# raising children in regards to internet awareness



## CatParty (Dec 11, 2016)

some day some of you chuckleheads will have kids. we live in an age of an expanding internet culture. will making the next generation aware of the culture of the internet be the new "talk" parents give their kids? how would one explain all the strange things that only exist on the internet? what do you do when you have to explain lolcows or tumblr or alt right to your kids? do you explain to them what is in store for them before they log on? or do you wait for them to find out for themselves?


----------



## Squealer (Dec 11, 2016)

I'd pull a bob and cut off the internet. I know what it did to me. I would wish this upon no child


----------



## POWER IN MISERY (Dec 11, 2016)

you best believe i'm gonna teach my kids how not to get trolled.


----------



## Quijibo69 (Dec 11, 2016)

I would have kids use the internet by themselves until they're about 16. When I first started posting on forums at about 14, I felt too young.


----------



## fcgh vgcf (Dec 11, 2016)

do you honestly believe that any of us will have kids


----------



## IV 445 (Dec 11, 2016)

You do realize kids will be kids, right? They will go over to Tommy's house and use his internet to look at azz n tiddies. And his drunk mom and absent father will probably not notice.

Raise smart kids, educate them on what their teachers are too scared to tell them, or that honestly isn't their job to tell them about anyway. So yes, I agree with Catparty. Although I have no kids, so....lol listen to me


----------



## Lurkman (Dec 11, 2016)

I'd let them make mistakes, form their own understanding of the internet, allow them to explore the internet on their own, I feel learning internet awareness on your own is the best way to learn, it's the hardest but it'll sure teach 'em.

BUT I'D NEVER SHOW THEM KIWI FARMS!1!!!!!! AWFULW EBSITE!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Roland MT-32 (Dec 11, 2016)

I'd give any hypothetical children unfiltered internet access and rely on the idea that I've taught them enough about life that they won't be autistic or dumb on the internet.
It's really futile to try and stop them from accessing the internet, the best you can do is quietly monitor them to make sure they're not doing anything mind-numbingly autistic.


----------



## AnOminous (Dec 11, 2016)

CatParty said:


> some day some of you chuckleheads will have kids. we live in an age of an expanding internet culture. will making the next generation aware of the culture of the internet be the new "talk" parents give their kids? how would one explain all the strange things that only exist on the internet? what do you do when you have to explain lolcows or tumblr or alt right to your kids? do you explain to them what is in store for them before they log on? or do you wait for them to find out for themselves?



I'd teach them how to cyberbully autists in their class to suicide.


----------



## Caesare (Dec 11, 2016)

Hortator said:


> You do realize kids will be kids, right? They will go over to Tommy's house and use his internet to look at azz n tiddies. And his drunk mom and absent father will probably not notice.



Then you send your wife to beat up Tommy's stupid mama.


----------



## Marvin (Dec 11, 2016)

Shit, if I have kids, I'll start a thread on them myself. I'll dox them too.


----------



## HG 400 (Dec 11, 2016)

CatParty said:


> some day some of you chuckleheads will have kids. we live in an age of an expanding internet culture. will making the next generation aware of the culture of the internet be the new "talk" parents give their kids? how would one explain all the strange things that only exist on the internet? what do you do when you have to explain lolcows or tumblr or alt right to your kids? do you explain to them what is in store for them before they log on? or do you wait for them to find out for themselves?



None of that shit will still exist by the time our kids grow up and they'll probably have to explain their weird metaphysical memes to us and we won't understand them.


----------



## ZeCommissar (Dec 12, 2016)

CatParty said:


> some day some of you chuckleheads will have kids.


----------



## meatslab (Dec 12, 2016)

Marvin said:


> Shit, if I have kids, I'll start a thread on them myself. I'll dox them too.


Dude you could film them 24/7 and get so much content.


----------



## Maiden-TieJuan (Dec 12, 2016)

I have had this "talk" with my kids.  I explained Rule 34, and all the fun shit. My daughter accidentally found clop when looking for MLP stuff.  THAT was a fun conversation to have with a 8 year old.  But.... Bassically I told them the internet is FOREVER, and no matter how fast you pull a pic down or erase a tirade, someone will have seen and archived it.  So don't be dumb.


