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It’s crazy to me that “just exercise complete control over what your kids do and see” is touted like it’s not the start of a black mirror episode.

> In the same way that you hold hands when you walk past a busy street

This logic isn’t scale dependent and I know you have a line somewhere before “it totally fine to have landmines in random patches of grass — parents responsibility!” Where is it?



Isn't "just have megacorps exercise complete control over what everyone can see" even more of a terrifying Black Mirror episode?


Seems to me that most black mirror episodes are about the loss or restriction of freedom. I can't imagine a black mirror episode that starts with giving the protagonist autonomy and freedom instead of preventing it.

Your alternative I presume is just to treat everyone like a small child equally so that nobody can see anything potentially painful or commit any thought crimes (the ends etc etc). Certainly the internet is very hard to regulate with children but maybe they just shouldn't be spending so much time on it. It's much harder to keep track of 15v hours of usage a day vs 1 or 2. But again that's a personal responsibility thing. If a child gets hit by a car we examine the circumstances surrounding it, the logical conclusion most people would assume is not to sue the car manufacturer to prevent the operation of their vehicles. There's definitely a balance between corporate and personal responsibility but I'm strongly against the childification of the internet and apps that is occurring. It doesn't matter that most people don't understand something, if you prevent them from observing or utilizing it you're effectively enforcing that ignorance.

We should not be enforcing such restrictions. Any restriction may benefit some children, but will rob everyone of the ability to learn how to discern good from bad. We should not be training total reliance. Encountering difficulty is an essential part of human existence


> I can't imagine a black mirror episode that starts with giving the protagonist autonomy and freedom instead of preventing it.

I was confused by how your comment related to what you were replying to, until I realized you just assumed that a child can't possibly be deserving of any autonomy at all, or even be considered a protagonist.


Thank you, I was so confused I didn't know how to reply to them. I was like "but we're specifically talking about taking away all autonomy from kids. This is the opposite."

It's super wild to me that there are so many people who parenting as "I own this child" and not "I am the proximate caretaker of this independent person."


This makes no sense. Both sides of this interaction already seem to agree that the child should be restricted.

One uses it as a justification for the sanitizing of the internet and the other thinks it should be the parents job.

Don't pretend to champion some sort of bigger faith in children, that was never the point of the discussion


Perhaps there are more than two sides, or the sides aren't what you think they are.


Please note that I didn't say anything like that and you're making an assumption. The other option is teaching your child to be safe, as you would when they are old enough to stop holding hands.




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