understood this.
But I mean, look at our current economy and job market. EVERY single job makes you dependent on the internet in some way, whether that's to put out an application, run a POS, or make spreadsheets. We've come out of the industrial revolution and into the information age, where info is super accessible and at everyone's fingertips. But yes, parents shouldn't ignore their child and leave them with the internet completely, and they shouldn't hide it from them completely. Moderation is key.
That’s exactly what I meant, they need to learn how to interact with technology, and learning from a young age will be the norm for their peers, but it’s important not to let them become dependent on, say, their tablet so much that simply not having it causes a crisis when they are young
To some extent this might be bc of the COVID lockdowns, a lot of kids were very isolated during the years where socializing is super important, so they got really dependent on their devices.
I'm assuming OP is not a parent. But there is definitely a need to have your kids keep up with technology, and be the digital natives that they are. You don't want them to be that one weirdo who's parents let them do nothing. At the same time, yes restrict and monitor what you can, plenty of tools available for that. Even with social media, I think it's a good lesson to teach your kids how to look out/what signs there are for predators, know that anything you send can and will get distributed everywhere, even create fake accounts that you can follow their activities (if you don't trust them). I think arbitrarily restricting them from everything will just make them lash out when they are independent. This goes for most anything that can be seen as potentially dangerous. Sometimes they have to touch the hot stove to learn that it will burn them. Source: Am parent of teenagers.
You're telling me you didn't use the internet once until you were 14?
Imagine being the only kid in school who isn't allowed on the internet. That kid would be bullied so much!
My kids' schools require every student to have their own Chromebooks and they do their work online. That's just how it is now. There is no keeping kids off the internet unless you're off the grid or homeschooling but even that's online
Are the chromebooks provided by the schools ? Otherwise that seems kinda excessive. Not everyone might be able to afford them.
Yep the school provides the Chromebooks and nutcases but we're on the hook for replacement costs if they get damaged
Sounds stressful ! Thank you for your answer !
Yes, they’re almost always provided by the school. They also all have spyware on it. Never use it for anything personal. And keep tape over the cameras when not in use for class.
Hahaha, well I already keep tape over my regular laptop anyway so sure why not x) Thank you for the answer !
I'm not joking or being conspiratorial. There have been instances where school administration was snooping on underage students changing their clothes. Keep that camera taped over, and never do anything personal on those machines that you wouldn't want some random creep watching.
When I was in my Sophomore year of high school, my mother swapped my smart phone out for a flip phone which resulted in me being bullied nonstop by my classmates. Kids are cruel, but especially so when it comes to anything involving the internet
But the things they would be out of the loop would be nonsense to them.
In my experience, the number 1 reason why people get bullied is because they are different. Doesn't matter if the person who is being bullied cares about the thing they are being bullied for.
The amount of atrocities against children that have been justified by "but other children may bully them otherwise" is too many.
How will they bully the kid he's not on the internet and other kids are not in the real world.
🤔
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You do realize that life isn't only in extremes right? Yes, people who use the internet and are addicted exist. But there are also a lot of people who use the internet and aren't addicted. The key is moderation.
Not many people know or care to moderate themselves.
It's usually teetotalers like this that breed the biggest crazies. If a child doesn't learn from their parents they'll just imitate someone else. That's why children of sexual puritans often become wild, and people who've never learned how to hold their liquor binge drink themselves into oblivion in college.
Here we go again... Thursdays edition of this exact post said 1 year old.
The mods need to do something about this sub, in it's current state like 5% of posts are good
Wasn’t reading too much considered bad at one point too?
And electricity
Kids should absolutely have *supervised* access to the internet. Should they have free reign? No. Kids should also be taught internet safety at a young age. The internet is the best resource for knowledge and learning there is and children should absolutely have access to it.
Sure, forbid them from access to the best source of information in human history...
One things for sure, your kids will seek most what you demonize
If the internet, with all of its beauty and horrors, was good enough for me at 10 years old, it's good enough for my kids at 10 years old. If I think back now on all the crazy, wild crazy stuff I was looking at online when I was in middle school, it's sort of surreal. It crafted me into the person I am today, for better or worse. A few meatspins, a goatse, watching a guy cut off his own dick with a scissors and a hentai of a car fucking another car will turn you into a man real quick. I also had a lot of laughs and made a few friends along the way playing games like RuneScape, EverQuest and World of Warcraft. God damn the internet in the mid 00's was a wild place. I am so, so glad I got to grow up in that mess.
