Got into a huge argument with my dad and almost lost all contact with him from right wing brainwashing. We're good now but it's scarry just how far the right will go to tear families apart just to get what they want. I hope every last GOP member burns a slow painful death.
Well, the endgame of that radicalization will be hangman's nooses being put up in the Capitol, last time the people putting it up were too stupid and led by a moron, but if they let it continue, someone half competent might try to come at them as well. They don't live that far away from society that if they let it catch fire, they won't get burned.
That's pretty much the definition of the job of parent. To control everything around the child and how they interact with things.
It's not any more difficult than it ever was. For one thing, don't give kids a smartphone until they're at least 13, they have no need for one before then.
Similarly, up to that age, they should be taught how to use a computer and the internet, but only in a closely monitored, safe manner.
After 13 or there abouts, they are given more freedom and more responsibility to go along with it, and hopefully have been raised well enough to respect that.
From there, limitations and guide rails will remain in place, be it a traditional curfew in the evening, or a limitation of "screen time", and if course of what the children interact with online.
Greater autonomy is earned through positive actions and mutual respect, too. Over time as they approach adulthood you will be able to loosen restrictions and worry less, as the strong person you've helped raise will be able to make their own decisions with greater confidence and more positive outcomes.
Mistakes will be made on all sides along the way, there will be joy, sorrow, anger, love, parenting is a learning experience for all parties, but in the end, if all goes well, you'll have a well adjusted young adult who isn't addicted to their mobile phone or any of the apps contained within, who understands the dangers of such things, and how easily addictions and a warping of reality within the mind can set in.
Eventually you have to let go, let them be adults and make their own decisions, but by then they'll have this deep understanding of the dangers they face, and that's the best defence they can have.
It still might not be enough, but all you can do as a parent is try to prepare them, from then on they have to make their own mistakes, you know?
This is an institutional problem, not an individual one.
FB markets its platform as safe and respectful of security, but it's exactly the opposite on both fronts and that is a proven fact. It's deliberately addictive, has led to widespread radicalization and mental illness in its users, and steals people's personal information.
It's the digital equivalent of marketing cigarettes to kids, only more harmful.
FB absolutely needs to be investigated and held accountable.
Facebook is almost more effective on adults. So whether or not you're right here is so ridiculously beyond the point anymore. They've lost all credibility and should be indefensible.
This is like an article declaring, "EU Investigates MySpace for causing child addiction and harm" -- the people they're trying to protect don't use that product any more. The time to do this investigation was fifteen years ago, and the US government should have been the ones to do it.
Don't get me wrong -- fuck Facebook. I hope they have to pay billions. But the people that company is harming now are adults and the elderly. I'm sure fifteen years from now, once all those people are dead, there'll be an in-depth investigation and legislation about it.