----------



## DuskEngine (Dec 12, 2016)

I imagine my children will be too busy trawling the irradiated wastes for fuel and food to bother with internet memes.


----------



## Bassomatic (Dec 12, 2016)

I'm sure if any woman has low enough standards to want to breed with me, you'll probably dox my child and bully him into suicide.

I figure it's kinda in the cards so I'll just let it happen.


----------



## OtterParty (Dec 12, 2016)

@Heimdallr


----------



## Locksnap (Dec 12, 2016)

OtterParty said:


> @Heimdallr


I don't know if the children of Arabian sheiks are allowed online


----------



## OtterParty (Dec 12, 2016)

Locksnap said:


> I don't know if the children of Arabian sheiks are allowed online


the sons need to learn to use craigslist if they're going to hire the right thugs to build their own harems of abducted blonde beautiful English/ American girl debutantes of poise and class


----------



## Dual Rectifier (Dec 12, 2016)

Honestly, free reign, with common sense. Don't share personal information liberally, never share your real name outside of Facebook, don't post anything you wouldn't want someone else to save, don't use the same username/password for every site, etc.


----------



## CWCchange (Dec 12, 2016)

Like the birds and the bees, they'll learn from other kids at school before anything.


----------



## JU 199 (Dec 12, 2016)

_'Dont fucking share anything you wouldn't with your schoolmates'_


----------



## Heimdallr (Dec 12, 2016)

Just dont let them on the internet. Make them practice piano instead.


----------



## Replicant Sasquatch (Dec 15, 2016)

Well for starters if I have kids then I'm not gonna talk about _my_ experiences on the internet.  I would want them to avoid shit like 4chan and Kiwi Farms, and I sure as hell won't accomplish that by sitting them down on my knee and telling them about Chris-Chan.  

I would of course discuss basic rules of internet safety with them.  Nothing is gonna stop my theoretical kids from going to a friend's house and reading ED or browsing furaffinity or whatever.  But I can teach them about not releasing their personal info online, being skeptical of strangers, and the most important part: knowing _*when to walk away from the fucking computer*_.  I'll be goddamned if I bring a child into this world just to see them turn into a fucking lolcow.


----------



## meatslab (Dec 15, 2016)

Make sure all y'all frame this right above the computer and make this your child's phone background.


----------



## AnOminous (Dec 15, 2016)

meatslab said:


> Make sure all y'all frame this right above the computer and make this your child's phone background.



And make sure they have a copy to attach to their posts.


----------



## TiggerNits (Dec 15, 2016)

If the day comes where I catch my son using social media I will simply ask him "Why the fuck are you using the porn box to talk to faggots?"


----------



## RG 448 (Dec 15, 2016)

I'm throwing them into the deep end and letting them learn by doing like I did.


----------



## Overcast (Dec 15, 2016)

I used to believe that I should just keep them from using the internet until they are of a certain age, but by this point, the internet is so ingrained into our culture that I don't think I can stop my hypothetical kids from seeing what's up.

All I can do is supervise them and advice them not to post personal information about themselves.


----------



## DatBepisTho (Dec 24, 2016)

Is it too late to say "don't have any. Problem solved"?

But on a serious note: I'd probably tell them it's a terrible world out there and they are going to see things on the internet that makes them feel terrible/wish for Nuclear destruction, but to not imitate any of it  because they'll end up on the Farms and I will personally kick their asses for shaming the family name.


----------



## Maiden-TieJuan (Dec 24, 2016)

I actually showed this site to my kids the other day (ages 13 and 12) and said that if you don't want to be on HERE, don't post ANYTHING you wouldn't show to your grandmother or do at the Mall/School.

I think I may have created another 2 Kiwis-in-training.  Thank gourds they aren't old enough for an account.....


----------



## Todesfurcht (Dec 24, 2016)

This is an extremely tough question, even for me, someone who was practically raised on the internet.

I remember playing flash games for hours (before it was all bootleg), watching 240p YouTube videos ripped from Newgrounds, and recoloring whatever Sonic X screenshots I could find on Google images.
Internet culture has changed since I was younger though. It's over-saturated now, and I heavily believe it's more dangerous than ever before. (Especially for vulnerable children)

A great example would be my young sibling who found Tumblr at the conceivable age of 12. They're 14 now and they're drowning in liberal propaganda. They were surrounded among "otherkin", "trans-individuals", and so-called "feminists".
They're unaware of any other side in regards to race and gender issues. They also claim to be "non-binary", a term that didn't come into light until 2014.
Many other teenagers who are growing up on Tumblr are the same way...which is why colleges and universities are growing more and more liberal. There is no logic involved and so it's easy for children to cling to.

