I agree with this. I don’t think any of the legislation put forward, in multiple countries, with the stated goals of “protecting the children” are actually meant to protect the children. If they were I would indeed support them because I have watched friends struggle with their children. But I’m not entirely sure legislating this problem away is even possible.

But parents I know can sit right next to their kids while they have screen time and some of the stuff that gets sent to their children’s devices is questionable. It’s a lot of emotional and mental labor constantly on parents to course correct some of that sometimes sneaky content. And this is a dual working home who are already stretched thin on time and energy. And banning the older children from devices altogether is pretty much impossible because of school and peers.

I saw a post the other day and it made a valid point. When we were kids there seemed to be a lot more sites with games and stuff geared toward children like Neopets and I remember Gaiaonline fondly. Were there some questionable things? Sure, it was the Wild West of the Internet and I had like zero and I mean zero supervision online, but there just seemed to be more stuff explicitly for kids. Games, interactive educational sites, chats and forums. Not just “versions” of things for kids.

Perhaps I am missing something? Someone please jump in if I am misguided on the apps and sites available today. I would gladly pass that info along to some pairs of parents I know.