Lol. Like corporate social media isn’t creepy.

Almost every kid has felt that they were missing out on something because of parental rules at some point. The kids who had no rules were not necessarily the lucky ones, since good parenting always involves setting boundaries. i’m really not making the “in my time” argument because if we fixed the problems with social media i would have no problem letting my kids use something i didn’t have access to. to me it’s about balancing risks: make it safer, then let kids use it! after all, op is opening the door by making this post. she is directly responding to the expressed desire of her kids and trying to find a safe way to let her daughters access the tools they think they need.

For my part, i don’t consider forums social media. I may be in the minority, but im not as worried about stranger danger or cyber bullying as much as corporate control over content and privacy. i have never used snapchat, but i assume part of their revenue stream involves advertising and selling private data. maybe snapchat is very responsible about these things, but there is no oversight. take facebook, for example: a whistleblower just alleged that facebook targeted teen girls with weight loss and beauty products when it detected that the girls were feeling bad about themselves (say, when they had deleted a bunch of selfies). these exploitative and predatory decisions (to target an individual) are not approved by an ethics board. they are not subject to scrutiny. the only time we become aware of them is when some executive gets laid off and has a sudden crisis of conscience/lucrative book deal. maybe a ban on individualized ads and content feeds for young people would be enough to fix big problems. forums mostly don’t suffer from those problems.

You are right. But if things have changed, they can change again. Many countries are in the process of banning smart phones in schools and are legislating age minimums for social media. In such environments, access to social media becomes much less important. I think a better long-term approach would be to mitigate the risks of social media, and the fediverse is already addressing some of the big problems like corporate control of information and algorithmic curation of content. I like the idea of social media, but i hate the (prevalent) implementation.

True, using a defederated mastodon server as a group chat is “off label”, but i think it could work. I am not a fediverse expert, though.

With her friends, presumably. Why would she want strangers or mere acquaintances on her group chat?

There are more and more kids who aren’t allowed on social media because of its multifarious harms. Don’t forget that 20 years ago, no kids had social media. By all accounts, kids were doing fine back then. Also, OP said that her eldest daughter, at least, has a friend group, so your concern about their social isolation is probably misplaced.

yep, you sure showed me. i suppose you could have written something like “i know you are, but what am i?” if you only ahd the wit to think of it in time

Lol

Re-read your post and try to pinpoint where you contradict yourself. If you are unable to do so, you could ask chat gpt for help.

And how many of these Uberserfs will be located in developed countries making good salaries? None, you say?

If i need wifi, bluetooth, or an app to use a product that shouldn’t need it (eg a toaster, toothbrush) i will not buy it. i also won’t buy a wireless device (say a bluetooth speaker) if it requires an app. I would be willing to pay $500 more to have a tv with no smart features than a ‘smart’ tv. corporations: keep your shitty malware. my phone is a temple.

Totally agree. Especially since in my country, young people are swallowing far-right propaganda at a higher rate than boomers. Canada’s Tater Tots are trying to elect a MAGA candidate right now. Age is not the problem - the well of information has been poisoned.

When trump finally caves and has to kiss Xi’s ass, every newspaper headline better fucking be “the art of the deal”

that’s right lutnick, keep people guessing as the world dumps us bonds. this is it, people: the world’s richest economic powerhouse is tearing itself apart to satisfy the fantasies of a hate-filled dotard. the collapse of the us is the most spectacular self immolation in history.

waiting is effortless when you have a distraction so good that when they call your name, you briefly forget why you were waiting. i was once tempted to tell the nurse, “hold on, i have 2 more pages to read”

A lot of the bad stuff that happens on the internet is directly related to perceived anonymity. If you want to bully, harass, make bigoted statements, disseminate propaganda, or shill for a corporation, it’s better to be anonymous. If a country gives its citizens the right to free speech and reasonable protections for privacy, a non-anonymous internet is better. Besides, anonymity on the internet is an illusion for about 99% of internet users. All of the big social media companies know who you are - their whole business depends on the data they collect on you, and that data is worth much less if it can’t be associated with an individual. They also have heavy incentives to share that information with the government. Try making an ‘anonymous’ threat against your country’s leader and see if any law-enforcement types decide to visit you.