Have you seen YouTube lately? I remember when Happy Tree Friends, YouTube poops, parodies, animation, and ACTUAL toy channels were the shit.
Unfortunately, children are now accustomed to mindlessly watching shit like "Spiderman, Frozen Olaf & Spiderbaby Vs Duck! Spiderman is pregnant! Superhero Fun In Real Life". 
What ranks behind bootleg toy channels you ask? Prank and social experiment videos that are biased and staged. FousyTube is the worst example of making the world look worse than it really is. "OH MUH RACISM". 
YouTube is a tool for propaganda, unoriginal content, and problem people.

You can't even leave a child alone with a phone or tablet, the apple and android stores are filled to the brim with bootleg garbage that is sure to rot your child's brain. Don't wanna play "minion dentist"? Well prepare to get charged by your child's cheeto fingers when they go crazy in the various Disney apps. HURRAY FOR MAKING FREE CONTENT FOR CHILDREN!

To put it simply, no, I will not allow my child to browse the internet in the same way I did when I was younger. The internet has changed so negatively and I'm genuinely scared of how they'd get treated.
I don't want them to see what I saw either, I was 14 and browsing Bestgore for shits and giggles.


----------



## meatslab (Dec 24, 2016)

Todesfurcht said:


> This is an extremely tough question, even for me, someone who was practically raised on the internet.
> 
> I remember playing flash games for hours (before it was all bootleg), watching 240p YouTube videos ripped from Newgrounds, and recoloring whatever Sonic X screenshots I could find on Google images.
> Internet culture has changed since I was younger though. It's over-saturated now, and I heavily believe it's more dangerous than ever before. (Especially for vulnerable children)
> ...


Bruh Happy Tree Friends is shit. That's why we liked it as children. All children have horrible taste in anything. 

People have been making awful, rip off flash games online since the dawn of internet cartoons in the early 2000's. That's why Angry Birds' success was such a shock to me because the format of the game had been done 100's of times a decade earlier. 

Nothing has really changed. There's been otherkin and other weird people online with children having access to it since the internet was a a thing. The only reason you're seeing more of it now is because populations have been booming. Most kids believe or do stupid shit when they're children. At least 95% of these kids will grow out of it, just like it's always been. 

I really don't understand how your experience on the internet deems you better than kids that are a decade younger than you. It's all pretty bizarre seeing as nothing like the internet has ever existed in any recorded history, but the fact of the matter is people have and will always do the same dumb shit they always have been. Most people are pretty weird when you get down to it (they usually hide it).  Kids are not stupid. Your kids will be way more technologically literate than you will ever dream to be, and if they have kids so will they regarding the previous generation and so on. They will figure out how to access the internet without you around.


----------



## The Queen of Trash (Jan 4, 2017)

So, a bit powerlevel-y, but I used to be a journalism student. Before switching majors, I took a media literacy course. While the course did not solely focus on the Internet, it covered a broad range of topics (from video games to news to literature). It really did help me analyze to not only how people in general consume and interact with media (to, you know, create content that'll make money), but to reflect on how I personally consume and interact with mass communication messages.

While I am strictly looking at a public education point of view and I'm only scraping the surface, I think integrating a curriculum that teaches children and teens how to be media literate will greatly help them out. I just don't believe that it should be as in-depth as a college course specifically aimed at people going into the mass communication field. It should simply be the basics.


----------



## Tragi-Chan (Jan 4, 2017)

I'd educate them in the basics of keeping your identity secret, not trusting strangers, not doing anything stupid and knowing when to just walk away. In theory I'd say don't let them use the Internet unsupervised, but that's not really going to be possible with smartphones, laptops and tablets being so ubiquitous. I guess I'd operate a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I can't stop them going on ED or looking up porn, but I don't want to hear about it.