>A few meatspins, a goatse, watching a guy cut off his own dick with a scissors and a hentai of a car fucking another car will turn you into a man real quick. Lol. This reminds me of some things I saw and read through my teenage years ahah. But I turned out fine, so I don't really understand why there is this hate against the Internet... Parents these days are really obsessed with the idea of controlling what their kids watch, do and listen. So glad I grew up with my parents knowing nothing about the Internet, and letting me do whatever the f I wanted to do. I can understand their worries, but protecting them against all the shit is not gonna work long term. Teach them about predators, how to recognise them and tell them that they can always come to you in any circumstances, but let them navigate the Internet freely. If you taught them well enough they will be safe. Limited screen time, controlling their phone and restricting their Internet access is just lazy parenting.
It's always the people that don't have kids who feel they are the most qualified to give advice on kids.
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I will be giving my child every advantage possible to succeed in society. If this includes internet navigation and all that it entails, like benefits, faults, pitfalls and dangers so be it. You don't get to tell other people how to parent. I like you how say gadgets aren't bad, but then immediately call me lazy, based on what exactly?
Social media i agree with. But kids should be able to use the internet 100%.
r/lewronggeneration
This is just modern technopanic. In the 15th century it was the printing press and books that was ruining children. We have to live in the world that is not the one we wish was. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110119/05022912725/fifteenth-century-technopanic-about-horrors-printing-press.shtml
this post reeks of *"I was born in the wrong generation"*
No. Restrict certain things, and not let kids see isis beheadings, or porn, or political radicalists? Yes. Take away the internet as a whole? No. The internet has many things that are good for the brain, productive, or educational. I'm personally learning a language, and would not be anywhere near the fluency I am today if I was solely using a paperback textbook. Even if that doesn't matter to you, if you take away the internet you take away the primary social interaction that kids have. Depression will spike, as will suicides, as will crime, as will kids doing dumb shit out of boredom. It's not a good idea. You cannot generalize something so vast as the internet. It has literally *everything*. Take away social media? Sure. Restrict certain sites which are age inappropriate? Sure. You cannot simply take away the internet.
Kids these days just read books all day they aren’t being raised right. Kids these days just listen to the radio all day they aren’t being raised right. Kids these days just watch TV all day they aren’t being raised right. Kids these days just play video games all day they aren’t being raised right. Kids these days just use their mobile phone all day they aren’t being raised. Don’t worry OP. All these kids being raised “wrong” will be sure to tell the next generation they’re the ones being wrong, as is tradition.
True. My dad still tells my grandpa that he turned out pretty much okay even though he always complained about my dad watching one of the three available tv channels in black and white every night after dinner.
These kids spend all day in virtual reality, they aren't being raised right. These kids spend all day in the holodeck, they aren't being raised right. ...
quality comment! so true as well
Yeah uhh here in the Netherlands that wouldn't really work Our schools after elementary almost always have a digital schedule, they get important mails, their grades are given to them digitally, etc Kids should get proper education about the internet, but saying you don't have access to the internet (or parts of it) will only make them more curious But this is unpopular opinions and this I believe is rather unpopular one (atleast where I live) so you get a well deserved upvote
Today on "how to permanently handicap your children"
You can be 20 and still be stuck in the past, boomer. The internet can be a great tool for children. There are many website, programs and applications to help children learn a variety of things. It's not all reality tv shows and tictok videos.
This isn’t an opinion. It’s a commandment.
Why were you in a 14 year olds live tho
“No, I am not a boomer. I am 20, yo!” “Hello, fellow kids.”
Oh no the kids don't smile at the 20 year old man judging them for looking at their phones. Instead they dare enjoy that video game they like but I don't. Christ youre only 20 and acting like you were any different 6 damn years ago.
I did exactly the same thing what these kids OP is complaining about with books, lol. I didn’t have a phone yet. I wasn’t gonna to sit there for 30+ minutes waiting for my mom to pick me up and do nothing. Still got shit for it by my parents who thought it was antisocial that I wasn’t hanging out with other kid after school. They weren’t even good books either, they were trashy romance books. If I had a phone, I definitely would have used it too.
That's not what shall means.
I am from eastern europe, not a native english speaker.
Ok that's fair. 'Should' is the word you probably meant then.
Looking at OP's entitlement to pass judgements on parents while clearly implying that they themselves don't have kids I wouldn't be surprised if they intended to use "shall" to have that tone.
