Every single discussion I have with folks on this seemingly goes like this:

“Does the child pay for internet access?”

“No, but they have a device that can access the internet!”

“Oh, so the child bought the device and paid the bill?”

“No, the parents do!”

“Ah, so would you say it’s the parent’s responsibility to monitor their children’s internet usage since they gave them a network-connected device?”

“You obviously don’t want to protect kids!”

Look, I do want to protect kids. I really do, but I also am sick and tired of bad actors using “BuT tHe ChIlDrEn” to recruit idiots and -phobes in a quest to make the entire planet and all of its spaces magically safe for children of all ages - at the expense of the superior number of adults who need our own spaces devoid of kids for community, for socialization, for being our full, human selves.

The internet already has an age gate, and it’s called “the adults paying the damn bills”. Those adults are responsible for making internet access safe for kids, not the entire digital planet dropping what it’s doing to make every single private space safe for kids to access without parental supervision. Bring back curated services like Prodigy and Compuserve, or just don’t give kids internet access until they’re ready for it.

Most of humanity grew up just fine without regular internet access as children, and there’s no reason whatsoever we have to foist net-connected terminals onto kids of any age. That’s parental choice, and I refuse to be punished because of someone else’s bad parenting.