----------



## Diana Moon Glampers (Jan 5, 2017)

The idea that exposing kids early to unrestricted media will foster better media literacy or inoculate them against bad shit is pretty well disproven.  In studies, kids who saw fewer TV ads at early ages were less, not more, responsive to advertising and consumerism.  Kids who see more ads want to see more ads and are more vested in the ads they see.   Getting kids into the ad ecosystem early is critical for advertisers, who want kids to become adolescents and adults who are heavily vested in advertising and see advertisers as fundamentally on their side, educating them about products and services they want and need.

The internet works the same way.  The earlier you allow unrestricted access, the less critical faculties your kid will have developed, and the less inoculated they will be against the various stupid rabbit holes they could fall into.  Teach them media literacy early, how to tell when someone's selling something (a product or an ideology), and keep them off the internet for a while, then introduce supervised internet when the kid is 8-10, and unsupervised but periodically monitored remotely internet access when they're 15 or 16.  This way, you've got time to talk to them about any weird shit they could be spending too much of their life on.


----------



## AnOminous (Jan 5, 2017)

Abortions4All said:


> The idea that exposing kids early to unrestricted media will foster better media literacy or inoculate them against bad shit is pretty well disproven.  In studies, kids who saw fewer TV ads at early ages were less, not more, responsive to advertising and consumerism.  Kids who see more ads want to see more ads and are more vested in the ads they see.   Getting kids into the ad ecosystem early is critical for advertisers, who want kids to become adolescents and adults who are heavily vested in advertising and see advertisers as fundamentally on their side, educating them about products and services they want and need.
> 
> The internet works the same way.  The earlier you allow unrestricted access, the less critical faculties your kid will have developed, and the less inoculated they will be against the various stupid rabbit holes they could fall into.  Teach them media literacy early, how to tell when someone's selling something (a product or an ideology), and keep them off the internet for a while, then introduce supervised internet when the kid is 8-10, and unsupervised but periodically monitored remotely internet access when they're 15 or 16.  This way, you've got time to talk to them about any weird shit they could be spending too much of their life on.



So what are you suggesting?  I didn't have the Internet when I was growing up, like you damn kids.

I had access to a library, though, and would read the Marquis de Sade on the steps of a church.

What "inoculation" are you suggesting anyway?

What you're talking about sounds like just plain old fascism.  Of the boring and unfunny kind.


----------



## Diana Moon Glampers (Jan 5, 2017)

I'm not suggesting zero TV or internet before those ages.  I'm suggesting that until then, you use real guidance and that a kid only sees ad-blocked (or ads-deleted, in the case of TV) content.  i.e., if they want to watch something, you watch it with them.

This idea that kids should be allowed total free reign on the internet is incredible, kids until the last 25 years or so had zero options for media content that wasn't being simultaneously viewed/listened to by their parents, and even that content had to go through broadcast standards until a very short time before that.  That time -- the time spent watching David Attenborough documentaries and talking about them, or going online to look up things on wikipedia and talking about them the whole time, as well as the limitations of wikipedia -- is the best inoculation kids can have against internet idiocy.  Will they still probably do stupid shit sometimes?  Sure.  But they'll at least have an idea why it's wrong and are less likely to go whole hog.  The idea isn't to repress creativity, it's to make sure a kid has other creative outlets before the internet, which is designed to take ALL your time and eyeball real estate if you let it, gets its grip in.  Make sure they have their own real-world interests, or they'll spend all their time on "unboxing" videos and then begging you for every stupid piece of plastic they saw in the vids.

This whole "you MONSTER how could you violate your child's rights this way" reminds me of when people today say "I have an expectation of total privacy on my phone/internet history from my spouse."  30 years ago, someone who had a private mailbox or a personal phone line their spouse had no way to access would have been basically a guaranteed philanderer.  Now, everyone's supposed to accept that people should have this level of privacy and trust that it won't be abused, even though human nature is largely about committing "crimes of opportunity," whether those are actual real-life criminal law violations or "crimes" against your relationship agreements and so on.  The idea of a kid even having a TV in their room was pretty crazy when I was a child.  The idea that children in general have the prefrontal cortex development to even establish media literacy on the internet at under age 10 is flat out stupid.

