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Comment by nl | Hacker News Reader

I'm a 90s kid.

My parents didn't let us have a TV. TV shows were a social object: in the 90s you'd come to school the next day and discuss what you watched. You signaled your in-groups by what shows you liked and what you didn't like.

I had none of that.

I had friends, but only because I got very good at hiding my oddities. I was disconnected from my peers and learned a set of behaviors that have fucked up a lot of relationships longer term.

Addiction to social media is terrible. But to those who ban your kids from social media entirely: how are you addressing the fact they will be isolated from their peers because of that.

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You go out of your way to put your kids into more in person social interactions. Local events, school extracurriculars, sports teams, organizing get togethers with neighbors (and generally inviting neighbor kids to come play in the backyard whenever).

Some of those things are easier than others for a family to take on, but in a strange turn of events, the various social media "bubbles" mean one kid and the next aren't exposed to the same trending topics (like some kids don't even know what skibidi toilet is, while others are all into some NBA or NFL players, while others are following chess tournaments or LEGO stuff...).

There's still enough real world events outside influencer bubbles that you can keep social media (mostly) out of a kids life and not cause that kid to be on an island.

There's a balance between media exposure and overprotection, too. Every parent has to find it. It's one of the most difficult aspects of parenting once your kids are old enough to talk!

TV shows were regulated and relatively harmless. Social media has no filters and you have no control or idea over what it'll show to kids. The risks are unimaginable.

And not getting to fit in with such groups that base themselves on discussing brainrot sounds like a benefit to me honestly, not a drawback. Remember the "Blue Whale" challenge?

This isn’t really a fair comparison. Banning from TV was extremely uncommon in the 90s. I remember those kids, with parents like yours, and it was often just a small part of what made them odd outcasts. Their clothing choices and mannerisms put more of a target on them than the lack of TV. They were usually extremely socially awkward amongst other things that would invite bullying.

Sorry not meant as a personal attack but it’s not how kids that don’t use social media come across to me at all.

What kind of behaviors?

That is really terrible and I worry for our kids being anti media iconoclasts.

If only there were a community for likeminded families.

If the Amish could read this they would be dabbing so hard right now.

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