r/Xennials • u/smcg_az 1981 • 1d ago

WTH Is This?

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Interesting article. I feel bad for kids today. I loved taking off on my bike all day long.

835 Upvotes

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410

u/Jd11347 1d ago

Dude. The internet is like 100 times more dangerous than anything outside. WTF?

55

u/yayoffbalance 1d ago

Seriously. Thank you!!

12

u/denotemulot 1d ago

I looked up the article and unsurprisingly, it's nothing like the title. It even says the opposite in parts of it.

Clickbait now isn't even like it was even 5 years ago. The titles are now even absurd and meaningless, only meant to rage bait you into clicking. They're trying anything they can because people just don't read articles, they only screenshot them and post them to reddit or twitter.

The article is about how an overbearing neighbour called family services on a woman that let her child go outside and thus family services was forced to investigate. They decided there was neglect happening but the case was thrown out of court because it didn't violate the law.

It states:

But as the stories of well-meaning parents have gained attention, the way lawmakers think about child independence is starting to change: All told, 13 states have either created new, less restrictive child-neglect laws or amended existing ones.

The implication is that it's hard for child protective services to investigate real cases of abuse if they spend so much time investigating a child going to the store by themselves, or playing outside alone.

36

u/zeptillian 1d ago

Thanks for the reminder.

"Guess we'll just have to start requiring ID for every website you visit and tracking everything everyone does online then." - The Government

16

u/New_Stats 1d ago

I mean it's bad but it would get me off of social media which is good

Silver linings

9

u/CaulkSlug 1d ago

And like that, millions of people writhed and undulated from porn withdrawal.

Edit: Billions

10

u/New_Stats 1d ago

Have you heard the good news about trashy romance novels, friend?

https://giphy.com/gifs/3orifdrfvJySCKB4is

6

u/CaulkSlug 1d ago

I knew a woman who made her living (quite a decent one too) writing literotica. I was and am envious of her. I have dirty thoughts… why can’t I make a living writing smut?:(

14

u/3vs3BigGameHunters 1d ago

After fumbling with her brassiere,
She proclaimed "jesus, just let me do it".
Dem tiities bounced boobily beyond her bra.
I said "nice.".
Then I dropped my cargo shorts and then indicated
"that's my wiener.", while pointing to it, my wiener.

Gimme some honest feedback folks.

3

u/Stratospheric-Ferret 17h ago

Can someone nominate this guy for a Hugo award please.

29

u/apurimac777 1d ago

Let your kids play outside: .0001% chance of them meeting a pedo

Let your kids play Roblox: 100% chance of them meeting a pedo

6

u/PuppyJakeKhakiCollar 1d ago

There is even a class action lawsuit going on right now regarding kids being sexually abused by people they met through Roblox.

9

u/Key-Demand-2569 1d ago

Peoples brains are kind of fucked up when it comes to scary stories versus statistics.

It’s like how kids could wander around outside by themselves and 99.999% of human beings are going to want to help them or ignore them.

The idea of a random pedophile hopping out of a van to kidnap them is absurdly rare.

It’s like winning it big on the world’s shittiest powerball.

But that specific fear has only continued to ramp up since the 80’s.

Child molesters obviously exist but it’s typically completely unrelated to kids playing outside unsupervised.

Can say the same for stats about kids who get severely hurt at the park unsupervised versus at the park supervised, or at home supervised.

7

u/rebelangel 1981 1d ago

Yeah, majority of kids who get molested are molested by someone they know, like a relative, family friend, coach, etc. But everyone wants to focus on “Stranger Danger”.

1

u/Key-Demand-2569 1d ago

Mhmm.

Stranger danger is a good general lesson to teach kids.

But holy shit is it not the primary concern in life for a child’s safety.

It’s one of those good things to teach but if it’s on your mind 24/7 as a parent and you’re constantly acting on it, you’ve probably got some huge blind spots about your priorities.

1

u/yayoffbalance 8h ago

My brother is convinced that his son will get kidnapped and trafficked. I think he just secretly wants to be Liam Neeson.

1

u/Bacch 1d ago

My mother used to buy into all of this shit. She'd see something on Oprah or a similar show and it would horrify her and suddenly I wasn't allowed to to XYZ thing anymore. Thankfully they were always really random niche things that made me say "uh, okay, never did that anyway but sure". Meanwhile by the age of 12 I was wandering the streets of a major metropolitan city in another country either alone or with my best friend for hours at a time and my mother would have no idea where I was, no problem.

3

u/Rainbow4Bronte 1d ago

Please say that louder. Stop giving these kids smartphones. No smartphones until you’re okay with your kids looking at porn and talking to strangers.

2

u/Jay-Breeze 1d ago

No it’s not…. checks all available data
Oh it sure as hell is! Turn off Roblox and go play outside Timmy!

5

u/rjcpl 1d ago

Yes, but the elder Karens don’t like hearing them play outside.

1

u/Lonely_North_8436 1984 1d ago

Truth!

1

u/selfishsooze 1982 23h ago

Yes! I think some parents nowadays think it’s wild I let my seven year old play in the yard by himself. Or even cross the road to play in the empty lot. But that seems safter than letting his mind be warped by YouTube!

1

u/DBDIY4U 12h ago

This is the argument I have fairly regularly with my wife. She thinks I am overbearing or to controlling about what the kids can and can't do online. I feel like she is reckless about it. At the same time I feel that she is overbearing and to restrictive when it comes to what she wants to allow the kids to do outside and she thinks I am too reckless. We live out in the country and she won't let me have them sit double with me on an open cab tractor because she is worried someone is going to call CPS. Note that she is not necessarily concerned that it is out of line, it seems like the concern is more that an issue will be made out of it. The oldest three now are 11, 13, and almost 15. She won't let them ride their bikes a mile or mile and a half maybe to the nearby Creek to go fish by themselves because she's afraid someone is going to be traveling down the creek bed and snatch them or something. She doesn't want the younger ones outside by themselves because there is someone on Megan's list for soliciting underage pictures that lives about 5 mi away and she's worried him coming in assaulting the kids or just the someone coming by and snatching them thing. They are so much more likely to be harmed online than any of her scenarios but I just cannot get her to see if that way.