It's a cheap relinquishment of control to authority under the guise of "public good & safety" of youths whose fundamental rights society is carelessly bargaining away. The goal is less personal responsibility, less autonomy and more control by authority to suppress liberty to access information openly, safely, anonymously.

The article mentions a record of legal decisions I also quoted showing lawmakers had commissioned enough legislative studies to know that more effective & less restrictive legal alternatives exist than these irredeemably flawed laws that obstruct everyone's participation.

Everyone conveniently seems to forget it's just information on screens of devices parents voluntarily give their children. Control is entirely within grasp of the individuals if realized and supported. As those justices had argued (before the new ones ruined it), government could facilitate & empower parents to realize their parental discretion & responsibility by legislating programs to educate parents & children & provide them the resources. Such legislation would empower parents without imposing on everyone else or sacrificing freedoms. Despite being told that solution, lawmakers never bothered to pass it in the decades since.

Oddly, the children didn't seem to matter anymore until shitheads waited long enough for the Supreme Court (with enough right-wing appointments) to change their tune.