Ugghhh everyone on social media these days - SO NEGATIVE!

[pictonguy]

I think perhaps you have to see the damage it does first hand.
For example the damage to young girls self esteem, my good friends little girl is now in and out of treatment for anorexia and whilst anorexia has always occurred there’s no debate statistically (no matter what reliable source you use) that eating disorders have doubled in the last 10 years with social media now a common component. Even in it’s mildest form it provides constant ‘thinspiration’ and if they click on that stuff (as curious young minds tend to do) then it can quickly take them down a nasty rabbit hole.

Or a while back my youngest son was bombarded with Andrew Tate bile including direct messaging, it’s designed to directly target boys insecurities.
There’s widespread reporting by teachers of increasing sexist and misogynistic behaviour in school. When you consider the damage to their development and the long term consequences, it is no laughing matter.

Fortunately my son was an older teen (18) when this happened and is not a misogynist or prone to falling for macho tropes but the only way to stop it was to leave facebook and twitter.
So the choice is for many kids stay and have this stuff constantly thrown at you or cut yourself off from your peers, that’s not much of a choice.

The hideous trend of making AI faked images of female classmates faces put on an adult woman’s porno body were all circulated around by social media.
The consequences are devastating to those little girls. Being pointed and sniggered at and knowing everyone is looking at that brings a type of shame that has driven girls as young as 12 years old to change school.

Social media is currently an adult world they’re too young to navigate. Parental controls do not work.
Any good parent protects a child from the uglier side of adult life until they’re old enough to manage, that’s part of what having a childhood is.
Developing healthy frameworks and knowing what they are being told or shown isn’t gospel and not the way things we do things takes time.

Until they’re knowledgeable and experienced enough to be able to withstand the onslaught of explicit images and extreme rhetoric I think they really should be left alone.

I agree in Principe with you, yeah not good for the underaged, no doubt about it and they need protecting, full stop.

My concern is in the big picture where once you build age verification, digital ID checks, platform level enforcement and gov't oversight of who can access what, can easily be repurposed later building an infrastructure where other logical platforms can be then be easily implemented for say older people, people with cognitive decline, people with mental health vulnerabilities or people they feel are at risk in a more general sense which can trigger gov't surveillance laws, emergency powers where peoples bank accounts can and have been frozen and once that machinery exists, future governments can use it to their discretion.

 

[Kathleen]

I was involved in classes to support parents of high school students. I likened the internet to a city. You find everything online that you would find in a city. There are many good things, but also predators, and places you simply do not want your child to be. Plus, the side that few thought about back in that day is that there is never a break from it when a child encounters someone who is targeting him/her.

I do not support bans of information, but I do support parenting restrictions meaning the parent must agree to use of specific locations or sites. How does that work? Good question. But it is not 'here is your phone, computer, etc. See ya when I see ya, champ.'

 

[In A Pickle]

It’s a minefield, it’s not possible to know what your child is experiencing 24/7
You’d have to be one of those overbearing helicopter parents to know even half of it, obviously that causes other types of damage.

I think the problem that was encountered most by the parents at school was bullying, social media allows a whole new level of cruel on that front, they’re not even safe at home.

One of the girls at school was targeted by a paedophile gang.
It was the daughter of someone I had a discussion with a few years earlier who was busy telling me it’s a fuss about nothing, there’s always been paedo’s. I explained yes but they were isolated before, where as now they have a place to pool ideas and resources, plus they can get access to children via social media. A kid is no match for a manipulative adult.
He poo-pooed the idea and looked at me with distain, like I was one of those fussy mums.
When it happened to his daughter (nothing really bad happened, the school caught it) he changed his tune a bit.

 

[Kathleen]

It's not possible to know what your child is experiencing 24/7 at that age, but it is possible to prepare them to navigate some of the rougher waters.

When the social media access is involved though, there is no escape if the child has access to it 24/7. Social media can take bullying to a new level that has not been experienced by previous generations where home could be a sanctuary.

 

[In A Pickle]

It's not possible to know what your child is experiencing 24/7 at that age, but it is possible to prepare them to navigate some of the rougher waters.

When the social media access is involved though, there is no escape if the child has access to it 24/7. Social media can take bullying to a new level that has not been experienced by previous generations where home could be a sanctuary.

The internet goes for clickbait and shock value to keep them (and adults) engaged. The amount of pornographic images they are exposed to is obscene.
Even with the best navigation in the world you can’t mitigate what that does to a child.

