If you live in Mississippi, you may have noticed that you are no longer able to log into your Bluesky or Dreamwidth accounts from within the state. That’s because, in a chilling early warning sign for the U.S., both social platforms decided to block all users in Mississippi from their services rather than risk hefty fines under the state’s oppressive age verification mandate.

This consolidation of power is a dream come true for the Big Tech platforms, but it’s a nightmare for users. While the megacorporations get more traffic and a whole lot more user data (read: profit), users are left with far fewer community options and a bland, corporate surveillance machine instead of a vibrant public sphere. The internet we all fell in love with is a diverse and colorful place, full of innovation, connection, and unique opportunities for self-expression. That internet—our internet—is worth defending.

  • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    1 day ago

    You make a good point. Now, I have 2 kids (12 and 10), and they use phones (when one of us allow them to). However, and thank God for that, the school they go to has banned cell phones entirely, which effectively reduces the unsupervised exposure to stuff we don’t want them to be on yet. Additionally, I removed everything ‘big tech’ from those phones, so they use Signal to communicate with their friends and family, get to stream content from my Jellybean instance, and have all types of DAV in my server to keep files, contacts, calendars and whatnot synchronized. Plus, I keep them tracked with my own Traccar instance when they go out, and I audit their devices pretty regularly.

    I am all too aware we cannot shield them from everything. Some things will fall through the cracks, but that’s been the case even when we were kids (dad playboy mag left carelessly somewhere easy to grab?). This does not mean that I will allow, or even want, the government of any country deciding how my kids are raised. That’s my wife’s and my job, nobody else’s.

    Having said that, I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that lazy parents are the ones that help the obscure intent of governments and large corporations drive this kind of shit to spy and control us.

    Unfortunately the largest percentage of parents worldwide are just that lazy and irresponsible, and unless they change that, this will be the life and challenge of actually responsible parents. Sadly, I don’t see those parents suddenly caring for their kids,it just doesn’t happen. Why would they drop such convenience?