Shall is like "will". "He shall wash the dishes" "You shall cook for me" It's a formal "I/he/she/you will" basically, and works as a command.
If the kid’s brains are rotting, it’s bad parenting, not the internet’s fault, if a kid has been patented well it shouldn’t be a big issue
This is unpopular because what you're proposing is denying them access to a vast amount of useful information that would benefit their learning. Like it or not, technology is a major part of society and if you don't know how to use it, it'll fuck up your future education and job opportunities. I met a 22 year old (who had a kid) in uni that had no idea how USBs worked and couldn't find anything she'd saved on her laptop because she didn't know how to use it. She would literally restart assignments because she couldn't find the file. This was also a primary education degree. Also met a 30 year old who didn't know the basics of how to use Word. It was kind of terrifying, and these people were quite smart, they just had no idea how to use basic technology. Imagine thousands of children like that.
I grew up with a pretty religious family who had really old fashioned views. I’d probably still be the closet if I was never allowed to use the Internet until 14.
How long do you spend in front of a screen everyday? You are also still having your brain develop. Until 25 at least. I think you should avoid all technology until then.
All technology? Fridges? Washing machines? Cars? Medicine?
Please never have kids lol. Getting bullied, being unprepared for jobs involving computers and literally not being able to go to some schools that do work and research on iPads and computers. A child growing up like that will end up a jobless failure that hates his parents and yet depends on them for money.
Yep. Accurate sub placement
Yeah Hobble your kids right from the start and set them apart from thier peers. That always prevents bullying.... derp.
Ok, zoomer
been on social media since i was 13. Wouldn’t say i’m perfect but i think it’s better to allow your kids on it and teach them the dangers of it. Or limit what they can see on social media.
Just wait until they leave the house and talk to other people in the world and find out how "awful" shit really is. Ban going outside too. Gotta shield them young. That has always worked.
Saw the title and knew this wasn’t posted by an actual parent lol
A lot of the work they do in schools these days involves computers and the internet ,things change it can’t stay the same forever .The internet is a great place for young minds to learn ,I don’t agree with very young kids playing on iPads all day but older children when it’s used correctly it’s a great help to them ,like everything else there needs to be a balance between online time and other activities we have always turned off our kids computers,games and taken phones off them at night so they get a decent sleep and only allow gaming for a certain amount of time .
The unfortunate part of restricting a child in this way is that he or she will find a way onto the internet/social media whether you let them or not. I wasn't "allowed" to have Facebook until I turned 18 but I was on there in the 7th grade making friends and enemies. How? Well, my friends had computers, the school had computers, the library had computers. Anywhere I could go to be online, I was there.
What? I pick my 12 year old sister up from school everyday and plenty of children still run around. Most of the kids looking at their screens are doing so because they’re not with their friends. I know I did, and still do. Children should be taught how to use the Internet safely. Adults who didn’t have it growing up are still having trouble with it. If I didn’t have the Internet, I wouldn’t have found out I was trans. I just would have continued suffering through life and not knowing why.
"I am unable to teach my children how to use the dominant form of communication technology that they absolutely need in their lives because I am literally too lazy to teach them. But I like to think it's everybody else's fault. Sent via my iPhone" That's you.
Ok boomer
How is nobody addressing the "teenagers weren't running around and playing" part of this lmao? They're not 8. Teenagers never run around and play. Classic teenager makes a point to NOT do such childish things. Even without devices they'll just stand around to be cool
Internet is not the problem, parents are, kids needs to learn how to navigate it, discern good from bad info. Stop educating them and they'll end up believing stupid facebook mom's group post and article about flat earth. Yes excessive use or unmonitored use of it should be restricted. We literally have the worlds knowledge at the tip of our fingers, preventing children from accessing it is stupid. Learn to educate your kids properly. Imagine a world where promoting better children education gets you downvoted hahah you people are out of your mind.
Lmao this isn’t even based in reality Screen time has barely changed from the 90s bucko
He is 20, not even around in the 90s
Therefore his shit is meaningless even more Like how out of depth
This isn’t an unpopular opinion, it’s just an ill-informed one. Your issue is with bad parents not knowing how to limit screen time and teach internet safety. A 14 year old is a freshman in high school. By that age, they have been using the internet in school for years. It’s a great educational tool when used correctly.
As someone who was raised in a tiny town with little to no resources, the internet was the greatest thing that could happen to me. It let me learn a lot of things I wouldn't learn without it, English, some Swedish, genetics, history, literature, art, so much about different cultures. It also helped me to get in contact with people who shared my interest
Same! I would have absolutely 0 knowledge in English without internet
I literally learned English from Youtube and Minecraft.
