I have had a few thoughts on this issue.
Some ive already said, in previous posts.
And I'd like people's thoughts on my take.
I agree in part with the government, in that children need to be protected online. As they should be protected in any situation.
What i do not agree with is the level or method.
I have an autistic nephew, who whilst in school found a calling in cartoon drawing and animation.
He found YouTube a source of inspiration.
With kurzesagt being his main inspiration.
And he built from that style into something of his own, self learning years before college and uni.
Now he is a content creator.
If he was reaching that early point now he wouldn't have that access and he would not be able to grow into what and who he is now.
He has a small following, but is now part of a community that supports him via YT and discord.
I feel that the method to which the government are attacking this issue, isnt right.
When it comes to YT I have a few other ideas that maybe could work better and correct me if these ideas are already a thing:
- have a parent account, that is directly linked to child account. The parent account authorises/screens any incoming messages or content. The parent also has overarching authority on what content is sent out and what is being watched. An alert system, that if a certain subject or tag is watched it notifies the parent account.
- a parent set screen time hard limit, that only the parent can authorise further time.
- black and white list themes, channels and tags.
-maybe a similar age rating for content like the uk's film rating system or PEGI for gaming.
With X. Yes this should be further restricted, similar to the above but further.
Instagram and tiktok, similar still.
But parenting should be the main control outside of all this.
I have seen time and time again parents hand devices to their children to pacify them at an early age.
For me, social media access should be a reward or as a source of education.
Parents should have more time with their children, whether during play or education and bonding.
They should be balanced between play outside and indoors....not just "here's a phone, crack on and entertain yourself"
Passive parenting is part of the issue.
Whilst our government amongst others as well as the organisations that run this media sources, do not handle those that break the rules firmly enough.
Too often predators or hateful, violent or even pornographic creators are not deplatformed but boosted, even when in breach of the rules.
And those who break the law, dont seem to get the hard treatment they deserve.
It feels like the UK government wants to eliminate the victim rather then tackling the source.
x.com/GBNEWS/status/20664236…
GB News