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The Internet and social media have completely revolutionized how we do pretty much everything in our lives.
The way we interact with each other, the way we do business…all of it has been impacted by this technology that was not available to us about three decades ago.
And, as you already know, the atmosphere online can be toxic, offensive, and troublesome, especially to kids.
So is it up to parents to shield their kids from this kind of material? Or do individuals have a responsibility to keep it clean and civil online?
Here’s what AskReddit user had to say about this.
1. Up to the parents.
“It’s the parents’ responsibility to protect their children from the Internet.
I say a lot of f*cked up sh*t while gaming and if you don’t block voice chat on games that your eight year old plays, that is your fault not mine.’
2. Agree to an extent…
“I agree to an extent.
Being on twitch, and most internet places, at 12 and under is usually against TOS. If the parent is already doing the streaming or they are internet savvy and know the ins and outs, then I feel it could be ok to stream as long as the parent and child are doing it together.
With the parent very strictly monitoring all communication first. And teaching the kid what is acceptable/unacceptable on the internet.
But I do also agree adults should not have to worry about censoring themselves in online interactions. As long as they aren’t harassing or engaging in illegal content, adults should not be compelled to cater to children.
Which is why I think it’s absolutely stupid that YouTube has been marking vids as unfriendly for advertisers if they have cuss words.”
3. MY JOB.
“My son wants to stream and do tournaments and stuff with me cuz both me and my partner play. We told him no.
Also he isn’t very good at it yet but he has potential. And the last and probably biggest reason is he’s f*cking annoying and people will tell him.
You’re right it is my job to monitor his sh*t not your job to watch what you say and I have had f*cking kids tell him they’ll murder me not realizing I’m in the party chat playing too.”
4. Keep an eye on them.
“Parents shouldn’t assume the internet is kid friendly and should vet what their kids are allowed to do online, especially online games where other gamers are over 18 and can say whatever they want.
That said, for kid friendly websites or direct message chats to an underage person, the overage person is responsible.”
5. Not kid-friendly.
“I grew up in the 2000s with the internet.
The internet was and never will be kid friendly, up to parents to implement parental controls.”
6. Nasty stuff.
“I always thought this was obvious till my kids were playing among us.
Sure they have the words bleeped out but they can still be exposed to nasty stuff.
I guess I still feel this way but want them to be able to experience fun online games without the smut.”
7. Do the research.
“If it’s a game marketed to kids and not like Fortnite but like specifically for kids then I hold you responsible.
Because in that case the parents did their research and you just played the wrong game.”
8. It can be toxic.
“I simply don’t let my kids play adult oriented games or any games with voice chat because I know some people kids AND adults can be toxic over chat.
It totally sucks for the kids who just want to chat and have fun. Toxic folks kinda ruin it for everyone and themselves.”
9. Cowardly excuse.
“Why do you feel not responsible for what others hear you saying?
Sounds like a cowardly excuse to me.
I mean sure, you are indeed not responsible for other peoples parenting to protect their child from toxic areas on the internet.
But it is still you “saying f*cked up sh*t” degrading everyones else experience. It is your responsibility keeping those places toxic.
I am not a kid. I still love to play online. I love anonymous team play interactions with strangers. But I am grossed out by the general low standards of communication in most games putting me off.”
10. Mute yourself.
“If I hear a kid, I’ll just mute them most probably and mute myself too cuz I f*cking hate children’s voices while gaming.
It just doesn’t go well with me but ik others who could just swear or say profane things while the kids is there.
I don’t give a f*ck, there’s a reason the games are rated a certain rating y’know. + Toxicity should be a well known thing nowadays.”
11. Take responsibility.
“Ultimately, parents need to take more responsibility for what their children see, hear and do.
When I was 13, I had already spent the last couple of years begging my parents to let me play WoW after watching them run around playing vanilla, but they always said not until I was older. When they finally caved, I got the biggest “people on the internet are weird” kind of talk.
A lot of the current generation of kids would have parents that spoke in chat rooms, on msn messenger, had a myspace account and probably stalked something fierce on omegle. So how are there so many parent oblivious to the imminent chaos found on any kind of online game?”
12. Good one!
“Here’s an unpopular opinion for ya…
You could also TRY to be a better person?”
13. Pretty crazy.
“I am in a PC builders group on facebook. The amount of parents that will join and ask:
“What is a good mic and headset for my son? He is 8 years old and plays Fortnite. He is really good so I want to help him start streaming. He wants a separate mic and headset but I’m not sure what that means.”
ITS INSANE.
And every time I try to say something like:
“I don’t mean to tell you how to parent, but I’m 32 and I don’t even want to get into streaming because it can be a pretty toxic environment. And recently there has been a lot of issues with younger kids being groomed by weird older and more popular streamers.
I highly suggest holding off on letting an 8 year old stream. The internet is very vast and you don’t know who they will start talking to and ultimately “entertaining”. They can see your son, tell your son to do things, and you son might do the things if he thinks he will get money or tricked by other means.
I highly highly suggest looking into what is involved in streaming. If it were my son I would not let them stream at 8 years old… if they were 16 I would consider it but it would have to be where I can monitor it… even at like 16.”
And that always gets a negative response about how they know all about streaming and what it is… yeah then why couldn’t you ask a streamer what mic to buy your son?
Clowns raising clowns.”
What do you think about this issue?
Please share your thoughts with us in the comments.
Thanks in advance!
