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What is your policy on letting a child use the internet? (thelemmy.club)

submitted 23 hours ago by Cantaloupe@lemmy.fedioasis.cc to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Say you were a guardian or parent and get to decide when a child can get a phone or use a computer and get internet with it. If you wish you can also install software and change router settings to what you see fit.

Some parents decide to forbid the internet completely, others are more relaxed. Some go the helicopter route, and some do not care whatsoever what their kid does online.

What is your policy on letting a child use the internet?

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[-] getFrog@piefed.social 4 points 17 hours ago

No internet before they can actually explain how it works. My main goal would be to prevent them from thinking of it as some kind of magic machine that delivers them dopamine. Teach em TCP/IP, Networking, how HTTP functions, how things are actually rendered and what ot actually takes for information to go from bits to images. Then talk to them about how those mechanisms are exploited and how to exploit them back. Advertisement, dark patterns, attention-algorithms and all that. Scoff at them for not using an ad blocker and maybe teach them some small tricks that would make them cool among their peers. I mean, imagine if a Kindergartener showed up to class with their school mandated iPad but was fully able to operate Wireshark lmao

All that is a hypothetical of course, no way in hell I'm having kids.

[-] IAMgROOT@lemmy.wtf 1 points 23 minutes ago

idk what to say but this is a good answer and im gonna reply so it can reach more parents

this post was submitted on 10 May 2026

149 points (96.3% liked)

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