And also: minorsâ spaces are being taken away.
When I was a kid, âbarbie.comâ looked like this
But now, if you type âBarbie.comâ youâre taken immediately to Mattelâs online shop, surrounded by nothing but âshop nowâ links and toy collections.
Disney channelâs website is now âDisneynow.comâ which still has games and shows appropriate for kids, but is aimed towards a younger audience as it combines Disney Jr and Disney Channel properties, and the look of the entire site is very juvenile and not very appealing to kids in the tween and young teen demographics.
Nick.com has been similarly streamlined and is focused primarily on streaming its shows, and the only games still left are 10 apps that canât be played on browser.
Kid-friendly sites like icarly.com, Poptropica, Club Penguin, Neopets, Webkinz etc used to be insanely relevant and popular spaces built for kids and tweens.
Now, kids are being funneled into less moderated, more exploitative, and more public spaces like Roblox (its dangerous and exploitative nature exposed in these videos from People Make Games: (x) (x)), Fortnite (known for its gambling and microtransaction issues), and social media sites like TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter.
My elementary aged cousins spend their time on Roblox, YouTube, and some less than reputable game sites that are full of ads and stolen/reposted/reskinned games. My sister was on Musically/Tiktok and Twitter in middle school. They donât have the same options for having fun online that I did when I was a kid, especially not when they get too old for nickjr and disneynow.
The internet has been condensed into about 5 popular sites that are full of ads, and itâs not fair to anyone.
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