Who knows if that’s the intent, and maybe other people have different experiences, but my kids and I have both found that the opposite is true: it takes just a couple clicks of a button to get inundated with Joe Rogan/manosphere garbage, whereas I can’t ever recall an algorithm leading me to critical race theory.ChudFusk wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 7:41 pm I think it's a good idea on paper, because social media is correlated with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, cyberbullying etc. I don't know if it would work though, and I would not be surprised if it's part of a process intended to keep kids away from banned books and critical race theory.
Both can be true but if the intent is as nefarious as my pessimism will allow "protecting" children from ugly truths makes it easier for the manosphere to propagate. At its most benign I believe MAGA just wants to get back to the status quo of systemic white supremacy unchallenged and unflinching from future generations. Keeping children uneducated and on the shoulder of the information highway is a boon in that respect.Wood Goblin wrote: Sat Dec 14, 2024 8:31 am So who knows? Maybe they’re aiming to “protect” kids from the 1619 Project but are accidentally blocking them from Jordan Peterson?
I don't hate the internet so much as I resent the assumption that participation in it is all but mandatory. I don't like the notion that internet activity is somehow a sign of good health and functionality.
I’ll admit that I am being a bit of a cunt by saying this, but all of the totally correct and insightful things you said in your post are a little bit undermined by the fact that your 10 year old has a cell phone…the corpo wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 4:25 am I was involved in helping draw up a code of conduct for personal device use in our kids primary (elementary) school and our principal was in despair at the damage having social media access was having on the children. And it's not just the tangible fear of being exposed to horrible views etc., but the power that it puts in the hand of bullies, it's monumentally dangerous. At the same time she was having kids upset and troubled who didn't have devices because they didn't know what was being said about them online.
We had our own incident where schools competed in a writing challenge, and kids would review short stories from other schools. My daughter wrote a review, the person reviewed on the other side the country was able to track down her cell phone number and start sending her abusive messages. At the age of 10...
And it's all well and good saying it's up to the parents to monitor and safeguard the chats, we definitely do, but it's scarily apparent how few other parents do, the stuff that appears in the various groups is horrifying.
Don't know what the laws are in the US, but in Europe most social media is illegal for those under 13, and I'd be absolutely in favour of banning devices for under 13, with heavy regulation for those above. One local area here, the parents of a district of local schools worked together to have a no phone social contract for all kids in the area, and it's been a huge success.
And the argument that the genie is out of the bottle doesn't really hold water, no 10 year old is buying their own phone, someone is choosing to give it to them. If they need it to be contactable, plenty of dumb phones are on the market.
In fairness the child sending it was 10, mine was 12, but your point is fair enough. But it was what was part of opening our eyes to the toxicity of it, and got us to install all the protection apps we could etc., along with monitoring all chats etc. She's 15 now, ain't a chance in hell I'm getting that phone offa her!ChudFusk wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 2:32 pmI’ll admit that I am being a bit of a cunt by saying this, but all of the totally correct and insightful things you said in your post are a little bit undermined by the fact that your 10 year old has a cell phone…the corpo wrote: Tue Dec 17, 2024 4:25 am I was involved in helping draw up a code of conduct for personal device use in our kids primary (elementary) school and our principal was in despair at the damage having social media access was having on the children. And it's not just the tangible fear of being exposed to horrible views etc., but the power that it puts in the hand of bullies, it's monumentally dangerous. At the same time she was having kids upset and troubled who didn't have devices because they didn't know what was being said about them online.
We had our own incident where schools competed in a writing challenge, and kids would review short stories from other schools. My daughter wrote a review, the person reviewed on the other side the country was able to track down her cell phone number and start sending her abusive messages. At the age of 10...
And it's all well and good saying it's up to the parents to monitor and safeguard the chats, we definitely do, but it's scarily apparent how few other parents do, the stuff that appears in the various groups is horrifying.
Don't know what the laws are in the US, but in Europe most social media is illegal for those under 13, and I'd be absolutely in favour of banning devices for under 13, with heavy regulation for those above. One local area here, the parents of a district of local schools worked together to have a no phone social contract for all kids in the area, and it's been a huge success.
And the argument that the genie is out of the bottle doesn't really hold water, no 10 year old is buying their own phone, someone is choosing to give it to them. If they need it to be contactable, plenty of dumb phones are on the market.
Users browsing this forum: tallchris and 11 guests