After reading yet another article on how teenagers so easily get around parental controls on their screen devices to access things worse than porn, combined with the article on how social media is part of an evil plot to stash people into emotionally manipulating echo chambers, I’m uneasy.  The thought that the social media algorithms are deliberately steering teenagers and young adults into self-harming websites, anorexia websites, predatory behavior websites, much less sexting and porn, turns my stomach.  As it should.

If you are going to control the behavior of the world, you will need to control the evil behavior too.  That’s why there’s always a bridge between the police and the gangs, protecting each other, turning them towards their competition.  I suppose that’s why there’s always a link between the powerful and the pedophiles, for the blackmail and control files material.  As long as there is hierarchy, there will be abuse, murder, rape, pillaging, and the like.

Unfortunately, hierarchy is a natural order kind of thing.  Lobsters have it.  Although, it is a shifting thing, and can be seasonal as well.  Does that mean that all the evil predatory behavior is situational and seasonal as well?  You don’t have to look far to find evidence of that sort.

So, how do we control our teenager’s web use?  We don’t.  We can filter websites, sure, but the sheer quantity of new apps out there every day which can be abused makes that a moving target.  We can filter keywords, sure, but how many misspelled and made-up slang terms come along on a daily basis?  Instead, perhaps we should guide our teenager through the worst of the stuff online, so they know how to be wary of the traps that lurk there.  Like taking your teenager to the casino at 2am to see the worst of the gambling addiction, or hanging outside a bar at 2am to see the worst of the alcohol addiction.  Knowing what is possible, and knowing that the answer is a strong community with strong communication skills, could help reduce the individual risks.

Give up perfection, and you can fight dirty.