[Snakes3727]

It baffles me that parents have become so lazy they don't even want to monitor what their kid does anymore online, and instead expect the government to do all the work.

I remember when my daughter wanted to play Roblox with some friends I sure as shit did my best to monitor and lock down that horrible thing. Same with just general internet monitoring. Whenever she wants to play some game or something I research it.

I have sat down with her countless times and yeah she has broken my trust a few times and she looses access to the internet.

[justinator]

Brutha when I was young my parents would ring a bell at dinnertime and if I ran to the dining room in 5 minutes I got to eat and that was basically the extent of their monitoring of me.

[fragmede]

But did you have unrestricted access to a device with a camera where pedophiles the world over tried to talk thirteen year old you into doing dances in your underwear for them?

[navigate8310]

This kind of helicopter parenting encourages the child to break your trust even more. Instead of regulating what your child does online, be very transparent and talk about out all the perils of such services. Be ready to invest considerable time with them that encourages physical outdoor activities instead of being lazy and hoping internet will be their parent and then micro manage stuff.

[latentsea]

Most people don't actually either know what the perils of such services look like in enough practical detail to describe it to kids, and if they do, they generally feel very uncomfortable describing such things to their children. Ironically the logic is that kids are too young to hear about such things like that and need to be protected against even hearing about it. Seems counter productive to me, but also seems to be the way of the world.

[frizlab]

Do you have children?

[fuzzythinker]

How can such obtuse opinion be the top comment? A good parent builds trust with their kids, not monitor them. If that trust can not be obtained, then block sites in hosts or at the network level. If you believe Roblox is horrible for your kid, why allow them to use it at all?

[GaryBluto]

> I have sat down with her countless times and yeah she has broken my trust a few times and she looses access to the internet.

All that does is encourage her to lie and find work-arounds rather than fess-up and suffer consequences.

[protocolture]

Good breeding ground for new techies however. Circumventing net nannies and school protections got a lot of us interested in the first place.

[bigstrat2003]

That makes no sense. For rules to have any meaning at all, there must be consequences to breaking them. If OP doesn't take away his daughter's Internet access when she breaks his trust, it will just teach her that there's no reason to follow his rules because it doesn't affect the outcome for her.

[ctheb]

What would a better approach look like?

[joseangel_sc]

my teenager self finds this as a challenge and just a way to defy your authority

[mjevans]

I'd feel better about a kid smart enough to learn how to get around DNS block lists and other forms of mass surveillance and filtering than one who free ranges and isn't even trying to get out.

[pram]

TBF my boomer parents didn't monitor a single thing I did on the internet, so I kinda doubt it's some unique failure of contemporary parents.

[ls612]

My parents tried but they know about as much about technology as a typical boomer so by the time I was in high school it became totally ineffective.

[jen729w]

But was this in the late 90s/early 00s? I mean … it was kinda different then, no?

I - 49 - also had boomer parents who didn't monitor my internet back then. I really don't think it can be compared to today.

[port11]

So we're blaming parents now? I don't know a single parent that understands what a VPN is or why the government needs to be on top of that.

This is 100% a crusade against online anonymity and a bid for control. Children aren't using VPNs, adults are, and politicians are quite convinced that that's where dissidence and danger lies.

[annoyingnoob]

Kids need room to explore the boundaries and fail, it is part of growing up.

[lisbbb]

It's not about parents failing to do their jobs, it is about heavy handed big government wanting to step even further into our lives using our own technology.

[slumberlust]

Would you support removing age restrictions elsewhere under the guise of 'just parent?' Drinking age? Gambling? Driving?

[ch2026]

> I sure as shit did my best to monitor and lock down that horrible thing

How much of that "horrible thing" is due to a handful of youtube videos you've seen as opposed to first-hand experiences? What if you found out that the very well-produced youtube videos which regularly attack Roblox have the exact same agenda as the US/UK laws you're opposing?

[Dusseldorf]

Within the past week the CEO described predatory behavior on the platform as "not necessarily just a problem, but an opportunity as well". Not sure what YouTube videos have to do with that, regardless of production value.

[octorian]

Oh, its definitely a dumpster fire. And they keep changing the parental controls to make it less obvious what's appropriate for what age.

And then there's the constant begging for fewer restrictions and more things being permitted, to the point where you're basically screaming "no" in their face and want to smash the damn tablet.

Then it settles down, and starts up again a month later.

[idiotsecant]

If it's baffling it's because it's bullshit. Very few parents are calling for this. It's just 'Wont someone please think of the children' moral hand-wringing on its face and not very subtle creeping fascism underneath.

[CJefferson]

The world doesn’t consider it reasonable for businesses to sell beer to kids, and expect us all to constantly follow our kids around to make sure they don’t get beer. Bars don’t get to say ‘woops, we got thousands of 9 year olds drunk, their parents should keep an eye on them’”.

And at this point, most kids, most people, spend more time online than outside walking around

[g-b-r]

> Bars don’t get to say ‘woops, we got thousands of 9 year olds drunk, their parents should keep an eye on them’”.

Because there's no whatsoever downside in requiring bars to not serve children (if we assume that it's just to not give alcohol to children); online age checks instead have very big negative consequences for the whole populace.