this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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I miss the era of the internet with random games on every website (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

what I really miss from that period of the internet was that children could use it safely

Uhh... my largest grievance with how the Internet has been designed is that it was never safe for children to be on it, yet children were thrust onto it en-mass long before adults even really understood what it was. And still people are ignoring the massive problems it continues to cause, specifically for the healthy development of children, as society is circling the drain.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

I think a more accurate statement is that the internet was never safe for children, but online content was never monetized and targeted to various audiences for nefarious purposes the way that it is now (including towards children).

I would also make a tangential argument that interacting with the internet used to foster a degree of technical ability, critical thinking, and reading comprehension that just isn’t necessary when “going online” can just mean downloading an app and mindlessly scrolling through an endless short-form video feed. On a macro level, today’s internet is dumbing kids down, while yesterday’s internet required (or at least encouraged) some understanding of how systems and technologies work.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're right, the word safe there was a poor choice lol. But I still do think the internet was at least better for children when there were designated sites/communities for them with appropriate moderation, instead of children being on social media. Though of course the ideal would be for them to be playing outside but that's a whole different discussion

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I believe the problem with children-oriented sites and communities were that the spaces provided a false sense of security for children and parents which led to at least the social spaces being prime targets for predators.

While these communities would have strict moderation as well, I think there were some cases where some community moderators were abusing their position which can happen in any social spaces, but children’s spaces are held to a much higher level of scrutiny for obvious reasons.

Then there’s the issue of scaling and regulations. As Internet usage continued to explode, it would’ve become much harder to scale up the amount of mods needed, which becomes much more expensive when it’s a full time job. Then I believe a good number of large/influential countries also moved in on regulating how companies maintain data for child accounts and I think restricting targeted advertising for children specifically, which would have made it much harder for companies to make money while also dealing with increasing expenses in moderation and hosting upkeep.

It doesnt explain everything completely, but I think that’s why these places disappeared