This idea has taken root that goes a little like: "If someone wants to [x], they'll do it with or without rules, so forget making rules."  This keeps being stated even though it's patently untrue when it's looked at empirically.  When major suicide methods go away due to changes in technology (like the end of coal gas ovens in the UK), the suicide rate goes doesn't stay the same because all those people found a way to kill themselves anyway.  Many people do it only because it was convenient and easy to do impulsively.


----------



## Replicant Sasquatch (Jan 5, 2017)

AnOminous said:


> So what are you suggesting?  I didn't have the Internet when I was growing up, like you damn kids.
> 
> I had access to a library, though, and would read the Marquis de Sade on the steps of a church.
> 
> ...



Did your local library feature a peanut gallery of morons who use "fag" as a suffix or try to bully kids into killing themselves over stolen Walkmans?


----------



## keksz (Jan 5, 2017)

Unlike most people here these kids won't think about the Internet in the same way we think about it: the Internet for them will be just another layer of life, accessible at all times, like we thought about telephones and letters before the Internet was so widespread. I'm not trying to opt out of answering but in that sense it doesn't work asking "what will you tell them about the Internet", you need to ask yourself "what will I tell them about 4chan, liveleaks, worldstar, etc" in the same way you need to ask yourself what will you tell them about the KKK, sex, crime, corruption and everything else. 

By the time most people here make a child and it's grown enough to use and understand the Internet, it will be so pervasive they actually won't be able to imagine a world without it. For them a website, online community, social media or meme will be just as real as a religion, IRL society, ideology, etc. Because, in all honesty, they are, and even more powerful some of the time.

How I'd go about explaining each of these individually to a child is more of a case-by-case question but my style has always been brutal honesty and I can't imagine doing less than that for my own offspring. Maybe some stuff will be a watered down version with a "ask me again in 1-2 years" addendum.



AnOminous said:


> I didn't have the Internet when I was growing up, like you damn kids.
> 
> I had access to a library, though, and would read the Marquis de Sade on the steps of a church.



_tips fedora_


----------



## Steve Mayers (Jan 6, 2017)

I would teach them the basics, don't share anything you wouldn't share to a relative. Don't give your name, address and other personal information out on the internet. I'd also educate them on trolls by telling them that there's some mean people who enjoy bullying and getting reactions out of people while hiding behind a computer screen. And that the best way to deal with them is to simply just ignore them. Furthermore I'd tell them to not believe everything you read on the internet as there's a lot of false information, and information that looks like it's true but it's really an advertisement. Though most adults need to be reeducated on internet usage as well.


----------



## Slowboat to China (Jan 6, 2017)

Before I went abroad for the first time, my mom gave me some solid advice: "Remember, you are an ambassador for your country. Never wear anything you wouldn't want to appear on the eleven o'clock news in."

I feel the same philosophy applies to the Internet, specifically regarding conduct and self-representation. Trying to limit Internet use is difficult, now that everyone has a smartphone, but you can set parental controls; the thing to do is to ingrain a sense of responsibility and self-restraint, if possible. You are an ambassador for yourself. Don't share embarrassing details. Remember that the Internet is forever. And don't post selfies in anything you wouldn't want to appear on the eleven o'clock news in.


----------



## DuskEngine (Jan 6, 2017)

The internet is the only way for me to meet people who expand my world view. If I didn't go on the internet then I would be a blue pulled normie as there would be no other way for me to learn about the true nature of society.


----------



## mindlessobserver (Oct 7, 2020)

I am gonna necro this thread because it's been a few years and I am sure some us degenerates have against all reason managed to successfully procreate. It's also been a wonderful few years for us Kiwis to meditate on the vagaries of internet life. 

How can we raise our kids in this new era of the Internet Panopticon. We cant just go "lol, no internet for you!" Kids are gonna find it. What age should we introduce them to it? How can we make sure they are using it safely and how on earth can we prevent them from becoming e thots or spastics?


----------



## UntimelyDhelmise (Oct 9, 2020)

I would say that do what you can to limit their activity at first and introduce them slowly, but then I think back to my first unsupervised forays on the internet. I was a conniving little shit and would always find a way to sneak past parental eyes and passwords and stuff to see things I wasn't supposed to see, and that was all the way back in the_ 2000's._

How the ever-living fuck you're supposed to even attempt to guard your children from the horrors of the internet until they're even halfway mature to handle it these days is nothing short of an impossibility. Even if you personally bar off as much internet access as you can during their most vulnerable years, they'll either find a workaround (since every goddamn device has instant internet access now) or get on it elsewhere like at a friend's house. It feels like all you can do is teach them common sense as soon as they can cognitively comprehend it and hope for the best.


