Opinions on kiddos being social on the internet? (14 and under)
....shit uh. fuuucckk i dont have much to say on this matter.
you've gotta be careful out there. extremely careful.
getting groomed is unfortunately really common. i have a father who works with. like. online tech stuff and he sees everything that happens and i've heard all about it, that's why he's hesitant about me being on tumblr and any other social media app. im restricted to tumblr, pinterest, and youtube, which i am completely fine with.
look, i've been online with unrestricted internet access (for the most part) since i was a little kid and able to do multiplication. that has severely impacted me in both negative and positive ways!
negative - i've been shown/watched/read a lot of stuff i'd. definitely prefer not to see and its caused an impact on my mental health. i've gone onto websites and regretted it, signed up for websites and regretted it. the more i've grown the more i regret my decisions.
positive - i've created a lot of friendships that have helped me! i have a four year friend group that's. sort of still together that i can sort of still talk to but also not at the same time. you've gotta be careful with friendships though, i've also learned that the hard way. but!! i've also learned new stuff through some friends!
i know it sounds downright awful to most teens here but. you need to be under a guise, some sort of guise, even if the parental controls app is loose. your parents need to know what you're digesting, who you're talking to, let them worry. that is their natural thing to do. most of our parents grew up and used online chatrooms, they know what a lot of people are like on the internet!!!!! if one of your parents works with cybersecurity, TRUST. THEM. they know what happens to young kids.
and to the minors- please. if an adult dms you out of nowhere and is obsessing over you, DO. NOT. INTERACT. if you're fine with interacting with 18 and over, please just be careful!!!
in general, it's objectivley fine for children to be social on the internet as long as they're safe and they know what they're doing and are being monitored. i know it doesn't really happen, but just dont share your age or your address or your face if you're young. ai deepfakes can manipulate you in ways you will not be comfortable with!!!! just be careful out there.
one thing i will say though: do not let your kids be social on the internet if they're under eight. please. just do not. 10-13 is generally the age you can loosen the restraints a little (in my opinion) but you've still gotta watch out for them. fourteen and up you still have to watch out for them, but once they've been online for over five or six years i think they'd know what they're doing.
i hope this makes sense :)
