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Comment by GuestFAUniverse | Hacker News Reader

A friend and I were the first to have modems at age 12. And we had access to all kind of stuff on BBS and later in newsgroups. That wasn't meant for our age group and yet there wasn't any harm done. Others in our classes didn't roam there. (They were more into drinking, smoking and stealing in real life instead)

Guess who is heavily using social media today and unreflectively repeats fake news.

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I think what parents should be more concerned about isn't explicit content in various forms (to a degree of course) and instead should be worried about the mounting peer pressures teens are subjected to by the usual social networks. That are instagram, tiktok and co.

Although this also hits people < 30 years as well and maybe older ones as well.

Although I would also think that a early contact might even build up some resistance here.

But now kids grow up with social media and fake news. I too grew up seeing stuff I shouldn't have online and I turned out fine but I see the online landscape today as much scarier place and as a recent father I'm scared of what it can do to my child and will need to police it.

I _feel_ the same, yet I want to remind everyone -- including myself -- that it's rarely the content that's the problem. (Would I openly /allow/ my kids to view everything? Hell no. Neither did my parents.)

What _is_ different? AFAIK nobody was playing with addictive aspects of a BBS and even less so in newsgroups.

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