Ramblings

Now, I'm not typically known for trusting parents with raising their children. I am the kind of person who thinks birth policies are a good thing and who likes to think about mandatory certification before getting a child. Not everyone should be allowed to just make children, much less so if you, as a parent, are unable to keep your child safe online (or, offline much rather, hah!). So, for anyone who knows me somewhat, it should come as a bit of a surprise that I put forth parents as the solution to a problem. And sure, while I would like to be able to trust parents - it would make this problem extremely easy to solve - good parenting is a problem that genuinely is more complex than just good parents. And I see child online safety as a parenting issue, no more.

So if I say that child online safety is exclusively a parenting problem, and I also say that parenting is more than just parents, then I do implicitly say that we need more than just parents - both in general, and in terms of child online safety. So if you really wanted to push it, it could technically be said that I would see chat control as a viable solution to child online safety. And while I agree that it would be a “solution”, I think it is a horrible and bad solution that should never be implemented.

So, what should we do? Well, it depends on our preconceptions. In Level 1 I like to point out “western society” and “individualization” so much, and directly ask you whether you agree with this kind of society, because I think that communization of a lot of day to day life could potentially be a better alternative to the hyper-individualization we see today. Communes are stronger, more reliable and more resilient to hostile influences, and decentralization of child rearing means that no one person gets too much power over a defenseless child.

When I say “parents are responsible for their children's online activity”, I say that exclusively from a norm-observing standpoint, regardless of whether I personally agree with it. I think that my statement “parents are responsible for their children's online activity” is correct, if you say this from the standpoint of someone who wants to work with what they have. Of course, deep down I think that this shouldn't actually be, and that I believe there to be better methods. But within our current system, parents are the solution.

But, even in our individualized society, delegation of responsibility is only partial. It is up to the society to give parents the knowledge they need, and it is up to the government to provide legal infrastructure that can properly investigate and prosecute offenders. That's why, in our individualized society, I think we should work at all three fronts: Parents - Commune - Government.

All of this is the true solution. And more. A functioning society should be able to navigate issues like this without giving 100% executive control to the government. That would solve nothing. Therapy, rehabilitation, support, counseling, awareness, monitoring, there is so much complexity to child online safety that is being brushed away by just… abolishing privacy? Just like that? Wow. Well, that's a Moment.