There’s an easier way of protecting young people from harmful online content than changing the law, requiring internet service providers to take down harmful content.
It’s called parental responsibility. Don’t give your toddlers and pre-teens smartphones. And don’t give them unsupervised access to the internet in their bedrooms.
My generation, I feel, has widely abdicated personal responsibility in this vital area, ceding authority to tech companies to pacify our children.
No doubt there’s an element of generosity at play in us gifting these expensive gadgets to our families, but generosity ought to be tempered by commonsense.
At the very least, put some rules in place as to how and when they are used. Giving government ever more power to regulate our lives is hardly the better alternative.
Last modified: 25 January 2025