Or for example the video of a live execution (beheading) of a man that did the rounds on the pupils social media group (not sure which platform it was) where both my children went to school.
There’s no preparation that can navigate around that. My son was visibly shaken by what he’d seen. At the time he was only 13 years old and not ready to see the brutality of humans. He had nightmares for weeks.
And no my son did not go to a bad school, it was an expensive school with engaged parents and vigilant teachers. They called the police but what good does that really do, it can’t be unseen.

 

[Kathleen]

You cannot prepare to avoid it. You can prepare for how to navigate when it occurs.

 

[Shining Wizard]

The Australian experiment is admirable, I suppose, but it is more likely to just be an easy way to wash one’s hands of any kind of blame.
Any person who is under 16 knows how to tick a box that is basically lying.

 

[In A Pickle]

The Australian experiment is admirable, I suppose, but it is more likely to just be an easy way to wash one’s hands of any kind of blame.
Any person who is under 16 knows how to tick a box that is basically lying.

The haven’t gone for the usual tick this box thing, they have put the onus on the social media companies to enforce it with fines up to 50 million if they don’t.
They cannot use just a tick box they have to do ID verification.
Although some teens just use their parents ID’s (passport driving licence etc) to get around it. Well that’s what my teenage nephew living in Australia said

I guess if they do that mummy and daddy better be onboard because they’re gonna get caught aren’t they!

 

[Ruff20]

Go to a car forum sometime. Talk about a slugfest.

CD

Exactly. Want to see fireworks? Ask for advice on the best [pick one] oil, filter, tires, battery, compressor, spark plugs, wrenches, jacks, tonneau cover....

 

[Shining Wizard]

Hahaha
It’s the same in musical instruments.
Go to any instrument forum and type in:
Fender v Gibson
Grab some popcorn and enjoy!!

 

[Kathleen]

Hahaha
It’s the same in musical instruments.
Go to any instrument forum and type in:
Fender v Gibson
Grab some popcorn and enjoy!!

On boater's forums, ask for anchor recommendations, where people stash their jewelry when cruising, or whether to take a weapon on-board when traveling.

All forums have battle-buttons. So...which knife is the absolute best?

 

[Lee Vining]

Social Media is a blood sport.
Toxic poster's trying to bring good people down to their sorry level.

When You Tube first went online, first few weeks of its existence many of us were in the Image hosting frame of mind. Unaware of You Tubes reach and influence, but most of all it’s vast viewership early on.

I put up a one minute video of my daughter wakeboarding to later, eventually post on a family boating and water sport site forum.

Astounding the reach it had, and vile remarks.
Even had people visiting our beach front campsite.
Weirdos.

Two weeks later daughter was visiting Italy and was recognized while walking over the Lido bridge.

 

[Lee Vining]

On boater's forums, ask for anchor recommendations, where people stash their jewelry when cruising, or whether to take a weapon on-board when traveling.

All forums have battle-buttons. So...which knife is the absolute best?

,,, ask if HTMs are safe boats and the thread will default to a brawl with name calling and death threats.

Just add alcohol.

 

[taxlady]

,,, ask if HTMs are safe boats and the thread will default to a brawl with name calling and death threats.

Just add alcohol.

What does HTM stand for?

 

[Kathleen]

HTM is High Torque Marine boats, which is a high performance catamarans that are know for being high powered and very fast. It can also mean a hole through the middle fender, but I don't know whether that would cause a boating forum flame war.

 

[The Ghan]

You cannot prepare to avoid it. You can prepare for how to navigate when it occurs.

Sorry - ignoring an obvious problem isn't the solution. Putting in place bandaide fixes isn't the solution.

The solution is to remove the problem for good, unfortunately, the well meaning and beneficial aspects of that "thing" are also effected but you don't (or shouldn't in a responsible society) permit criminal and questionable entities to be accessible to anyone, let alone minors.

Call it what you will but the internet, and all things in it, are unregulated. What one country peromists, another doesn't yet that doesn't prevent an individual from accessing what that persons country doesn;t allow in another country. The internet needs to be regulated/policed by an international organisation.

Basically, however, the internet will crash one day and become unuasable so it is just a matter of time. We have already seen how insecure the thing is with Amazon's wonderful Cloud rubbish

 

[Lee Vining]

HTM is High Torque Marine boats, which is a high performance catamarans that are know for being high powered and very fast. It can also mean a hole through the middle fender, but I don't know whether that would cause a boating forum flame war.

The feuds are over if flip-over prone in turns is the Trigger. I avoid those threads and I digress on the subject of HTMs. Don’t get worked up, easy now.

 

[Lee Vining]

You can’t reason with jealousy.

 

[The Ghan]

You can’t reason with jealousy.

????

 

[Lee Vining]

????

So often cheap shots on the net are jealous, sour grapes takes.