----------



## glow (Oct 10, 2020)

Back in the days of dial-up when I was about 11, I wanted to learn C++, but I couldn't get a copy of MS Visual C++ and buying it would involve more money than I'd ever had. I had made friends with an older guy on a programming forum and he and I would chat regularly on and off the forum.

After bemoaning my lack of a copy of MSVC++, he offered to give me a copy if I'd meet him in person. He was about 30 I think. So, one day after school I took a different train and met him.

We had a nice chat, he gave me the CD with the pirated copy of MSVC++ and nothing untoward happened. I went home, installed it and became quite proficient at C++ over the next few years.

But, you can imagine how that could have gone very differently. Looking back, he was a genuinely nice guy, probably a bit of an autist and didn't really think how it looked for a 30 year old guy to meet a 11 year old. I lost touch with him when I accidentally locked myself out of my ICQ account.

So, if I had kids, I'd install my own root certificate on their computer and phone and MITM their internet traffic to make sure they're sticking to the basic opsec rules. I don't care about what sick fetish shit they get into, what embarassing things they post, who they're bullying, etc, so long as they're actually playing it safe and not giving their address to serial killers or meeting up with 30 year olds.

This might sound like a total invasion of privacy, but as I just illustrated, children are really stupid and will do stupid dangerous shit like the above no matter what you tell them. My parents told me about all these dangers and I ignored them.

I think it would also be worth making sure they were far too busy to build up a social media presence anyway - by making sure they're always active, involved with sports, clubs, etc. Frankly I think a lot of lolcows on this site would have avoided becoming lolcows if they'd just had something more worthwhile to do.


----------



## -4ZURE- (Oct 10, 2020)

I would probably let them venture out relatively unrestricted. At best, I would try to convince them that a social media, ie Tik Tok, FaceBook, or Twitter, is a bad idea and that those sites are very dangerous both for your image and because that is where the toxicity is strongest. I would want them to venture out into the smaller territories, really understand the “weird” parts of the internet and probably try to form groups like most of us witnessed in the early years of the previous decade and the 2000s. Of course, I want to shield from terrible ideologies you can find on the web, but ultimately I find it best that I venture out as much as they do and not get stuck in one sector like most boomers with FB. Hopefully the internet will scale back a bit prior to me having a child so that they can go in and experience the more innocent side like I did, but I have little faith in that happening.

YouTube is probably a good start for their internet experience. They should not have an account, rather they can just venture through the site unable to communicate like I used to.


----------



## Cynically Insane (Oct 11, 2020)

I have kids. I cut the TV cord when the oldest was 8.  The youngest has never known regular television and only ever seen TV ads when we stay at hotels and the like.  We stream all of our media.  When the oldest started using social media and actually interacting with the web instead of just observing, I laid down one rule:  Nothing you do on the internet is private.  I maintained access to all of his account, his texts, his phone logs - everything.  There is no better way to teach a kid that nothing is private than anything you write can be read by your mom.  Now, at 19, he is extremely tech and internet savvy - so much so that he has a couple of tech related side gigs leasing out rendering power on his servers or some such shit I don't really understand.  He configures all of our home systems and there is enough trust built that I have no qualms about his level of access.  He is a very responsible social media user.  He is not on Twitter and only uses facebook to stay in touch with far away family and friends and to buy and sell shit.  My strategy worked flawlessly.  

My younger son is growing up with a different level of access because of on line school and the like he spends a great deal of time on line.  Still there is no privacy for him.  I research the games he plays, I browse the videos he watches on youtube and hold the access to all accounts.  Like the older one, when the time comes that he can learn how to circumvent my invasive eyes, I let it happen as it is a part of a good internet education.  I hope my tyranny works as well with the younger.

I have never censored content, just initiate discussions about anything that has more adult themes.  Open, honest and accountable.  It works for us.


----------



## Dumpsterfire Enthusiast (Nov 11, 2020)

Id just tell them to treat posting online like being interrogated by the police, everything you say can and will be used against you then send them a link to the farms as an example of why you should never overshare


----------

