When the state tries to be a parent it robs parents of being parents. First they come for your kids and then they come for you.
You'll be showing your ID to get on the net soon too.
Trojan horse.
Fight it.
Fight. Fight. Fight.
I'm furious about this.
I'm a parent and one of my children who falls in this age category has faced very serious in person bullying at school that extended out into social media. It was all encompassing and seriously harmful.
So I understand the potential for seriously negative impact from social media on young people.
But the single most important thing that got them through it was their friendship online with kids in the US. 1 in particular who became a very close friend who was part of a larger group.
They game together but spend the time chatting and working on plans for the future. It's a true friendship. Talking about business ideas, culture, etc, for hours everyday.
Without that, they would have had absolutely no outlet and been doomed to only exist in a reality in which they have been completely outcast.
As a parent, I monitor social media use using already available tools. I create accounts myself and know who is being interacted with.
I set up curfews for certain apps on all devices but make sure I allow for the positive interactions and friendships to happen.
As some are in the US, that means access at late hours but I'm entirely capable of managing this and I know the trade offs involved and then manage through those as well.
I talk with my children directly about the risks, what to do, what not to do and why.
If the government moves forward with these blanket curfews, that will cut my child off from their best friend for good which will very seriously impact their mental health.
I will absolutely not accept the government harming my child in this manner.
