Parents, I don't know how many times you'll have to hear this before you actually do something, but the internet is NOT a safe space for your kid. You should operate under the assumption that there are predators actively seeking out YOUR CHILD specifically, because there's a good chance they actually are. It is so frustrating seeing parents and children alike treating the internet like it's some happy funtime playground where all the little kiddies can innocently frolick around while the parents goof off back at home, and just like that playground, you should AWLAYS assume that someone is there watching your kid. And this isn't just about pedophilia, although the internet is full of it, this is also about the bastardization of your child's current world view in favor of the hive mind that is the internet. I can speak from personal experience when I say that as a child, lived experience goes out of the window as soon as you start regularly using the internet. Your entire world becomes filtered through the thoughts and opinions of other people that you've never met. Such an important time in one's life, and it's being entirely influenced by people they don't actually know. I was lucky enough to live until 13 without a phone, and even then in retrospect I believe it should've been 16. I can confidently say that getting a phone was the worst thing that ever happened to me, and I wish that I could throw my current phone off of a building and go back, but now there are systems in place, communication lines that I rely on in order to maintain contact with people that I would otherwise be cut off from, so I'm stuck with a phone. Back to the topic at hand though, you as a parent should approach your child's internet usage with the mindset of a cybersecurity specialist, specifically a whitehat designing a system to keep out attackers. In cybersecurity, the idea is that ANY user input should be assumed to be malicious. Where most normal users will enter their username, you must assume that EVERY user is trying to enter some piece of script to gain access to your information. Applying this to children, you must always assume that if they're given the ability to, then they will do something they shouldn't. I'm not saying to distrust your kids, because obviously this causes MUCH more harm than good, but don't give them the ability to break your trust. I should probably clarify that I'm referring to young children, around 0-13. I'm going to make an entirely separate series of posts on just how you can control this sort of thing, because it is NOT out of your control. If you don't want your child doing something online, you can most certainly prevent it.

And one more thing... do NOT buy your young child a phone, no matter what. "Oh but they need a way to contact me" there are specialized devices that are designed SPECIFICALLY for messaging that they could use, they don't need a $1,400 iPhone just to send SMS, and if you think that that's your only option, then you have a lot more research to do. A flip phone works just fine for communication, bonus points if it has limited data and no browser.