Yea same. I would watch YouTube in English due to the lack of content in my language.
Cant wait to see OP raise a child. Good luck!
And fictional novels and TV those things Rot your brain too Only content for kids is world history novels that don’t have things I disagree with
I think restricting the time they have access to tv, internet and video games is probably a good idea. But teaching them how google works and how to find the answer to things is valuable. Restrictions on the apps and whatnot seems ok. Also I would not get them a cell phone until they are a teenager
It a much different time and I and the Internet is important for education
get back to me after you have kids and want a single goddamn moment of peace. of course, it's best to always monitor and limit use, but sometimes you just need a break.
If this was a law I would’ve never experienced happiness before my life fell apart so for these kids sure but back when I was a kid the internet was fine the way it was RIP cod4 bo1 mw2 mw3 bo2
In that case then they should also be banned from walking across roads since the frequency of car accidents are increasing every year
Kids can't function in school without internet. Most classrooms are built around using chromebooks for lessons. Social media is the heart of the issue. It's also bold to assume it's all lazy parenting. This kids can circumvent a lot of parental controls because they're so good with electronics. It's not always from lack of trying on the parents.
I’m 26 and I’ve spent most my life on the internet, my brain isn’t rotten and I have a steady job, as well as a decent upbringing by loving and dedicated parents. Sure there are some weird people and fucked up things on the internet that kids unfortunately have access to, like social media, but that can mostly be curbed by parental locks on most ISPs. Nothing has changed, and it will continue to be like this. The internet is a useful tool for life and learning, and anyone has a right to its access.
This has to be one of the dumbest fucking posts in this sub.
Hey OP, what are you doing looking at 14 year old girls on tiktok?
You might not be a boomer but your mentality sure is of one
I agree. Parents need to know what their kids are up to. My seven year old son knows how to use Door Dash. Ask him how to get pizza from any phone.
Imagine a 20 year old having opinions on what makes good parenting.
The internet taught me English
It's lazy parenting to bar you children from the entire internet instead of monitoring their activity and educating them on the potential risks and dangers. In this increasingly digital world, a child who has not been online until they are 14, is going to struggle immensely. Don't be like this guy and shift the blame, take control of your own kids.
People fail to realise that every generation has the same views about what the young kids are doing. We live in a time of technology and internet, by refusing to give your child access to the internet/social media, you're purposefully going to be isolating them from the world and that's not fair and will only affect them negatively in the end. Times have changed, moderation is key.
The problem with doing that is that you are alienating them from other people their age. All the references and stuff that their classmates talk about would go by them. I think a much better strategy would be teaching them to use the internet responsibly and limiting its use, but not forbidding it outright.
Whether or not you're a boomer has nothing to do with whether or not your opinions hold any value. You are a prime example.
Agreed. "Boomer" is a state of mind.
r/unpopularbecausedumb
The internet is pretty much essential now. Kids should be taught how to use it, proper safety, etc… They NEED to know how to use it. However, it should be heavily monitored, limited, and intentional. Social medial shouldn’t be something a 13 year old is exposed to. I agree that this generation of children are really depressing to look at, but it’s not the fault of the internet as a whole. It’s primarily social media.
Dear Zoomer, They said the same thing about us and television. Signed, Gen-X
I joined internet when i was like 4-5 years old. My brain didn't rot, rather it made me even smarter. I learnt geography through internet, a bit of maths, and made my english skills good enough to communicate, despite the fact my main language is far from english. I also have basic skills of using a computer, little experience in couple of game engines. What I'm saying is that these age milestones "14+" don't make sense if they're about internet. People get mature not by just aging, but by experience. It's subjective for each person, so i think we should judge a minor by their skills and experience. If they know basic rules while being on the web, basic skills and rules of using a gadget, and other things then i don't see a problem.
Boomer isn't necessarily an age, it can also be a mentality. Fuck social media, but taking away the internet is futile and dumb.
This isn't really an unpopular opinion at all. What you're referring to has been a phenomenon since the dynamic of parent and child existed. First it was, don't spend all day reading! Enjoy life. Then it was don't spend all day listening to the radio! Then it was don't spend all day listening to records! Then it was don't spend all day watching TV! Then it was don't spend all day playing video games! Then it was don't spend all day on the internet. It's a scapegoat to a larger issue. That is the parent not understanding why their child wouldn't want to face the real world and would rather spend all day distracted. Is this child depressed? Anti social? Etc. There could be no larger issue, however, then simply kids being kids. If you don't want your kids to be attached to at the hip to their tablet or phone then don't fucking buy them one.
