Kids & The Internet

[Robby]

The only thing on the internet that truly scarred me was clop.

I see.

For me, this. Seriously, a creepypasta game! With ponies!

Now, I just laugh at how terrified I was because of a pony game. But yeah, who knew?

[Nice]

when i was 9 i was allowed to use computer for 1 hour max per day (WITHOUT INTERNET). Then when i was around 11-12 i started using internet.

I never had a cellphone untill i could actualy afford one myself and buy it with my own money, which was around the age of 15.

Anyway, it is a terrible way to raise your kids if you offer them everything on a plate, especially when its expensive stuff. They won't really know how much these things are worth, they will appreciate them a lot less and will become spoiled. I've already seen a 5 year old kid bust an expensive cellphone infront of his mother, yelling that its not good enough. What did his mother do ? Apologise to him. Believe it or not.

Kids on the internet ? Hell no. Why ? not because the internet is too harsh for them, but because if they spend their whole day on the internet, they are going to be raised by it, not by parents.

And we all know how a kid, raised by the internet looks like.

[Froge]

I have a problem with kids on forums. On another forum that I used to visit, which got overrun by twelve-year-olds, the kids posted very silly and immature content and trash talked without moderation to many of the older, wiser members of the forum (who actually contributed to the community).

That said, I'm unfortunately someone who had been raised on the Internet, joining GameFAQs at an immature age of 10 and experiencing first hand how it feels to be trolled and flamed to oblivion. I suppose this experience taught me humility when joining a new community.

[Zaffre]

I personally don't see the problem with underage children on the Internet as long as they're mature enough to handle the content. If they frequently trash talk and flame, it's usually a sign that they aren't aged enough to communicate on the Internet in a polite and respectful fashion.

Take a look at YouTube. Most popular gaming videos have flame wars in the comments section. Viewing the demographic of the uploading channels (take PewDiePie for instance) usually has the highest viewer base thirteen to seventeen years of age. Because the younger demographic is usually less mature than the adult demographic, they compete constantly over petty and trivial things, like "It's a Minecraft clone!".

To sum up my thoughts: I don't have a problem with children on the Internet if they're mature enough to be respectful and handle the explicit content on some websites. However, only a handful of kids on the Web are mature and therefore this is hard to come across.

[eliasfrost]

I started using the internet by the time I was like 11/12 but that was mostly to look things up and not to frequent communities (Which I started doing when I was 14). I think the internet can be a harsh place, but it don't have to be if you as a parent moderate and talk about it with your kid. But I'm not surprised that 3-year-olds use it, it's that time and age I suppose.

As for trash talking and shrugging stuff off, I believe that it's a very individual thing and saying that all kids either shrug everything off or that they absorb everything as something negative is a pretty black/white way of seeing things.

[Juby]

.......

[Adny]

To sum up my thoughts: I don't have a problem with children on the Internet if they're mature enough to be respectful and handle the explicit content on some websites. However, only a handful of kids on the Web are mature and therefore this is hard to come across.

Pretty much this. Last thing we need are children going into video chat rooms, doing something they regret, and then offing themselves a few years later... oh, wait...

[Zaffre]

To sum up my thoughts: I don't have a problem with children on the Internet if they're mature enough to be respectful and handle the explicit content on some websites. However, only a handful of kids on the Web are mature and therefore this is hard to come across.

Pretty much this. Last thing we need are children going into video chat rooms, doing something they regret, and then offing themselves a few years later... oh, wait...

:L

[bloogleford]

My 3 year old is interested in the PC, but I don't let her use it yet obviously, sometimes we watch sesame street clips or something. We don't have tablets or smartphonse atm, so less of an issue. She mostly likes running around, talking about poop, putting stuff inside of containers.

In some ways it's a great thing for kids in terms of access to information, but clearly many are not prepared to do so unsupervised until later in life.

[Statyk]

Haha, your daughter sounds rambunctious. =P