Post by @romli@social.vivaldi.net

@romli@social.vivaldi.net

2026-09-18 13:10 UTC

@ahltorp@mastodon.nu @ibboard@hachyderm.io @markwyner@mas.to Of course they can have independence but that clearly is related to their age. At 5 years old children do not generally have freedom to roam around a large city on their own, and most people would accept that was worrying if a child was unsupervised. A 10 year old, a 14 year old, a 16 year old are all different situations and should have different levels of independence. Likewise online, age limits should be set sensibly and gradually. Children don't need to have no knowledge of social media until they are 18 but equally making access unrestricted form the day they are born is problematic

Replies (2)

@ahltorp@mastodon.nu 2026-09-18 13:25

@romli@social.vivaldi.net @ibboard@hachyderm.io @markwyner@mas.to But you wrote "We don't generally accept that children are free to go outside alone". Children. In general. All children. You not only state this as fact, but something that should also continue to be the case. And I'm saying that this is the problem. Who is talking about 4-5 year olds? That is a total strawman. No one has suggested that 4-5 year olds should be on discussion forums.

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@ibboard@hachyderm.io 2026-09-18 13:59

@romli@social.vivaldi.net @ahltorp@mastodon.nu @markwyner@mas.to All of that is still parental responsibility in the world of social media! If you wouldn't drive your kids into town and leave them to wander by themselves then don't leave them unsupervised on a phone or tablet. If you wouldn't take them to an event and let them wander off and talk to strangers then you need parental controls on the account. If you're worried about them picking up far-right bullshit or bigotry then help them manage the accounts they follow and explain why they've got to be careful about certain people and narratives. There's age appropriate ways of dealing with all of this. And none of it requires invasive and unnecessary age checks for adults. It requires social media companies to add account controls that would benefit everyone, and it requires adults to take responsibility for their kids (even if they feel that tech is "scary" - because this isn't really a tech problem, it's a life skills problem)

Open ##5043271