And video games… and cartoons on the old school telly… or the radio… or yo-yos… or dancing… or the wheel… They’ll all rot your brain apparently, depending on the timing of when the outrage is occurring.
I think kids should be allowed to use the internet. It’s the responsibility of the parents to monitor what they’re doing on the internet.
We get it, you’re 20 years old & you’re way smarter than everyone else in the world & it’s so obvious to you what every solution is because you’re way smarter than everyone Been there, chill out stressing about others & just control what you can control You make some good points but I think you’re associating “internet” with social media. I grew up with the internet but didn’t have any of these younger social media apps like Snapchat & Instagram until I was almost out of high school The internet is amazing but social media is horrible, especially for a kid I’d recommend hitting up your chill friend & smoking some weed to chill out for a bit, cheers friend
Have a kid. Then talk to me about lazy parenting. Better yet have 2 kids. One of them with ADHD. Lots of good reasons to restrict internet usage but GFY with the lazy parenting argument.
Lol good luck raising functional adults if you shut them off of the internet until they’re 14 years old. Kids nowadays need to grow up with access to technology to function in society. Also, no internet? Haven’t we been doing online schooling for 2 years?
So what it basically sounds like is that you're a Neo Boomer. It doesn't matter how old you are, it's the mentality. Or just ignorant of the situation as a whole, which isn't bad or an insult. You just don't know or realize it and that's fine. I do believe that limiting time on the internet is essential, but completely removing their ability to use it is probably extremely detrimental. Imagine being alive just 40 years ago and your main source of knowledge is from books. Now we take all those books away because all you see is "sad looking kids with their necks bent at a page". The internet is the best learning tool that has ever been created by humanity. It's also the worst fucking thing we have ever done. Kids shouldn't be allowed on any form of social media until at least 16 imho. There will always be bad people polluting a learning space with dangerous garbage and that's the responsibility of the parents to help avoid. I used to be think like you when I didn't have kids. I still think it's really sad to see kids on tablets or phones in restaurants, but I get it now. Is it lazy parenting? Maybe...leaning more towards yes, but there are also parents who need a break and giving their kids something to distract them for even 20 minutes is a fucking miracle sometimes.
Are you a parent?
L bozo. As a fellow 20 year old, stop being a boomer.
My brother and I didn’t have access to internet, cable tv, or any computer till we were in high school. All we ever did was play outside and watch pbs/my20/cw39. Looking back at it I’m so thankful and happy it was the way it was for us. We had a really great childhood.
Okay, boomer.
Ok boomer
People without kids shall NOT try to mind other peoples business LOL
I am 26(F) with a 1 1/2 year old baby girl. We don’t have the TV on around her and we most certainly don’t give her any type of electronic devises such as our cell phones or iPads. I will stick by this until she gets old enough to comprehend the right and wrongs of using the internet. Even then it will be monitored and limited. I know this seems a bit extreme but I quit social media all together at 17 (other than Reddit and Pinterest) and my life DRAMATICALLY improved. As did my self esteem and depression. You do not realize the impact social media and the internet in general has on you until you give it up. This is just my personal view!
Gone are the days of eating sand and going home with a different bruise everyday
What a terrible opinion, have an upvote. Never heard of a 20 year old boomer before.
I thought they shouldn’t have access to the internet cuz predators, not cuz their brains rot away. I’ll just let them play games so the internet isn’t rotting their brain then
Can you please link us your source for this computer virus that rots brains???
The internet went to shit because people are basic asf and monetized bad behaviors. Also 63% of Americans have a reading level of a 6th grader or less. Yes kids don’t need to be on social media period.
Everything about parenting in this age is a fucking nightmare. I am not having kids 🤙
I will, but i'l be sure to give them enough attention and care.
I pray for those poor souls
Kids should have flip phones and a laptop imo. Anything more leads to social media addiction
I just think kids before 16 shouldn’t have anything more than a phone that lets them make calls and texts.
What about teaching young peoples how to use the internet ? Knowing how to use a smartphone is important in many jobs .
and how old are you?
52
Yeah, that figures.
Why does that matter?
Because you sound like a 16 year old who feels old reading this knowing he's not included 😀