If I did ever put some sort of parental blockers on my children's devices, I'd try to find some half-assed thing like the blockers I learned to go around and through, to give them a challenge.
And Social Media wasn’t the same 20 years ago.
Furthermore, the sick shit 20 years ago was harder to find and a lot slower to download as well.
Slower to download, yes.
Harder to find? No, not at all. In fact, 20 years ago it was a lot easier to accidentally fall into, even directly off of Google.
Consider: musical.ly is aimed at kids. Kids have no money. How does musical.ly plan to make money? There is no possible ethical way.
There were forums, there was AIM. People were shitty to each other in person. The twelve-year olds that are yelling racial slurs at you and calling you a noob in Battlefield were doing the same to their friends on the couch playing Mortal Kombat.
Every generation needs its existential threat to the wholesomeness of children. Comic books, jazz, rock and roll, hippy counter-culture, rap, and video games are mostly played out. Now it's social media.
Suicide/cutting forums for 12 year olds weren't a thing, and if they were, it was nothing like the hashtags that exist today and only the more techy kids would end up on /b/ or something of that nature. Regardless, kids being exposed to awful things will always happen, and seeing gore or whatever isn't the worst thing that can happen. I think what's worse is the overabundance of information that exists today, most of which is absolute trash that I wouldn't even recommend a 40 year old to consume let alone a 12 year old.
I don't think the writer of the article is being ludicrous by taking away access to certain apps from the poison of the internet. You literally get dumber consuming that stuff. Being called a noob in battlefield is a poor example with what the author is trying to convey